Sunita, a middle class innocent girl, the first time her husband raped her was on their wedding night. Only 18 years old and in an arranged marriage with a man she barely knew, she didn’t think that he would demand sex on the night they got married. He did. She wasn’t ready for it. It didn’t matter. For the six years that they were married, the husband would get drunk, beat her and demand sex. She went to police. They were sympathetic but told her to ‘adjust’. Finally, though her parents opposed it- “oh the shame, what will people say”- she decided to walk out and divorced.
The case of Sunita case underlines the extent of issue of Marital rape in India. By definition, marital rape or spousal rape is the act of sexual intercourse with one’s spouse without the spouse’s consent. Although, historically, sexual intercourse within marriage was regarded as a right of spouses, engaging in the act without the spouse’s consent is now widely classified as rape by many societies around the world, repudiated by international conventions, and increasingly criminalized.
In current write up we will see the types of marital rape and analyse the causes and consequence of the marital rape. We will also look into the obstacles in dealing with this issue. Further, we will see what should be our way forward.
TypesOne of the common type of marital rape is ‘Non-physical sexual coercion’. Here, instead of physically overpowering the woman, the man may use different tactics to make the woman submit to sexual acts such as coercion or threats. A study had found that 30 percent of women gave in the demands of their husband because they were afraid of dire consequences.
‘Force only rape’ is another type of marital rape. In such cases, one partner use physical violence only to the degree necessary to have sex with the another partner’s will.
‘Battering rape’ is the commonest form of martial rape according to a study conducted. Forty eight percent of all marital rapes come under this category. In such cases, the rape occurs as a continuation of the physical assault. In some cases, The physical violence also continues during sex and the sexual act is also violent.
‘Obsessive rape’ is the worst form of the marital rape. In such cases, the one partner expect the victim to comply with unusual sexual activities. The person have a preoccupation with sex and experience sexual arousal from perverted acts and by inflicting pain on their partner.
Although most research is focused on wives as victims of marital rape, husbands experience marital rape as well. Little research exists focusing on the specific situation of non-consensual wife-to-husband sexual relations. Some studies suggest that men and women have nearly the same annual rates of victimization of violence by a marital partner. However the this rate victimization of violence does not reflect the rate of marital rape. And in patriarchal societies the marital rape is generally inflicted on the female partner.
Now, we shall analyse what are the causes and consequences of the marital rape.
Causes and consequenceDominance is one of the major factor among many others. According to some psychiatrist, “When discord between the spouses increases, the husband may try to assert himself by forcing himself upon the woman”. The spouse will use the ultimate weapon in his arsenal to demean and degrade her. In doing so, The man wants to assert that he is more powerful than the woman and she will be forever at his mercy.
Another factor is Sexual dissonance between the couple. Sometimes, the woman may not be interested in sex and may refuse her husband. Men are generally more oversexed than women are. So when the man is denied sex, he treats it as an insult to his manhood. This may cause discord between the couple and the man, in a bid to overcome the humiliation of sexual rejection, will force himself upon the wife.
Further, In some cultures, marriage is arranged for the purpose of creating access to procreation and the parties do not necessarily consent to marriage. Following this logic, if consent is not part of marriage, then it is not necessary for intercourse. Thus, cultural factors are also associated with the phenomenon of marital rape. As historically, many cultures have had a concept of spouses’ conjugal rights[10] to sexual intercourse with each other.
The lack of check under customary and statutory laws further gives sense of legitimacy of such act. Still, in many countries, marital rape either remains outside the criminal law, or is illegal but widely tolerated.
Similarly, prevalent patriarchal social system, incidences of forced and child marriage, lack of women empowerment, etc further undermine the women’s position in the via-a-via her husband. This give the male partner a sense of Hypermasculinity over the women and marital rape can follow up.
