Rape in the Instance of Marriage
Rape is an ongoing issue that effects many different types of people and genders. When hearing the word rape, many people often think of the most common situation of a man forcing non consensual sex onto a girl. The boundaries of rape expand much farther than that. What I want to address, is rape within the instance of marriage. In some parts of the world, there are perpetrators who can get off of charges of sexual assault if they marry their victims. Even diving in deeper into that, there are many situations where a partner has actually raped their spouse. No matter the circumstances rape is defined as forcing sexual activities on someone who has not given the perpetrator consent. Whether that be when the victim is visibly showing that they don’t want to participate or even in times when the victim is unable to give consent in the circumstances where they aren’t conscious
Links to additional relevant NGOs
Sources to Consult
- https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2704099
- https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2429615
- http://go.galegroup.com.ezproxy4.library.arizona.edu/ps/i.do?p=AONE&u=uarizona_main&id=GALE|A491719068&v=2.1&it=r&sid=summon&authCount=1
- http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-39692020
Related Profiles
- Jordan Begins to Scrap Law Allowing Rapists to Evade Punishment By Marrying Victim
- A woman interviewed 100 convicted rapists in India. This is what she learned.
- Countries Around The World Move To Repeal ‘Marry Your Rapist’ Laws
- Egypt: An end to rapists marrying victims
Ideas for helping out with the issue
- To better define rape regardless of the perpretrator.
1) Hasday, Jill Elaine. “Contest and Consent: A Legal History of Marital Rape.” California Law Review, vol. 88, no. 5, 2000, pp. 1373–1505. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/3481263. -I really appreciated this source because it served as the foundation of my topic. It gave a brief history of women’s rights, and in turn what that looks like in marriage. It also defined marital rape, and solidified the importance of my topic.
2) Kapoor, Harsh and Marie-Aimee Helie-Lucas. “Women Living Under Muslim Laws.” , http://wrrc.wluml.org/sites/wluml.org/files/import/english/pubs/pdf/dossier18/D18.pdf#page=101. -For this source I mostly studied page 98 on. This source served as an example of how women’s rights are being taken away in the circumstance of rape. It also gives you different boundaries of what is considered rape, and the restrictions.
3) Kristof, Nicholas. “11 Years Old, a Mom, and Pushed to Marry Her Rapist in Florida.” New York Times, 26 May 2017, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/26/opinion/sunday/it-was-forced-on-me-child-marriage-in-the-us.html. -This source served as a perfect example of a case where a girl was actually forced to marry her perpetrator in order for them to get off of charges. It also touches on another issue entirely of child marriages in the U.S.
5) “The Legal Rapist.” YouTube, uploaded by UnErase Poetry, 23 Apr. 2017, https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=120&v=BujVLSbUmG0. -This is a poem written by a man in the view point of a woman that is effected by marital rape. He dives in deep with the main question and concerns about marital rape, and leaves you with a powerful ending.
6) Sengupta, Durga. “Govt’s stance on marital rape an affront to all women, say activists.” Catchnews, 1 Aug. 2017, http://www.catchnews.com/gender-and-sex/govt-s-stance-on-marital-rape-an-affront-to-all-women-say-activists-79448.html. -This goes into India’s governmental stance on martial rape, and some of the reasons why many people are against it. One of the things that was mentioned was that this law would encourage women to terrorizing their husbands.
7) “Marital Rape-Short Film.” YouTube, uploaded by Out of The Box, 2 May 2016, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=da4L1w-QY6c. -This source provided a statistic that 2/3rds of women that are married in India have been abused in some regard.
8) Sachdev, Chhavi. “Rape is a Crime in India- but There are Exceptions.” npr Arizona Public Media, 13 Apr. 2016, http://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2016/04/13/473966857/rape-is-a-crime-in-india-with-one-exception. -This resource talks about the problems that India has faced while trying to make marital rape illegal. It even mentions testimonials of women that have experienced it.
9)Bradford, Alexandra. “Tackling The Law That Forces Rape Survivors To Marry Their Attackers.” Oath Inc. Part of HuffPost, 17 Feb. 2017, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/tackling-the-law-that-forces-rape-survivors-to-marry-their-attackers_us_58a72932e4b07602ad542f1a. -This source went into testimonials about women that have been forced to marry their perpetrators in parts of the world such as the Middle East and Africa. This article talked about the honor of the women after they have been raped, and different cultural viewpoints on this subject.
10) Sharman, Jon. “Ohio bill to make marital rape illegal gets no support from state Republicans.” Independent, 27 Feb. 2017, http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/ohio-marital-rape-bill-illegal-wives-husbands-drug-republicans-state-greta-johnson-a7601411.html. -In this source it talks about marital rape being legal in the state of Ohio because of the lack of approval from Republicans. Right now there is a loophole in Ohio law that permits it unless a prosecutor is able to prove there was a force involved.
Testimonials
4)Boardman, Mandy. “My Husband Raped Me.” Time, 29 Jul. 2015, http://time.com/3976180/marital-rape/ -This served as a testimonial of a woman that was actually get drugged and raped by her husband while she was unconscious. It goes through her story of how it happened, how she found out, and what steps she took afterwards.
