NCJ Number
98880
Date Published
1985
Length
13 pages
Annotation
Indepth interviews with 50 women whose husband or partner had used force or the threat of force to try to have sex with them revealed three types of experiences: those associated with physical and verbal abuse, those associated with longstanding disagreements over some sexual issue, and those involving bizarre sexual obsessions.
Abstract
The incidents varied both in the amount of force used by the men and the amount of resistance offered by the women. Perceptions that their partners were very strong, fear of being hurt worse, and beliefs that they were wrong were the main factors inhibiting women from resisting. Appeasement rather than massive resistance was the response of these women. Other research indicates that marital rape may occur in 10 percent of marriages and is therefore much more common than rape by strangers. Marital rape has a traumatic impact. The victim must live with her attacker and can be left feeling much more powerless and isolated than if she were raped by a stranger. The criminal justice system has an outdated view of the subject. As of January 1982, about 36 of the 50 States and the District of Columbia did not consider marital rape to be a crime. Most States have a spousal exemption in their rape laws. Although legal changes will be opposed, evidence from jurisdictions that have changed their laws shows that few frivolous complaints are brought. However, public attitudes will have to change before the laws, because interviews with college students revealed that spousal rape is not viewed as a serious offense. Nevertheless, changing the law may have a deterrent effect. Twenty-one references are listed.