Citation

Karimakwenda N. Violence Against Women 2020; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Affiliation

University of Cape Town, South Africa.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2020, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/1077801219897842

PMID

31973663

Abstract

This article investigates how the rape myths that underpinned the marital rape exemption in South Africa until 1993 have filtered into contemporary legal discourse. Through a feminist sociolegal framing, I integrate multidisciplinary tools that counter simplistic conceptions of rape myths and highlight how myths are locally and culturally contingent. With this foundation, I apply neutralization theory to the judicial language of marital rape cases to explicate how patriarchal caricatures of sexual violence transition from the social sphere into the legal sphere. This exercise illuminates how judges and rapists draw upon the same culturally sanctioned language and techniques to justify marital rape.

Language: en

Keywords

South Africa; judges; marital rape