Spousal Rape

AJ> That's like saying that a wife can't be raped since she agreed
AJ>  to have sex with her husband. What she
AJ> agreed upon  was coital sex in a friendly environment -
AJ> not forced sex.

Unfortunately in KY,MO,NM,NC,OK,SC,SD, and UT a marriage license is a licence to rape your wife. In these states a husband cannot legally rape his wife. There are only 16 states where it is possible to rape your wife with no exceptions: AL,AK,AR,CO,FL,GA,IN,ME,MA,NE, NJ,NY,ND,OR,VT,WI, and DC as well as on any federal land. In the other 26 states there are exceptions that allow a husband to legally rape his wife. California's exception to spousal rape typify the lot. The rape must be reported within 90 days, unlike other rape in which the only limit is that of the statute of limitations. In CA wife rape is also not a crime if:

1. The wife is unable to give consent because of a mental disorder, developmental or physical disability.

2. The wife is prevented from resisting due to intoxicating, anesthetic, or controlled substances (i.e. illegal drugs) administered by her husband or about which is cognizant. (not only is it not rape if she is drunk, but her husband can drug her against her will and then rape her, and not have it considered a crime. This is so @#$% wrong!!!! I had a fit when I read it.)

3. The wife is unconscious or unaware of the nature of the act at the time it occurred.

4. Intercourse is forced on the wife by threat of deportation or incarceration by a husband who is a *public official* such as a police officer or **who poses as such**. In other words if you are or pretend to be a public official and marry a foreigner, and force her to have sex against her will by threatening to deport her, you have not committed rape. This kind of injustice written into the laws of my beloved CA make me want to stay in Vermont.

As if all this wasn't bad enough a convicted wife rapist does not have to report as a sex offender with the rest of the rapists. And husband/rapists are the only rapists who can be charged with misdemeanor rape i.e. it's only as bad as a speeding ticket. Of course CA is not alone in this injustice, the other 26 states that have not been mentioned are guilty of the same or similar exceptions. In CT,DE,KY,MT,NM, and PA cohabitors are treated as wives in their ability to be raped or not. Finally in DE a "voluntary social companion" (i.e. date, friend whom you are with, etc.) cannot be first degree raped.

Robert
P.S.

This goes to show how little change has really occurred. These stats are as of July 1989 found in Rape in Marriage by Diana Russell 1990.

Go Back to Shy David's Sexual Assault Page.