A bill that would remove the spousal exemption from the state's rape law is before the TN legislature - for the tenth year in a row. It's not illegal for a man to rape his wife in this state unless he "uses a weapon, causes her serious bodily injury, or they are separated or divorcing."
When wife rape does qualify as a crime, the law treats it as a less serious crime than the rape of any other woman.
If he held a knife to [his wife's] throat or beat her to a pulp while he did it, he could be looking at up to 15 years in prison. If he did the same thing to someone he never met before or even his girlfriend, he would face up to 60 years behind bars.
According to Kathy Walsh, executive director of the Tennessee Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence, Tennessee is one of 15 states that treat spousal rape as less of a crime than other rapes.
The primary reason offered for the bill's failure in recent years is the extra cost of imprisoning the rapists! Tennessee is apparently too poor to pay the costs of imprisoning rapists - if they have only raped their wives.
For most of history, the reason has been simply that women did not have the right to say no to husbands. Traditionally, U.S. law has defined rape as "sexual intercourse with a female not his wife without her consent."
It wasn't until the Women's Liberation movement of the 1970s that a husband's right to rape his wife was seriously challenged. In 1976, Nebraska became the first state to make it a crime for a husband to rape his wife.
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HB 1611 is sponsored by Rep. Kim McMillan, D-Clarksville. The senate version, SB 0556, is sponsored by Sen. Charlotte Burks, D-Monterey. Track the bill here.
Related story: Man Gets Probation for Spousal Rape
