Citation

Basile KC. Violence Vict. 2002; 17(5): 511-524.

Affiliation

Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA, USA. kbasile@cdc.gov

Copyright

(Copyright © 2002, Springer Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

12477095

Abstract

This article provides a national estimate of wife rape and various other types of sexual coercion by a spouse or intimate partner. Findings from a 1997 national probability sample revealed that 34% of women were victims of some type of sexual coercion with a husband or partner in their lifetime. Of these women, 10% experienced rape by a current partner. This rate increased to 13% when only victims of rape by a current husband were included, which is consistent with previous studies on wife rape. Other findings reveal that women had unwanted sex with a current spouse or partner in return for a partner's spending money on them (24%), because they thought it was their "duty" (43%), after a romantic situation (29%), after the partner begged and pleaded with them (26%), and after their partner said things to bully them (9%). The importance of examining a continuum of sexual coercion is discussed and findings are compared and contrasted with other prevalence rates for sexual coercion in marriage.