By Definition from RAINN.org: Marital rape occurs when your spouse forces you to take part in certain sex acts without your consent. It is a form of intimate partner violence, i.e., an abuse of power by which one spouse attempts to establish dominance and control over the other. Research shows that it can be equally, if not more, emotionally and physically traumatizing than rape by a stranger.
Has been illegal in every state and DC since July 1993, it is rarely prosecuted
Until 1976 marital rape was legal in all 50 states.
It was not until the late 1970s that anyone was convicted of raping his spouse in the United States. Prior to then there was a “marital rape exemption”
What Lead to the ignorance of the times?
#1) It was viewed as a “wifely duty”
#2) Theory of Unity or Person= it is said that when two persons become married, the two are viewed to be as one. Marital rape was not viewed as rape because in this theory, how could someone rape themselves? In Marriage it is said that Two become one, but the choice should be made on both partners to physically become one in relation to sexual relations.
Stated succinctly by a justice in England Sir Matthew Hale in the seventeenth century, “the husband cannot be guilty of a rape committed by himself upon his lawful wife, for by their mutual matrimonial consent and the contract the wife hath given up herself in this kind unto her husband, which she cannot retract.”
#3) The Property theory: Through Marriage historically a wife becomes the property of her husband. In this theory a husband is not committing rape rather he was “making appropriate use of his property”.
The final and most commonly used defense for Marital rape is the implied consent theory because two become one under law.
Today 127 countries worldwide still fail to recognize Marital Rape as a criminal act.
In the United States today 1 in 4 of all rapes are due to Marital Rape.
It is estimated that 10-15% of women are raped by their husbands in the US.
Has been illegal in every state and DC since July 1993, it is rarely prosecuted
Until 1976 marital rape was legal in all 50 states.
It was not until the late 1970s that anyone was convicted of raping his spouse in the United States. Prior to then there was a “marital rape exemption”
What Lead to the ignorance of the times?
#1) It was viewed as a “wifely duty”
#2) Theory of Unity or Person= it is said that when two persons become married, the two are viewed to be as one. Marital rape was not viewed as rape because in this theory, how could someone rape themselves? In Marriage it is said that Two become one, but the choice should be made on both partners to physically become one in relation to sexual relations.
Stated succinctly by a justice in England Sir Matthew Hale in the seventeenth century, “the husband cannot be guilty of a rape committed by himself upon his lawful wife, for by their mutual matrimonial consent and the contract the wife hath given up herself in this kind unto her husband, which she cannot retract.”
#3) The Property theory: Through Marriage historically a wife becomes the property of her husband. In this theory a husband is not committing rape rather he was “making appropriate use of his property”.
The final and most commonly used defense for Marital rape is the implied consent theory because two become one under law.
Today 127 countries worldwide still fail to recognize Marital Rape as a criminal act.
In the United States today 1 in 4 of all rapes are due to Marital Rape.
It is estimated that 10-15% of women are raped by their husbands in the US.