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> Marriage is the only contract that can be annulled if it's not consummated with an act of sex. This is no longer true. Most countries now have no fault divor

> Marriage is the only contract that can be annulled if it's not consummated with an act of sex. This is no longer true. Most countries now have no fault divorce laws so withholding sex has no impact on whether or not you can divorce.

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
standardUser 5y ago
Though the fact that this was the case in recent memory tells us a lot. Rape within marriage wasn't even considered a crime in all states until 1993.
- throwaway0a5e 5y ago
  Meta rant: Every day there's probably a few thousand morons on the internet clutching their pearls about how you theoretically don't need car insurance in a few states despite the reality that anyone who can afford to opt out is better served by buying insurance and the only people who opt out have very, very, niche use cases. You are using a a similar presentation of the truth but not the whole truth in your comment. States have widely varying laws. Just because something isn't specifically illegal doesn't mean some existing clause wasn't used to prosecute it. If a state doesn't have a lot of frequency of some event it will likely not develop specific laws, it will just use existing laws and precedents in weird ways. For example CA has all sorts of laws about wells and water in order to mediate disputes. Arkansas for example simply doesn't have those laws because those issues aren't as common and the volume is low enough for those issues to go through different parts of the legal system without causing much problem. Saying X wasn't illegal in every state until Y year is about as meaningful as saying Z is known to the state of CA to cause cancer for any value of X and Y you could pick.
  - standardUser 5y ago
    Marital rape didn't start to become illegal until the late 70's. It wasn't universal until the early 90's. So you can pick some date in between and then use that date to draw the obvious conclusion that our deeply mysogynistic society has serious issues with sexuality and gender.
    - smnrchrds 5y ago
      I am not familiar with the history of American laws. You and the comment you are replying to are saying different things using the same terminology, so I am confused which one of you is correct on history. The person you are replying to is saying marital sexual assault did not have its own laws. Rather, it was prosecuted general sexual assault laws. You are saying marital sexual assault did not have its own laws and it was NOT prosecuted under general sexual assault laws. For example, because the sexual assault laws had an exception saying the law does not apply if the perpetrator is married to the victim. So, which one is correct? Did the law before 70's or 90's specifically exclude marital sexual assault? Or was it neutral and used for all sexual assaults, both within and without marriage? We sometimes see laws covering things that are already covered, not changing things, but merely making them more explicit. In more recent memory, once can remember the debate surrounding Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, which essentially aimed to criminalize something that was already criminalized by the existing statutes.
      - standardUser 5y ago
        "You are saying marital sexual assault did not have its own laws and it was NOT prosecuted under general sexual assault laws." I am saying this because it was a fact in the United States. Laws specifically and unambiguously stated that rape was not a crime if the women was married to the man (and yes, it was gendered in the law). Hence the need for the laws to be changed starting in the late 1970's. Some background: https://nortontooby.com/node/13251 https://nortontooby.com/node/13251
        GPerson 5y ago
        What part of your source are we supposed to look at?
- oh_sigh 5y ago
  How about the fact that in England to this day, it is impossible for a woman to rape anyone, because rape is legally defined as non-consenting penetration with a penis.
  - DoreenMichele 5y ago
    Pertinent previous discussion like a decade back: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1622921 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1622921 There are all kinds of diabolical issues with our current laws, etc. related to human sexuality.
jiveturkey 5y ago
not sure if you are talking about the same thing. GP mentioned anullment, you said divorce.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

standardUser 5y ago

Though the fact that this was the case in recent memory tells us a lot. Rape within marriage wasn't even considered a crime in all states until 1993.

throwaway0a5e 5y ago
Meta rant: Every day there's probably a few thousand morons on the internet clutching their pearls about how you theoretically don't need car insurance in a few states despite the reality that anyone who can afford to opt out is better served by buying insurance and the only people who opt out have very, very, niche use cases. You are using a a similar presentation of the truth but not the whole truth in your comment. States have widely varying laws. Just because something isn't specifically illegal doesn't mean some existing clause wasn't used to prosecute it. If a state doesn't have a lot of frequency of some event it will likely not develop specific laws, it will just use existing laws and precedents in weird ways. For example CA has all sorts of laws about wells and water in order to mediate disputes. Arkansas for example simply doesn't have those laws because those issues aren't as common and the volume is low enough for those issues to go through different parts of the legal system without causing much problem. Saying X wasn't illegal in every state until Y year is about as meaningful as saying Z is known to the state of CA to cause cancer for any value of X and Y you could pick.
- standardUser 5y ago
  Marital rape didn't start to become illegal until the late 70's. It wasn't universal until the early 90's. So you can pick some date in between and then use that date to draw the obvious conclusion that our deeply mysogynistic society has serious issues with sexuality and gender.
  - smnrchrds 5y ago
    I am not familiar with the history of American laws. You and the comment you are replying to are saying different things using the same terminology, so I am confused which one of you is correct on history. The person you are replying to is saying marital sexual assault did not have its own laws. Rather, it was prosecuted general sexual assault laws. You are saying marital sexual assault did not have its own laws and it was NOT prosecuted under general sexual assault laws. For example, because the sexual assault laws had an exception saying the law does not apply if the perpetrator is married to the victim. So, which one is correct? Did the law before 70's or 90's specifically exclude marital sexual assault? Or was it neutral and used for all sexual assaults, both within and without marriage? We sometimes see laws covering things that are already covered, not changing things, but merely making them more explicit. In more recent memory, once can remember the debate surrounding Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, which essentially aimed to criminalize something that was already criminalized by the existing statutes.
    - standardUser 5y ago
      "You are saying marital sexual assault did not have its own laws and it was NOT prosecuted under general sexual assault laws." I am saying this because it was a fact in the United States. Laws specifically and unambiguously stated that rape was not a crime if the women was married to the man (and yes, it was gendered in the law). Hence the need for the laws to be changed starting in the late 1970's. Some background: https://nortontooby.com/node/13251 https://nortontooby.com/node/13251
      - GPerson 5y ago
        What part of your source are we supposed to look at?
oh_sigh 5y ago
How about the fact that in England to this day, it is impossible for a woman to rape anyone, because rape is legally defined as non-consenting penetration with a penis.
- DoreenMichele 5y ago
  Pertinent previous discussion like a decade back: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1622921 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1622921 There are all kinds of diabolical issues with our current laws, etc. related to human sexuality.

jiveturkey 5y ago

not sure if you are talking about the same thing. GP mentioned anullment, you said divorce.