Marital Rape Essay

Marital Rape and Its Impact on Women Research Project
Marital rape is a term that is seldom used in legal system and even less often in our society in general. In fact, I would guess that most people did not even realize such an act was real or that this crime truly existed, let alone understand to severity of this act. Unfortunately, I have quickly learned that this violent crime is commonly committed, but infrequently reported and is a large issue that negatively affects and hurts women today.
The key to understanding the impact marital rape has on women is to recognize what marital rape actually is. For many people, this is a foreign concept that they do not fully comprehend because it is something we rarely discuss. It is also helpful to define the act of rape before discussing marital rape because it can benefit one in comprehending the act. According to Babalola Abegunde, author of the article “Re-Examination of Rape and Its Growing Jurisprudence under International Law” published in the Journal of Politics and Law, the word rape, “originates from the Latin verb ‘rapere,’ meaning to ‘seize or take by force” (qtd. in Abegunde). Likewise, the Merriam-Webster Dictionary Online 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” (“rape”). In short, rape is forceful sexual assault against an unwilling participant. Similarly, Abegunde defines marital rape, or spousal rape as it is sometimes called, as “a non-consensual sex in which the perpetrator is the victim’s spouse” (Abegunde). In addition, the Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network states th...

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...nd even if it does, there are certain times and cases in which a man should not be punished for the crime. In fact, even though there are laws about marital rape today, the situation still exists and has long-lasting negative effects on women including physically injury, depression, intense fear, isolation, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Unfortunately, marital rape is another way in which some men attempt to gain or maintain control and power over women as well as humiliate and oppress women. As a result, marital rape is just one of the many ways women are objectified, dominated, and mistreated in our current society and the cycle will continue unless we take great measures to change the situation. Women need to report abuse when it happens no matter what the circumstances are and the legal system needs to recognize marital rape as rape without and exceptions.