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28 Crime & Delinquency 459 (1982)
Forced Sex in Marriage: A Preliminary Research Report

handle is hein.journals/cadq28 and id is 445 raw text is: Forced Sex in Marriage: A Preliminary Research Report David Finkelhor Kersti Yllo There is increasing evidence that forced sex in marriage is a wide- spread social problem. This paper reports some initial findings from a study of the victims of forced marital sex. Such incidents seem to occur both in generally violent and in violence-free relationships, often near their end. The offender's goal in many instances appears to be to humiliate and retaliate against his wife, and the abuse may often include anal intercourse. It is time for a serious investigation of this problem by researchers and clinicians. Within the last several years, the American public has been increasingly exposed to the subject of marital rape. At least two marital rape trials-those of John Rideout and James Chretien-received promi- nent media attention,' and the attempts of several state legislatures (notably in Minnesota and California) to change the laws regarding marital rape have also made the news. However, little information about the problem has been available for the professional or lay person trying to make sense of this subject. On the basis of the media events, one could easily form a judgment that such crimes are unusual and bizarre perversions of marriage. In reality, how- ever, accumulating evidence about marital rape suggests that it may well be a common form of family violence. RAPE AND BATTERING Evidence about the related problems of rape and family violence, in gener- al, would in themselves lead to a suspicion that forced sex in marriage is fairly commonplace. For a long time, wife abuse also was considered un- usual, but results of recent large-scale surveys have reversed this notion. DAVID FINKELHOR: Family Violence Research Program, University of New Hamp- shire, Durham. KERSTI YLLO: Wheaton College, Norton, Massachusetts. Funds from NIMH grants MH15161 and MH30930 made this research possible. 1. Michelle Celarier, I Kept Thinking Maybe I Could Help Him, In These Times, Jan. 10-16, 1979; Laura X, The Rideout Trial (National Clearinghouse on Marital Rape, 2325 Oak St., Berkeley, Calif., 1980); George Croft, Three Years in Rape of Wife, Bos- ton Globe, Sept. 25, 1979. CRIME & DELINQUENCY, July 1982 459

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