A tremendous amount of work went into giving spouses legal recourse if they are assaulted by their spouse. Prior to this work, you couldn't even bring
A tremendous amount of work went into giving spouses legal recourse if they are assaulted by their spouse. Prior to this work, you couldn’t even bring it up in court or to church leaders. It just wasn’t a thing. Silence.
📍 United States
For most of U.S. history, marital rape was not considered a crime.
Based on English common law, it was believed that a wife gave irrevocable sexual consent upon marriage.
1970s–1990s: Legal reform begins.
The first state to make marital rape illegal: South Dakota (1975)
By 1993, all 50 U.S. states had some form of law against marital rape—but with major exceptions and loopholes in many states (e.g., requiring force or living separately).
Even today, some states still treat it differently than non-marital rape in terms of sentencing or standards of proof.
📍 United Kingdom
Until 1991, marital rape was considered legally impossible.
In R v. R (1991), the House of Lords officially ruled that a husband could be guilty of raping his wife.
Prior to that, English law followed the 17th-century doctrine of Sir Matthew Hale, who stated:
“The husband cannot be guilty of a rape committed by himself upon his lawful wife.”
📍 Canada
Marital rape became a crime in 1983, following feminist and survivor-led reform.
📍 Australia
Laws varied by state; marital rape was criminalized state-by-state between 1976 and 1994.
🚨 Why Was It Allowed So Long?
Rooted in the idea that wives were property, and that marriage created perpetual sexual access.
Courts and lawmakers historically treated rape within marriage as a private matter, not a crime.
Victims often had no legal standing or recourse if raped by their spouse.
💔 The Impact
This legal blind spot silenced millions of women. Intentionally.
It legitimized violence in the one place society claims should be safe: the home.
It denied bodily autonomy, even after women gained voting and labor rights.
🕊 Today
Yes—marital rape is now illegal in most Western nations.
But legal does not always mean believed.
Or prosecuted.
Or safe.
And globally, marital rape is still legal in over 30 countries.
*Please talk with the person you are dating about this. If they say something like: “You can’t rape your wife/partner. You’re married.” Or laugh…. For your own health and safety, don’t even think about marrying that person.
