INTERNATIONAL LAWS:
International human rights have recognized that private domain cannot be exempted from the general norms of protection of rights of women which means that marital rape cannot be exempted from being labelled as an offence merely because it falls within the private domain of the marital rape. United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights had, in December 1993, published The United Nations Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against women also clearly states that marital rape shall be included in the ambit of violence against women and hence, laws shall be made to protect women from such violence. This was not fully recognised by all the UN member states and was ignored by many countries. In fact, only 17 countries
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Movement for criminalisation of marital rape started sometime in mid-1970s and by 1993 all the 50 states had criminalised marital rape. For example, California has two different offences, Article 261 for rape and Article 262 for spousal rape.
Abolition of exemption of marital rape in England and Wales occurred in 1991 by the Appellate Committee of the House of Lords and no different punishment is attached to marital rape, meaning thereby marital rape is treated no differently as rape merely because of spousal relationship.
The first Australian state that dealt with marital rape in Australia was South Australia by partial removal of exemption. However, marital rape was not treated equal to rape and no aggravated form of punishment is attached with marital rape. New South Wales was the first state that completely removed marital exemption and criminalised marital rape in
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food, clothing and shelter but also includes writing and expressing oneself in diverse forms and also recognises autonomy of an individual. Through various landmark judgments, Supreme Court has ruled that that rape is not merely an offence against the victim but the entire society as a whole and it is not merely and humiliation of woman. It is held that rape is clearly a violation of right to life and right to live with dignity . Marital exemption to rape violates the right of wife to live with dignity and any law which gives the husband autonomy to compel his wife to have a forced sexual intercourse which is without her consent as well as against her will violates the very essence of right to life under Article 21 and hence, be declared as
In conclusion, Rape Shield laws are in place to protect the victims, sometimes it works and at other times the victim can be ridiculed and their past can be advertised, due to many holes and ways around the
Oftentimes, the things individuals take for granted as preexisting facts are merely the products of social construction, which exert tremendous impacts on belief and action. Men and women are socially constructed categories inscribed by norms of masculinity and femininity that enables rape to occur. Catharine MacKinnon claims that rape is defined in a male perspective, which lacks the account of female experience. On the other hand, Sharon Marcus argues that rape is a constructed language that scripts the female body. As bell hooks points out, black men celebrate “rape culture” as a mean of expressing patriarchal dominance and endorsing female subordination. In order to redefine rape and to develop effective rape prevention, it is crucial to deconstruct the predetermined assumptions about men and women. Rape is socially constructed, through the ways how individuals possess misogynistic ideologies and endorse patriarchal power, turning the erotic fantasy of male dominance into “reality”.
Rape Shield Laws Facing with much criticism from women’s group with the legal definitions of rape and how rape cases are being processed in the legal system, the government is forced to pass a Rape Law reform in the 1970s. Rape law reform urging courts to treat rape case the same as other crimes, rape law reforms modified traditional rape laws and ratified evidentiary reforms in every state in the United States. The most common and widespread changes occurred in three areas. First, rape was redefined so that there was no longer a single crime of rape.
Sexual assault is the act of sexual intercourse without consent of the other person according to New South Wales Consolidation Act of 1900 (Austlii 2011) and is also described by the Australian Standard Offence Classification as ‘non-consensual’ acts or intents of sexual nature (ASOC 2008, p. 31) has become one of the most predominate crimes creating social harm in Australia. Social harm is defined as the negative influence through consequences impacting from the individual to the living conditions of the surrounding public (Cain & Howe 2008, p. 26). Sexual assault poses a social threat to all aspects of community, spreading insecurity in the 9000 victims across Australia and 1900 victims in NSW alone as indicated in the Australian Bureau of Statistics Crime Victimisation Report (ABS 2011, p. 40). This is supported by the victimization rate of all sexually assaulted victims between ages 10 to 14 being 4 times greater than all the other age groups (ABS 2010). Another major issue within the boundaries of sexual assault is that it holds one of the lowest prosecution rates with only 1 in 10 incidents able to prosecute the offender as guilty (Fitzgerald 2006, Pg. 1). The abundance of statistics and reports conducted all imply that sexual assault is still a predominate issue of crime within Australia.
