Spousal rape
Spousal rape is
non-consensual sexual activity in which the perpetrator is the victim's
spouse.
Spousal rape is also called
marital rape,
wife rape,
partner rape or
intimate partner sexual assault (
IPSA). Because there is a widely held view that a woman surrenders
consent upon entering a relationship, the law has been slow to criminalize this form of rape/sexual assault. It is now a crime in most parts of the Western world, but exemptions still apply in some places; for example in some places a partner rape cannot be prosecuted if the couple were living together at the time of the assault.
Due to popular stereotypes of "real" rape, it is often assumed that if a couple have been sexually intimate, a partner rape is not as traumatic as other types of rape. However the research of Finkelhor and Yllo (1985) and Bergen (1996) reveals that victims of marital/partner rape suffer longer-lasting trauma than victims of stranger rape. One reason for this is thought to be the lack of social validation that prevents a victim from getting access to support. Domestic violence services have made inroads in addressing this problem.
Historically, many cultures have had a concept of a married man's
conjugal right [
1] to
sexual intercourse with his wife. Many
United States rape statutes used to preclude prosecution of a man for
sexually assaulting his own wife, including if the couple are estranged or even legally separated. In 1975,
South Dakota removed this exception. By 1993, this was the case throughout the United States[
2]. However, 33 of 50
U.S. states regard spousal rape as a lesser crime [Bergen, 1999]. The perpetrator may be charged with related crimes such as
assault,
battery or
spousal abuse.
There are other criminal charges that may be inapplicable if the parties are married to each other. For example, in the U.S., marriage precludes a charge of
statutory rape even if one of the spouses is under the
age of consent in the jurisdiction where the sexual act takes place.
As the legal status of women has changed, the concept of a married man's marital right to sexual intercourse has become less widely held. In December 1993, the
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights published the
Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women [
3]. This establishes marital rape as a
human rights violation. This is not fully recognized by all UN member states.
Diana Russell, a researcher into rape, reports that 8% of 900 randomly selected women in the U.S. reported they had been raped by a husband. A survey by the
National Victim Center in
Arlington, Virginia, states that 10% of all sexual assault cases reported by women involved a husband or ex-husband. [
4]
In 1994, Patricia Easteal, then Senior Criminologist at the Australian Institute of Criminology, published the results of survey on sexual assault in many settings. The respondents were survivors of numerous forms of sexual assault. Of these, 10.4% had been raped by husbands or
de facto spouses, with a further 2.3 per cent raped by estranged husbands/
de factos. 5.5 percent were raped by non-cohabiting boyfriends (Easteal, 1994).
In 1975, the results of an American study on many rape situations were published. Diana E.H. Russell was so appalled by her findings on rape in marriage that she decided to conduct a research project on this area alone. From the 930 interviews conducted with women from a cross section of race and class, Russell concluded that rape in marriage was the most common yet most neglected area of sexual violence (Russell, 1990)
David Finkelhor and Kersti Yllo's 1985 study estimated that 10 to 14 per cent of all married American women have been or will be raped by their spouses. (Finkelhor and Yllo, 1985)
In the UK, statistics disseminated by the Rape Crisis Federation yield the information that the most common rapists are current and ex-husbands or partners (Myhill & Allen, Rape and Sexual Assault of Women: Findings from the
British Crime Survey)
Other figures estimate that one in seven women is raped by a sexual intimate.
Spousal rape also occurs in lesbian and gay relationships. It is not known to what extent women sexually assault male partners.
* Bergen, Raquel Kennedy,
"Marital Rape" on the site of the Applied Research Forum, National Electronic Network on Violence Against Women. Article dated March 1999. (Retrieved February 8, 2005.)
* Easteal, P.
Voices of the Survivors, Spinifex Press, North Melbourne, 1994.
* Finkelhor, D. and Yllo, K.,
License to Rape, The Free Press, New York 1985.
* Gan, K.,
Sex a conjugal right, on the site of
Malaysiakini. Article dated September 2004. (Retrieved April 20, 2005. Original link is dead, substitute link is to the
Internet Archive, and is dated October 12, 2004.)
* Russell, Diana E.H.,
Rape in Marriage Macmillan Publishing Company, USA, 1990.
* The
American Bar Association,
Facts about Women and the Law. (Retrieved April 20, 2005.)
* General Assembly resolution 48/104 of 20,
Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women, on the site of the
Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, December 1993. (Retrieved April 20, 2005.)
*—,
Marital Rape, on the site of
Abuse Counseling and Treatment, Inc. (Retrieved February 8, 2005.)
* For a brief overview view of partner rape, see
STAR Library - Marital Rape* McElroy, Wendy,
Spousal Rape Case Sparks Old Debate on the site of
FoxNews. (Retrieved April 20, 2005).
* Global AIDS Programme
World AIDS Day 2004. (Retrieved April 20, 2005).
*
Marital/Spousal Rape in Islam in
ProgressiveIslam.Org's Women's Health Project wiki.
