Faraldo-Cabana, Patricia2026-05-142026-05-142025-01-16FARALDO CABANA, Patricia. There and Back Again: Sex Crime Law Reform and Counter-reform in Spain, European Journal of Women´s Studies, pp. 66-81. 2025, vol.32, n.1 . ISSN 1461-7420. Disponible en: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/13505068241312391. https://doi.org/10.1177/13505068241312391.1461-74201350-5068https://hdl.handle.net/2183/48249This is the accepted version of: FARALDO-CABANA, Patricia. There and back again: Sex crime law reform and counter-reform in Spain. En European Journal of Women’s Studies [en línea]. 2025, vol. 32, no 1, pp. 66-81. ISSN 1350-5068. DOI: 10.1177/13505068241312391. The author(s) declared the following potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: The author took part in the drafting of Organic Law 10/2022 and received a compensation for it. At the time of the writing, she was a member of the Spanish Group of Experts on Sexual Freedom, appointed by the Spanish Equality Ministry.[Abstract] In this article, I demonstrate how changes to Spanish criminal law produced a highly contradictory outcome, which constitutes the most astonishing volte-face in the recent history of the Spanish criminal justice system. I explain how a 2023 law reform, which changes the consent standard in rape cases, was a counter-reform, a backlash due to the political confluence between a disgruntled part of the feminist movement and the anti-gender conservative agenda. I argue that even a feminism that seeks more lenient penalties is susceptible to strong criticism that undermines its achievements. I offer a critical analysis of how, and under what circumstances, a gender-informed, feminist-inspired legal policy can be successfully challenged, questioning what ‘counts’ as rape and how it should be legally defined.eng© The Author(s) 2025 Se recuerda a los usuarios que accedan a un artículo a través de un repositorio que dicho artículo está protegido por derechos de autor y que su reutilización está limitada a usos no comerciales y sin creación de obras derivadas. Los usuarios también pueden descargar y guardar una copia local de un artículo al que hayan accedido en un repositorio institucional para su uso personal. Para obtener permiso para reutilizar un artículo, siga nuestro «Proceso de solicitud de permiso».// Users who receive access to an article through a repository are reminded that the article is protected by copyright and reuse is restricted to non-commercial and no derivative uses. Users may also download and save a local copy of an article accessed in an institutional repository for the user's personal reference. For permission to reuse an article, please follow our Process for requesting permission.BacklashCarceral feminismFeminismLa Manada caseLaw reformRapejournal articleopen access10.1177/13505068241312391