The laws included have been specifically listed to support the author’s point of view toward women’s rights. The article lists and argues the effects of the experiences of the victims, which is a plus because I will build up these experiences to argue in my inquiry paper that marital rape exists and brings only negative experiences. Furthermore, in a marriage both parties have to consent in having sexual intercourse not just one is allowed to decide for the other. With that said the author then includes equality between men and women. It talks about women’s right not being so equally balanced to men 's rights, which is why men are exempt to be prosecuted for raping their wives. The author brought out a big point on equality, men and women do indeed have different levels of equality. Men usually have a bigger range of power over women and the whole topic of marital rape is wrapped around equality. With that said without unbalanced equality between men and women marital rape would not be an issue. At the end of the article the author finally states its position clearly over marital rape and women. The author argues that marital rape
Eileraas, Karina. "Rape, Legal Definitions of." Encyclopedia of Women in Today's World. Ed. Mary Zeiss Stange, Carol K. Oyster, and Jane E. Sloan. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE, 2011. 1205-09. SAGE Reference Online. Web. 4 Apr. 2012.
Rape is a physical attack, not sex. Rape crisis counselors and researchers define rape as an act of violence in which sex is used as a weapon (Benedict 2). A woman is raped in this country every two minutes. Between 1996 &1999 7,787,00 rapes were reported. The actual number is much, much higher because only 26% of rapes are reported. Husbands or boyfriends assaulted 28% of these women, 35% of these women were raped by people they knew; 1 in 4 of these rapes took place in a public place (Grady 4). Rape is a problem that infiltrates all countries and cultures; a Muslim woman who has been raped is disowned by her fiancé and her family for having brought them shame by becoming dirtied and thus not a candidate for marriage (Benedict 2).
Lynch, Michael W. “Enforcing ‘Statutory Rape ‘?.” Public Interest 132 (1998): 3. Points of View
The 2003 Act also changes the law on consent and belief in consent. Convicting a person of rape is defined under the Sexual Offences Act 2003 s1, it is as follows; “A person (A) commits an offence if: he intentionally penetrates the vagina, anus or mouth of another person with his penis, if person (B) does not consent to the penetration and if person (A) does not reasonably believe that (B) consents”.... ... middle of paper ... ...
Rape was considered a crime at the time, but Common law made it impossible for man to be persecuted for abusing or raping his property. The unities theory also was a cause to making it impossible to prosecute, this theory made it ineligible for domestic violence victims to file for suits for physical damage. Through the years Acts and laws have been passed to help women gain equality, protection, and rights but no immediate change affected the legality of marital rape. Until the 1970’s in the United States, member of acts and movements fought to criminalize marital rape. On July 5, 1993, marital rape became a crime in all 50 states in at least one section of the sexual offense codes. Like the domino effect, the laws begin to gain national attention across the world and countries begin to consider
Man charged with the rape of 31 women in New York! Ever caught the headline of a crime that occurred and wondered how a person could possibly commit such a heinous act against another person? This is the job of a criminologist. To study crimes, criminals, victims, environmental and social factors, etc. in order to come up with theories and reasons as to why people commit acts against others (Brotherton). Criminology is not a new concept, but it is an evolving one. For this reason many theories have derived from sociologist and psychologist as to why crimes are committed, who commits them, and other the factors that played a role. Take for instance the crime rape. Rape is an unwanted sexual act performed upon another individual by force, deception or while under the influence of a substance. While most rape victims are known to be women, this crime has been expanded to include rape against a man or a person of the same sex. Rape is not an easy concept to deal with, nor is dealing with a rapist. For the purpose of this paper, rape will be explained by three theories, biological, psychological and rational choice theory, all of which criminologist have deemed are fitting of the crime.
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...
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 woman. 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.
Is anyone truly a stranger to nightmares? Has anyone not woken up in a feverish sweat with a racing pulse or pounding heart? Whose eyes have never wildly searched their room for the phantoms of a dream? Now, what if the familiar consolation of learning it was all in your head never came? How do you wake up from a nightmare that is, in fact, a reality? I think I’m getting ahead of myself. What I mean to say is, I was raped, and rape is a nightmare.
In today’s globalized world, women’s studies is emerging as a fast growing discipline which is not restricted any more to the academia but is significantly capturing the attention of the civil society. The way civil society responded to “Nirbhaya” gang-rape case of December, 2012 in Delhi; the way people came on the streets in protest against this horrific and barbarous crime committed against a 23 year old woman; this people’s movement has undoubtedly engineered the emergence of a new consciousness among us about the need for a realization of women’s honour and dignity in the society. There have been serious debates on the issue of whether more stringent laws (in the line of Shari’a law) be implemented in our Indian society so that such heinous crimes against women can be prevented. However, the aforesaid incident is only one among many hundred other such crimes happening everyday in almost every corner of the globe. Many such incidents of crime are either suppressed or do not come to limelight. The following analysis is a humble attempt to deal with the status of women (especially in Islam) in a globalized world.