"Despite the cultural stereotype that stranger rape is real rape, marital rape is actually the most common form of rape”

 - Bennice and Risick 2003 citing Finkelhor and Yllo

• Three in four women (76 percent) who reported they had been raped and/or physically assaulted since age 18 said that a current or former husband, cohabiting partner, or date committed the assault.26

• Marital rape is more prevalent among women who also experience physical abuse within their intimate relationships. One-third to more than one- half of sampled battered women also report experiencing marital rape (Bennice and Risick citing Campbell and Soeken 1999). Battered women were approximately 19 times more likely to have been raped by their partners than non-battered women who were raped.

• One in five (21 percent) women reported she had been raped or physically or sexually assaulted in her lifetime.27

• Two-thirds (2/3) of those raped by their husbands reported the first rape taking place under the age of 25…there are no consistent patterns in terms of social class or ethnicity although…”economic resources played a particularly significantly role in women’s ability to leave as those women who were most likely to leave their husband-rapists were those who were financially independent. (Russell 1990)

• In 2000, 48 percent of the rapes/sexual assaults committed against people age twelve and over were reported to the police.29

• In 2001, 41,740 women were victims of rape/sexual assault committed by an intimate partner.30

• Rapes/sexual assaults committed by strangers are more likely to be reported to the police than rapes/sexual assaults committed by "non-strangers," including intimate partners, other relatives and friends or acquaintances. Between 1992 and 2000, 41 percent of the rapes/sexual assaults committed by strangers were reported to the police. During the same time period, 24 percent of the rapes/sexual assaults committed by an intimate were reported.31

• Nearly one-fifth of women (18 percent) reported experiencing a completed or attempted rape at some time in their lives; one in 33 men (three percent) reported experiencing a completed or attempted rape at some time in their lives.28

•  “It appears that marital rape is most likely to occur in relationships characterized by other forms of violence.” (Jonson and Sigler 1997)