Spousal Rape Bill Going Nowhere - Still Legal to Rape Your Wife in TN - Ac

[Egalia]

The ten year fight to get Tennessee legislators to take the crime of spousal rape seriously is still going nowhere. The state’s good old boy legislature (83% male) still doesn’t get it! According to today’s editorial in the Tennessean, “lawmakers are straining to find excuses to let the bill fail again this year.”

As I wrote in an earlier post,

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 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."

To date, the Tennessean is the only newspaper in the state to take a stand on this bill, or even to provide coverage (via Google search).

In the Nashville daily newspaper’s view:

"To remain one of the few states that distinguishes spousal rape from other kinds of rapes is a stain Tennesseans should be embarrassed to have. Only 15 states, including Tennessee, don't consider spousal rape without force a crime."

Yeah, Tennesseans should be embarrased, but with such shoddy media coverage how many Tennesseans are even aware of the problem?

. . .

The legislative session is almost over! Please email Keith Olbermann and ask him to try a little old fashioned shame by doing a story on Tennessee’s archaic rape law, otherwise known as the number one reason for Tennessee women to remain single.

Please help regardless of what state you reside in. If you want the South to stop leading the country into the dark pit of ignorance, then you need to help the South get out of that pit.

The rest of the story, including contact info for Keith, is here:

http://guerillawomentn.blogspot.com/2005/05/spousal-rape-bill-going-nowhere-still.html

[reality based]

1. Fristian Tennessee n/t

[oddmanout]

2. Speachless....................

I cannot fathom the stupidity...................




:wtf:

[Egalia]

3. it's no wonder

so few women run for office in this part of the country, still busy trying to avoid rape in the home!