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Marital rape effects on women
Essay rape in marriage
Marital rape essay
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Thanh Nguyen C0211_3061 Nina Chapman Sociology 100 Nov 1 2014 Marital Rape Historically rape has been defined forced sexual intercourse (vaginally, orally or anally) with violence, the threat of violence or without the consent of the partner. This has traditionally excepted married individuals and included only victims who are relatively unknown to each other. Rape in general is found to be more common in patriarchal societies and the sexism that arises from it. Patriarchy is defined as: “a family, group or government controlled by a man or a group of men” (Merriam-Webster). Marital rape is easily overlooked because it is more easily invalidated. This gives it the appearance of being less harsh than acquaintance or stranger rape. Add to this that it is more than likely to be repeated by the same perpetrator, who realizes he can get away with it, as compared to the stranger rapist will more often than not hide or move on. Further, recovery and escape from the situation is made more difficult because the perpetrator is not on the street but in the victim’s home. Even more egregious the family and cultural sphere may socially view such behavior as acceptable. The marital exception arises historically from England’s Sir Matthew Hale who wrote …show more content…
Threats can range from simply physical harm to verbalizing the act of killing. The actual use of force can be the assailant holding down the victim until submitting or using physical force to inflict bodily harm until submission. It cannot be questioned that social and interpersonal types of coercion are domineering to women in society. It would appear these types of coercion could be labeled as rape but shouldn’t, even though they are reprehensible. In the interest of intervening on the interests of marital victims, it would far more useful to limit this to the threatened act of physical force or the actual
Rape is a virus that infects every nation, culture and society. It is constantly referred to as “the unfinished murder”, because of the deep state of despair the rapist leaves the victim in. There is no common identifiable trend that determines who will be a rape victim. Women are not assaulted because of their attitudes or actions, they are attacked simply because they are present. With rapists, just as with their victims, there is no identifiable trend. The old myth that only “sick, dirty, old, perverted men” commit rapes is a lie that society tells itself in order to sleep better at night. The startling truth is that most rapists work under a veil of normalcy. In order for the percentage of rapes to decrease, we have to change our ideas about rape and let go of the old myths of the past. And until this happens, rape will continue to plague our world at large.
Stark (2006) would suggest that thirty years of research has failed to produce a consensus as to what constitutes a case of domestic violence considering that 90% of women who report the abuse have no physical injuries. Methods of coercive control do not meet the criminological viewpoint rather, control extends to financial, emotional, and psychological aspects of subjugating the partner thus no physical violence occurs. If only violent means are reported, then the reported number of victims would perhaps change thus creating a more gender symmetrical pattern. Until operational definitions are defined throughout the disciplines with consistency then there will continue to be discrepancies and opposing views. However, integrative theories of feminist views are being explored which investigate the intersection of not only male dominance as a form of oppression but the use of race, class, national origin, age, sexual orientation, and disability and their impact on intimate partner violence as stated by McPhail and colleagues
Dowd states in his article, “The Battered Woman Defense” It’s History and Future, that essential to the existence of domestic violence is the denial of the equality of women in cultures that perceived this denial as both acceptable and lawful.”(1) In Roman times a husband was permitted to use reasonable physical force, including blackening her eyes or breaking her nose, in disciplining his wife. (Dowd) Today, many men still continue to use this type of physical force to control their woman even though equality should exist between the two. Many women are in abusive situations and at times feel they are trapped in their own body. A man raping his wife has only been considered illegal for roughly the last fifteen years and that’s only in a few states. Other states require evidence or other types of pro...
Rape until 2012 was defined as “The carnal knowledge of a female forcibly and against her will.” It was severely lacking was only updated by the Federal Bureau of Instigation in 2012. It left out an entire section of rape that can be committed which is man being the rape victim. This lead to misclassification of rape of males for years. So even the statistics used till 2014 were underwhelming and inaccurate when it was related to male rape or sexual assault. Rape in the United States is now defined by the Department of Justice as “Penetration, no matter how slight, of the vagina or anus with any body part or object, or oral penetration by a sex organ of another person, without the consent of the victim.” Male Rape or men being the sexual assault victims are rarely ever the subject of a dialogue when Sexual Assault is the topic being discussed because rape is generally seen as a heterosexual highly sexed male attack on vulnerable, attractively dressed female victim. Most rapists have alternative outlets for sexual gratification, many take little notice of their victim 's physical attributes, and some may experience sexual dysfunction during the assault.
Sexual violence can happen to anyone. In fact, one out of every six women has been the victim of an attempted or completed rape in her lifetime. Although, it is women who are targeted most often, it is important to understand that rape can occur to any person, regardless of various factors such as age, race, sex, ethnicity, and sexual orientation. What many people do not ponder is that most of the time when a woman is raped, she is actually blamed for the assault. As Aosved mentions in her article titled, ‘Co-occurrence of Rape Myth Acceptance, Sexism, Racism, Homophobia, Ageism, Classism, and Religious Intolerance’, she states
The term reproductive coercion (RC) describes behaviors that assert control over an intimate partner’s reproductive autonomy (policy). This can include tampering with contraceptives to cause pregnancy (e.g, poking holes in condoms, destroying hormonal contraceptives, dislodging IUDs), or using physical or psychological means to coerce a female partner into becoming pregnant or terminating a pregnancy (policy). Although there are many studies classifying RC as intimate partner violence (milller et al), it is not recognized under the domestic violence laws in the United States (georgetown). Because RC is rarely brought into court, the perpetrators of the coercion avoid any legal repercussions, their partners continue to be victimized (citation
Prison settings may harden an individual and in turn challenge those people who have never been incarcerated or who already have a predisposed fear about being behind prison walls. Physical and mental hardships may await a large majority of convicts due to serve their sentence. Consequently, among those unpleasant experiences lies the issue of same-sex rape.
