I understand that rape within marriage was not made illegal until 1991

[ToadsJustFellFromTheSky]

I realise I'm probably going to sound stupid, but I just cannot get my head around this.

I know it wasn't made illegal until 1991 (I was born in 1991 which just makes it even more to me) but surely a man just couldn't get away with raping a woman just because she was his wife before 1991?

So let's just say it's 1990 and a woman goes to the police because she has been raped and she wants to report it. However the man who raped her was her husband.

Would the police seriously not investigate or do anything just because it was her husband who raped her? Or would they not be able to do anything even if they wanted to because technically according to the law no crime had been committed?

I find it completely unbelievable that it wasn't a crime for so long.

My mum conceived as a result of marital rape. One day it dawned on me that due to the year it would not have actually have been classed as rape. I found that harder to deal with than the idea that I was the product of rape. The idea that my mum got raped and the entire legal system would tell her this was not the case, yet just four years later it would be.

Women really should not get complacent. We need to protect our rights.

Thanks Bertie that is interesting- I find 14 to be mind-boggling, to be honest, never mind anything else.

WilLiAm that must be hard to get your head round

It is sobering how recent moves to equality and protection from rape are.

I can remember as a student I was staying at my then BF's parents and one day his dad (who was the local GP) got called to a neighbour's house. BF's mum said it was a domestic and the police 'couldn't do anything'. I was when I heard this. It was the late 1980s. Things have improved since then. Not enough, but they have improved.

It comes from the time when the wife was the husbands 'property'
Legally the husband couldn't be prosecuted for taking something that was already his
Wasn't that long ago that domestic violence was seen as a minor crime and the police wouldn't get involved at all

It's still legal in Jersey actually!

Ukip want marriage rape to be decriminalised

Yup, which is just one of the myriad reasons that UKIP are utter shite.

Is that a current UKIP position? I have no problem believing it of them, but I can see that the most recent stories are of a donor who said "once a woman accepts, she accepts and especially when she makes a vow on her wedding day.". I was unaware of the vow 'I will have sex with you against my will', I must say.

In 2006 UKIP MEPs broke their usual ban on voting in the European Parliament to oppose a motion urging member states to make rape within marriage a criminal offence. The result was 545:14, with UKIP making up 12 of the 14 votes.

Yes. Rape was seen as a crume against property for a long time. In Ancient Greece the law was tougher on adulterers than on rapists because they stole minds as well as bodies. The past - grim as fuck.

That's grim and bizarre about ukip. I knew they were a bunch of tways but I seriously never thought I'd see people argue against that.

There are some countries where prisoners are still entitled to 'conjugal visits'. Because, he may be a criminal, but to restrict his access to sex would just be inhumane

Are they entitled to those visits regardless of whether the wife wants to visit or no?

I think she has to want to - I mean she isn't a prisoner so they can't exactly force her to come! But yeah I find the whole concept of conjugal visits weird.

I think I just threw up in my mouth.

"In Saudi Arabia, male inmates can have one conjugal visit each month. But that rule applies to each spouse, so men with multiple wives can have multiple visits each month"

And a man in Germany murdered his wife during their conjugal visit

I was just trying to understand what the reaction of the police would be if someone did try and report it.

There was a case of a teenage girl who was raped coming home from school - this was late 1980s. She might have been just 16, but I think it was younger.

The police came to her house and told her she had a dirty mind and to not make up things.

They did nothing until they heard she had given birth 9 months later when they wanted a statement, her father told them where to go.

It wasn't common knowledge because people did not think of it as rape. I remember an episode of casualty where a man takes his wife to A and E and tells the staff he knows the law so not to bother with the police because it isn't rape.

I also remember a court case, think it was the Arthur Hutchinson case. A family was murdered but the teenage daughter survived but was raped several times. The defence seemed to spend days questioning the daughter about whether she had actually enjoyed the sex.

Because a teenage girl who's parents and brother have just been murdered is obviously gagging for sex with the murderer.

"Are they entitled to those visits regardless of whether the wife wants to visit or no?"

The woman would technically have to be an enthusiastic consenting partner but if a woman is the victim of domestic abuse it stands to reason that she may go along with it to 'keep him sweet'. Women aren't safe from their abusers just because they're in prison