Coming to consequences of marital rape, The psychological trauma felt by the victim is the most common consequences. They are violated by someone with whom they share their lives, homes and children. In addition to violation of their bodies, they are faced with a betrayal of trust and intimacy. It is well said, “When a woman is raped by a stranger, she has to live with a frightening memory. When she is raped by her husband, she has to live with the rapist“.
The fear, anxiety, a sense of low self-worth and a deep self hatred is the other common consequences of the marital rape.
The broken marriage is another result of the marital rape. However, the victim of rape may remain in the marriage for a variety of reasons. These include: fear of more violence, loss of financial security, a low sense of self-worth and false hope that their partner will change.
Looking to the obstacles involved in the dealing with the problem of marital rape.
Historically, our society has found it difficult to comprehend the concept of marital rape. Broad view that “How is it rape if they are married?” is the major obstruction while dealing with the problem of marital rape. Patriarchal view sees the marriage is a legitimate license a man to have intercourse with the women without any regard for his wife’s self respect and dignity. Even a major section of women themselves seems to accept this patriarchal view and consider it to be duty of women to satisfy the sexual need of men. Thus, social acceptance of this phenomenon not only impedes our endeavor in dealing with the problem but also further strengthen such trend.
Absence of legal check is another obstruction in the dealing with this menace. For example, elaborate clauses in section 375 of the Indian Penal code describes the circumstances under which a person can be tried for rape. But sadly, none offers protection to the victim if the offender happens to be his or her own spouse.
Another issue here is the religious sanction behind the sacred institution of marriage. The interfering with the marriage institution may have wider implications politically and socially. As the government had filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court arguing against criminalizing marital rape. Doing so would “destabilize the institution of marriage, apart from being an easy tool for harassing husbands,” the affidavit said.
Lack of reporting of such incidence also a obstruction as it covers the real extent of the issue at hand. The National Family Health Survey (NFHS)-4 reported that among married women (15-49 age) who were victims of sexual violence, over 83% reported their current husband as the perpetrators. While the form of sexual violence most commonly reported by women was that their husband used physical force to have sexual intercourse when they did not want to.
Now having looked into the obstacles in resolving the issue. Going ahead, what should be our approach while dealing with such complex and controversial issue? Our approach should be holistic in nature which will involve taking appropriate action socio-economic and political.
The speard of awareness among both male and female population about the gravity of the issue involved will be the key in preventing the phenomenon of marital rape. Including the subject in school education and associated value inculcation though media, civil society and religious leaders will take us a long way ahead towards preventing this social evil.
The appropriate legal measures can be adopted by the government while taking necessary safeguards for preventing misuse of the law. The judicial action can also play a major role as we had seen that Vishakha guideline for the cases of sexual harassment had led to enactment of the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013. In 2018, the Delhi high court have already pointed out that not recognizing marital rape as an offence violates a woman’s right to access to justice and impinge the women right to privacy.
The socio-economic empowerment of women will also help us preventing the marital rape. As currently, victims tend to accept the marital rape because of social pressure and financial insecurity.
Now, if the marital rape has already occured, there should be proper facilities of shelter house, psychotherapy and medical treatment. Such action will help the women to regain their sense of self-worthiness and coming back normal.
The government has already taken measures to stop the domestic violence such as Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 which includes physical, emotional, sexual, verbal, and economic abuse as domestic violence. Government has also issued a women helpline number for women in distress situation. Again the national commission for women looks into all these matters related to the women safety. However, the marital rape is not currently recognized as separate crime nor covered under the section 375 of IPC if the wife is above 15 year of age.
Thus, the time has come for us to look into the issue of marital rape at granular level. The constitutional vision of equal and just society can not be realised when a large section of population continue facing such grim social evil in their daily life. Also to truly achieve the SDG-5 (gender equality and empower all women and girls) we must ensure the fair deal for women (also men) in the marriage. Above all strength of the nation is based on the strength of the society and strength of the society is based on the strength of the institution of marriage. So, we the people of India should no more tolerate the evil like marital rape to ruin the life of innocent girls like Sunita.