Rape culture is an issue that has gained moment through the feminist movement within the last couple of decades. Rape itself has been around since the beginning of time and its definition has changed over the years. In the United States before 1993, a woman could not charge her husband for rape. The definition of rape varies by state and each state has it’s own set of rape laws. According to Women Against Violence Against Women (WAVAW), rape culture “is a term that was coined by feminists in the United States in the 1970’s. It was designed to show the ways in which society blamed victims of sexual assault and normalized male sexual violence.”1 Rape culture existed in the 1970’s and still exists today.
The Center of Disease Control highlights the corresponding injuries and violence prevention topics through the division of intimate partner violence into four main types, which are physical, sexual, threats of physical or sexual, and psychological or emotional. Physical violence includes the purposeful use of physical force such as shoving, choking, shaking, slapping, punching, burning that results in physical harm, disability, or even death (Center for Disease Control and Prevention). Sexual violence is forcing a partner to take part in a sex act when the partner does not consent. Threats of physical and sexual harm communicate the intent to cause death, disability, injury, or physical harm through the use of words, gestures, or weapons. “Psychological or emotional violence traumatizes the victim by acts, threats of acts, or coercive tactics” (Center for Disease Control and Prevention). This method can be induced thr...
In the 1970s, feminists coined the term Rape Culture. The term is a combination of Rape, a form of sexual assault involving sexual penetration without consent, and Culture, the ideas, customs, and social behavior of society. When put together, Rape Culture comprises of a collection of beliefs that encourage sexual aggression and supports violence against women. Rape Culture allows the justification of rape and allowing rape to flourish. While some find it difficult to identify elements linked to Rape Culture, the examples below will highlight everyday occurrences that show its prevalence.
It was once acceptable for men to have full control over women, declaring when they will marry and when they will have children. However, over the past centuries, women have established a place in society, proving themselves much more than someone's property. This is why the word “rape” today is not taken lightly. According to findlaw.com, “Rape generally refers to non-consensual sexual intercourse that is committed by physical force, threat of injury, or other duress.” When one does not give consent to sex, it is considered a felony, possibly putting the rapist in jail. Contrary to sexual assault, “Sex is reified as penile-vaginal intercourse while an extremely diverse group of pleasurable and sexually stimulating activities are dismissively relegated to the category of foreplay...” (Reinholtz, Muehlenhard, Phelps, & Satterfield, 1995.) Although consented sexual intercourse is much more out in the open and accepted in society, the problem of rape is still very relevant behind the scenes.
The Merriam Webster dictionary Defines rape as “unlawful sexual activity and usually sexual intercourse carried out forcibly or under threat of injury against the will usually of a female or with a person who is beneath a certain age or incapable of valid consent because of mental illness, mental deficiency, intoxication, unconsciousness, or deception”. Rape seems like an act that an individual would never think of committing. However, rape happens every day in many different instances, and what's worse, the excuse for certain rape cases. In my paper I'll be breaking down the social issue of rape through the structural functionalism theory, the conflict theory, and the symbolic interactionism theory. With the conflict theory I'll be examining
What do you think and feel when you hear the word rape? Do you feel uncomfortable? Maybe even angry? Your certain feelings and emotions towards this word is a result of rape culture. Rape culture, essentially, is how a society as a whole sees and reacts towards rape or instances of rape. In 2013 rape was defined by the FBI as, “Penetration… of the vagina or anus with any body part or object, or oral penetration by a sex organ of another person, without the consent of the victim.” (Division’s Crime Statistics Management Unit 1). The definition was finally changed after the old definition deemed inappropriate by today’s standards, which beforehand, stated that physical force needed to be used for rape to be considered rape. This is good news for men and women who have been fighting for the definition to be changed, but unfortunately this does not mean that state laws are being changed the same way. Even though the FBI may acknowledge the older inappropriate definition, most states do not. Sexual assault is a commonly unreported crime, where only an average of 36% of sexual abuse is actually reported to the authorities (Planty 7). Some forms of rape can include physical harm, threats, and even death of the victim, and most victims do not want to tell others for fear of criticism, self-blame, or even the fear that their attackers will carry out on their threats. In many cases, victims do have a reason to be afraid. When someone is brave enough to come forward and say they were sexually assaulted, they are putting themselves in the position of being in not only a long legal process, but also having their motives questioned and misunderstood, which is the last thing they want after their experience. The legal system in the United States...
Rape is non-consensual sexual intercourse that a male performs against a woman whom he is neither married to or cohabiting with. The definition of rape changes by geographic location. In some countries a woman must prove she is pure in order to find the perpetrator guilty. Rape used to be more of a violation to the man than to the women. It was a violation of the man’s rights if his wife or girlfriend was raped. When a woman is raped her devotion to her family is questioned. Rape is a violent act, an act of possession, not a sexual act. The myth that men who rape women are sexually pathological has begun to be dispelled and replaced with an understanding that rape is an act of anger, power and control rather than lust.
Webster’s Dictionary describes rape as the crime of forcing another person to submit to sex acts, especially sexual intercourse. Rape is a crime in which most women cannot defend themselves. The fear of rape plagues every woman at some point or another in her life. The traumatic effects of rape vary from mild to severe, from psychological to physical. This paper will evaluate rape, as well as the effects it has on women, the theory behind male dominance and patriarchy, and differences in demographics.