NCJ Number
97312
Date Published
1985
Length
13 pages
Annotation
This overview of research on marital rape considers the definition of marital rape, its incidence, how and why it happens, its effects on the victims, and why it is still legal in the United States.
Abstract
Marital rape is estimated to affect between 3 percent and 14 percent of married women, with much higher rates among battered women. Wife beating does not always accompany this type of rape, however. The three types of marital rape described by Finkelhor and Yllo (1983) are battering rape; forced sex without battering; and obsessive rapes, which involve bizarre sexual obsessions. Groth focuses on motivations and describes power rapes, anger rapes, and sadistic rapes. Russell has developed a five-point continum which ranks husbands in terms of their attitudes and behavior. Marital rape victims experience trauma which is both similar to and different from that experienced by victims of rapes by strangers. The violence, loss of control, and betrayal of trust are the most significant features to any rape victim. Women raped by their husbands are often traumatized at the most basic level, which concerns trust, and experience the greatest long-term impacts of all types of rape victims. The majority of state rape laws contain a spousal exemption. States where marital rape is a crime have not had the flood of unjustified complaints predicted by the opponents of such laws. As long as marital rape is legal, our society condones it. Sixteen references are listed.