Cause raping your wife isn't as bad as raping a stranger, obviously.
Tennessee Guerilla Women explain this disgraceful law:
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.
Besides the law's obvious problem of qualifying what "kind" of rape warrants punishment, it also lends credence to the old (or so we thought) notion that wives are property. Awesome. I can't wait to get married.
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Wow. Looks like NOT getting married is a better way to show your love for your lady these days. At least, until the current administration brings in a "Living in Sin" clause to disallow de factos their spousal rights.