Essay On Rape In America

1540 Words7 Pages

Every 98 seconds someone in America is sexually assaulted and unfortunately, rape is becoming a serious issue in America, especially for women. Even scarier, young women are more at risk when it comes to being sexually assaulted. In the public eye women are being blamed for being sexually assaulted because of the way they dress or act, which is absolutely disgusting that anyone would blame the victim. However rape doesn’t just occur with strangers, , but are mostly because of an acquaintance the victim knows. There are most cases where the victim knew their perpetrator and did not want to go to the police because they were afraid of the consequences the perpetrator can make towards them. Rape is a serious issue because the victims are the ones …show more content…

Especially in the past century rape cases in marriages were never considered a crime. According to Mark Whatley “In the nineteenth century, most rape laws did not specify if a husband could be prosecuted for marital rape and during nineteenth century America, no husband was ever prosecuted for raping his wife” (Whatley. 1993 pg. 30). Husbands were never prosecuted for raping their wives in the nineteenth century, yet it was till the twentieth century, when husbands were able to be prosecuted for raping their wives. Not does this affect women’s safety, but it also affects them mentally. They believe they should not report their situation to the police because they feel like the police will not consider it a serious crime. Whatley stated “this exemption appears to be protecting male rights and power, while implying that powerlessness and helplessness belong solely to women” (Whatley. 1993 pg. 31). Marital rape usually happens to victims that have violence in their marriage. Marital rape also occurs towards husbands whom are alcoholic. It may be believed that husbands enjoy having dominance over their wives because they do not want to accuses their