Abstract

Sexual violence is defined as the act of exposing someone to a sexual behaviour without one’s consent. It includes a large spectrum of behaviours from touching to raping. The majority of the victims are women. Rape is the act of having sexual intercourse with a person without his/her consent. The concept of marital rape has been overlooked for years because of the ideology that promotes men have the right to treat their wives as they wish and the wife must provide her husband with all his needs. Today with the changes and developments in the concepts of marriage, the increase in the awareness of the society and the understanding of the notion of violence against women; it has been understood that sexual intercourse should be mutually desired by both parties of the married couple. Otherwise it should be considered as sexual assault/violence.The aim of the article is to review the medical, social and legal aspects of marital rape, to present the current situation about marital rape both in Turkey and in the rest of the world, also to discuss how it could be prevented.Marital rape is more widely experienced by women, though not exclusively. Marital rape is often a chronic form of violence for the victim which takes place within abusive relations. It exists in a complex web of state governments, cultural practices, and societal ideologies which combine to influence each distinct instance and situation in varying ways. The reluctance to define non-consensual sex between married couples as a crime and to prosecute has been attributed to traditional views of marriage, interpretations of religious doctrines, ideas about male and female sexuality, and to cultural expectations of subordination of a wife to her husband—views which continue to be common in many parts of the world. These views of marriage and sexuality started to be challenged in most Western countries from the 1960s and 70s especially by second-wave feminism, leading to an acknowledgment of the woman's right to self-determination of all matters relating to her body, and the withdrawal of the exemption or defense of marital rape.

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