A review of marital rape

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Abstract

The current paper represents a comprehensive review of marital rape, including its legal history and numerous aspects of its perpetration and victimization. Specifically, this review focuses on theories and forms of marital rape, the scope of the problem, risk factors, resistance strategies, and marital rape's psychological and physical effects, and help-seeking behaviors and interventions for victims. Historically, marital rape has not been recognized as a criminal act; only recently has marital rape become illegal in all 50 states. Marital rape is a serious societal issue that is experienced by 10% to 14% of all married women and 40% to 50% of battered women. Marriages in which marital rape occurs have significantly higher rates of non-sexual violence and marital dissatisfaction, as well as lower ratings of marital quality. Victims who resist marital rape often employ verbal means of resistance. However, most of marital rape victims are either unable or afraid to resist sexual aggression by their husbands. Victims of marital rape experience significant levels of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, gynecological problems, and negative physical health symptoms. Victims of marital rape seek help from a variety of different resources. Seeking help from social service agencies and the law appears to be the most effective behaviors for ending marital rape. Stress inoculation therapy and cognitive processing therapy are promising treatments for victims of marital rape. The literature on marital rape is characterized by considerable methodological problems, and further research is needed to gain a better understanding of this problem.

Section snippets

Legal history

Historically, men who rape their wives have been exempt from legal punishment (Russell, 1990). The marital rape exemption found its roots in 17th century English common law with Sir William Hale, an English chief justice. Hale laid the ground work for the marital rape exemption by stating that “the husband cannot be guilty of a rape committed by himself upon his lawful wife, for by their mutual matrimonial consent and contract the wife hath given up herself in this kind unto her husband, which

Theories of marital rape

Several theorists have adapted existing theories such as feminist theory, social constructionism, and sex-role socialization to explain marital rape and its history of social and legal acceptance. Feminist theory scholars define marital rape as a means of social control and dominance over women through the use of the patriarchal family. Feminists use several terms, such as “patriarchal terrorism” and “license to rape,” to refer to the social control of women by men. “Patriarchal terrorism,” as

Non-physical sexual coercion

Perpetrators of marital rape will often use different tactics to make their victims submit to sexual acts, such as non-physical sexual coercion and threatened or forced sex. Non-physical sexual coercion is important to consider because it occurs more often than threatened or forced sex. Meyer, Vivian, and O'Leary (1998) found that 36% of 244 women seeking marital therapy had experienced non-physical sexual coercion, whereas 5% had experienced threatened or forced sex. Finkelhor and Yllo (1988)

Methodological issues

Many difficulties arise when attempting to estimate rates of marital rape. Victims of marital rape may not identify themselves as victims due to beliefs of “wifely duty,” victim-blame, and the stigma attached to marital rape (Basile, 2002, Hanneke et al., 1986). Many women do not report marital rape because they are ashamed or fearful of others reactions (Basile, 2002, Gelles, 1977, Hanneke et al., 1986). They may fear they will be blamed or that they will not be believed, and may also fear

Methodological issues

Research on risk factors for marital rape suffers from some of the same methodological issues as research on the rates of marital rape. For example, most of the research in this area has been conducted with women who have sought help from battered women's shelters or rape crisis centers, and may not be applicable to all marital rape victims. Also, the majority of research assessing the characteristics of marital rape perpetrators does not include such perpetrators in their samples. Rather,

Resistance to marital rape

Relatively little research has looked out how marital rape victims resist their perpetrators. Clay-Warner (2003) examined self-protective actions in the context of rape in a subsample of 453 women who had reported rape or attempted rape by a single male assailant in the National Crime Victimization Survey. This research found that women who had experienced intimate partner rape or attempted rape were 68% less likely to resist than women who had experienced rape or attempted rape by someone

Methodological issues

Several methodological issues present a challenge for researchers assessing the effects of marital rape. First, many women who report marital rape also report the experience of intimate partner physical violence, with these women often describing their sexual aggression victimization as representing a component of a larger pattern of abuse (Finkelhor and Yllo, 1985, Russell, 1990, Shields and Hanneke, 1983). This makes it difficult to disentangle the relative effects of these two forms of

Help-seeking behaviors

While most women leave their abusive relationships, some women do not, and most do not leave immediately. Bergen (1996) found that most of the women in her sample did not seek help or decide to leave their husbands until they noticed a change in the frequency or severity of the sexual abuse and they feared their husband would hurt someone else or they would hurt their husband. The choice to seek help is effected by a myriad of factors, such as fear of retaliation, helplessness, embarrassment,

Methodological issues

To date, minimal research has been conducted on treatments for marital rape. Work in this area has been qualitative and focused on the interaction between the patient and client. There have been no controlled clinical trials for treatment of marital rape. Given the serious nature of marital rape and the pattern of help-seeking in victims, clinicians and researchers should consider developing and implementing treatments designed specifically for this problem. Stress inoculation therapy and

Summary and conclusions

Since the 1970s, considerable legal advances have brought attention to the problem of marital rape, and currently all states have laws sanctioning this form of abuse. Several theorists have attempted to explain the legal history and persistence of marital rape by adapting theories to incorporate marital rape into their framework. Marital rape can involve both the use and threat of force as well as coercion, which can be an important determinant in whether victims classify their experiences as

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