[The Sexuality Blog] Jordan just repealed the law that makes women marry their rapists

The independent kingdom of Jordan, after decades of pressure, has finally repealed its ‘marry the rapist’ law. The country’s parliament finally repealed the clause, which allows rapists escape jail time by marrying their victims.

The marital rape clause has its history steeped in middle eastern culture and the socially conservative but archaic concept of honour. Women are considered the ‘honour’ of their families and their virginities the prize that is given to their prospective spouses. If a woman loses her honour by having forced intercourse with a rapist, she can regain her honour by marrying the rapist, therefore ‘willingly’ giving the prize of her virginity to him. Thanks to the ‘marry the rapist’ clause in the Jordanian constitution, many young girls have been forced into loveless, abusive marriages with rapists as a way to protect the honour of their families.

This is a massive win for women’s rights groups across the world and especially the women’s right groups in Jordan that have fought to repeal this hideous law for years. Now, we just have to hope that the repeal will be met with strong enforcement, because many middle eastern families have been known to banish or even kill their wives and daughters who have experienced rape, rather than have to experience ‘dishonour’.

Leave a reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

cool good eh love2 cute confused notgood numb disgusting fail