Andrew Smith/Photography Editor
It is impossible for a man to rape his wife. To the best of my knowledge, rape means having sex with someone without their consent. In the case of a marriage, there is consent. It is universally accepted that sex between married couples is inevitable. So inevitable and intrinsic is it to marriage that a marriage can be annulled on the grounds that sex had not taken place.
It goes without saying, therefore, that blanket consent was given at the time of taking the marriage vows, and said consent cannot be just withdrawn on a whim and one's partner charged with rape. This whole issue, therefore, rests on the question of consent, and I have demonstrated that there is, in fact, consent. So the question is: How can somebody be charged for rape if his/her partner had given consent?
There are no known rules governing sex between husband and wife - only on weekends; only Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays; every third Thursday; only when I don't have a headache, only when I'm not mad at you, etc., etc. - which would then lead to a possible interpretation that sex outside of a given set of parameters is rape. No. The rules governing sex between married couples are totally optional for the couple.
Contending that a husband can rape his wife is like saying that if a man ignores his wife's basic needs and she takes money from his wallet (without his "consent") to buy food, she should go to prison - since this implies that a man has no intrinsic responsibility to support his wife.
WHERE A MARRIAGE HAS BROKEN DOWN
Even in a case where a marriage has broken down and there is some legal impediment to his contacting her (in which case we can assume that consent had been withdrawn), it could then be considered that a sexual crime was committed. However, while in this case it boils down to semantics, I would still have a problem with the word "rape" within ANY context of a marriage. If the man has to be charged, he should be charged with some kind of assault but given the same sentence as for a rape charge.
Keep marriage special! Keep sex as a natural act within a marriage. The laws of the land should recognise the sanctity of sex as an intrinsic part of a marriage and eschew the ridiculous concept of rape between consenting adults.
- Xavier Newton-Bryant
