NCJ Number
92008
Date Published
1983
Length
12 pages
Annotation
Following a review of the prevalence of marital rape and varieties of coercion in marital rape, this study reports on results of in-depth interviews with marital rape victims, including types of forced sex experiences, resistance by the victim, the trauma of marital rape, and the law related to forced sex in marriage.
Abstract
Studies indicate that forced sex in marriage is a frequent, perhaps the most frequent, type of sexual assault, although the victims are reluctant to define forced sex in marriage as rape. Although there are varieties of coercion that may be used to force sex on a spouse, this study focuses on the use of physical force. Findings are based on 50 in-depth interviews with women whose husband or partner had used force or threat of force to have sex with them. The forced sex experiences revealed are of three types: (1) forced sex as an aspect of a general pattern of spouse abuse, (2) forced sex which emerges from specific sexual conflicts in the relationship, and (3) cases involving bizarre sexual obsessions in the husbands not evident in the other cases. Generally, the victims did not resort to extreme tactics of resistance to forced sex because of a reluctance to anger the spouse or create a problem in the marriage. The women were often traumatized at the level of their ability to trust. It can leave a women feeling much more powerless and isolated than if she were raped by a stranger, since she continues to live with the perpetrator and is subject to repeated attacks. As of January 1982, about 36 of the 50 States and the District of Columbia exempt a husband from prosecution for rape of his wife, but it is doubtful that the elimination of this exclusion would radically change the extent of spousal rape because of the reluctance of women to report such an incident as a crime. Enforcement of such a law is further diluted by public apathy toward sexual abuse within a marital relationship. Twenty-one references are provided.