Marital Rape

If one were to look at beach attire for women in present times compared to that of 70 years ago, one would notice the drastic difference in what would be considered appropriate. Over the past century, there has been quite an obvious shift in how women are viewed in society and what they are allowed to do. Feminist movements and changes in values contributed to this shift, but for some women and men this shift isn’t big enough. Although some values have changed, there are some core values that have carried through each decade no matter how much push they receive. One of these core values is the idea of the patriarchy, or the dominance of men over women in society. From birth until death, our family, peers, and media still socialize us into …show more content…
Since marital rape has been such an overlooked topic, it is reported that anywhere from 10 to 34% of reported rape cases since the 1990s have been between intimate couples (Allen). Marital rape was actually not illegal or punished in any kind of matter in all 50 states until 1993, and even though it is illegal now, is still handled differently than rape outside of relationships. Again, I have never experienced domestic abuse in the form of rape, but it’s frightening to me that I didn’t realize it as an issue until recently, and that there are girls that still don’t know it exists. I, like many other girls and boys, have been taught that one of the duties of a wife is to please her husband sexually and bear him children, but I was never taught that I could say no. Where there are clear lines in what are safe party precautions, it seems as though there are lesser clear lines in acceptable behavior in marital …show more content…
Getting caught up in domestic abuse is a very dangerous yet a common result of the cycle of violence, which is a manipulation of a partner to stay in a relationship despite being abused, usually from being guilted or charmed by the abuser. Even though domestic abuse can go both ways in the relationship, it is cited in The Real World: An Introduction to Sociology that women can be 5 to 8 more times prone to domestic abuse. Going back to reference the conflict theory, this could most likely result from the difference in how men experience family versus women. Further, structural functionalism could explain marriage’s benefit in the production and socialization of children to contribute to society. Taking both of these theories into consideration, if a man were to feel threatened by his wife in his instrumental role as a primary provider or head of the family, he could easily resort to rape to regain his dominance over his wife