Women Trapped in Not-So-Sacred Marriages

Trigger warning: the story includes a graphic description and the subject of rape. It boggles the mind that well into the 21st century a disturbing number of nations refuse to recognize a basic, fundamental human right. As cruel and primitive as it sounds, approximately <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marital_rape_laws_by_country" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">48 countries</a> do not criminalize a husband’s rape of his wife. With <a href="https://www.britannica.com/story/how-many-countries-are-there-in-the-world" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">195 nations</a> in the world, this means that nearly a quarter of them allow a man to force sex upon his wife at his whim with no legal repercussions. The countries that don’t criminalize marital rape generally fall into <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marital_rape_laws_by_country" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">two categories</a> in which the laws either: 1) do not prohibit a husband from forcing his wife to have sex or 2) specifically exclude husband and wife relationships from the definition of rape. <a href="https://medium.com/modern-women/women-trapped-in-not-so-sacred-marriages-31475c83506">Learn More</a>