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How the Marriage Act has changed
How traditional should we make out Marriage Act ? For instance should we :
1) Allow children of primary school age to be maried ? (12 years of age)
2) Forbid marriage between aborigines and white people ?
3) Proclaim that since husbands and wives are married it is legally impossible for a husband to rape his wife?
Can you remember when these regulations were part of the Australian Marriage Act ?
______________________________________________________________
1) In 1955 the Marriage Act allowed 12 year old girls to be wed.
2) In the late 50's it was illegal in the Northern Territory for Aboriginal men to marrry white women.
3) Up until the 90's men could rape their wives with no legal consequences. In fact the Church Marriage ceremony embodied this principle in it's main statements.
“I, (Bride), take thee, (Groom), to be my wedded Husband; to have and to hold from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health; to love, cherish, and to OBEY, till death us do part, according to God's holy ordinance; and thereto I give thee my troth.”
The Church spoke of Maritial Rights and Marital Duties. The State did not want to interfere with the Maritial Rights of men. The argument that the institution of marriage was the overriding consideration was strongly put. Then, as now, conservative religious organisations did not want to see men being charged with raping their wives.
Rape in marriage: Why was it so hard to criminalise sexual violence?
by Managing Editor Posted on December 7, 2016
Lisa Featherstone reveals the controversies that dogged the campaign to criminalise marital rape in Australia in the 1970s and 1980s in the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence.
From 1976 to 1994, Australian jurisdictions introduced a raft of reforms to sexual assault laws. The new legislations expanded the definitions of rape and other forms of sexual assault, and reconsidered the treatment of victims on the stand. The legislative changes were driven by broader social and sexual shifts of feminism and the sexual revolution, including changing ideas about women’s roles and expanding ideas about sexuality and sexual practice. Most of the reforms were broadly welcomed, and were seen to reflect women’s shifting status within a modern society.
Yet there was one reform that caused substantial controversy: rape in marriage law reform. Though rape in marriage was ultimately criminalised in Australian states and territories, there was significant opposition to the idea that it should be a criminal offence for a husband to sexually assault his wife. Why was this, of all the reforms, so controversial?
http://www.auswhn.org.au/blog/marital-rape/
http://www.theage.com.au/comment/en...ion-we-need-to-recapture-20170922-gymw5y.html
How traditional should we make out Marriage Act ? For instance should we :
1) Allow children of primary school age to be maried ? (12 years of age)
2) Forbid marriage between aborigines and white people ?
3) Proclaim that since husbands and wives are married it is legally impossible for a husband to rape his wife?
Can you remember when these regulations were part of the Australian Marriage Act ?
______________________________________________________________
1) In 1955 the Marriage Act allowed 12 year old girls to be wed.
2) In the late 50's it was illegal in the Northern Territory for Aboriginal men to marrry white women.
3) Up until the 90's men could rape their wives with no legal consequences. In fact the Church Marriage ceremony embodied this principle in it's main statements.
“I, (Bride), take thee, (Groom), to be my wedded Husband; to have and to hold from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health; to love, cherish, and to OBEY, till death us do part, according to God's holy ordinance; and thereto I give thee my troth.”
The Church spoke of Maritial Rights and Marital Duties. The State did not want to interfere with the Maritial Rights of men. The argument that the institution of marriage was the overriding consideration was strongly put. Then, as now, conservative religious organisations did not want to see men being charged with raping their wives.
Rape in marriage: Why was it so hard to criminalise sexual violence?
by Managing Editor Posted on December 7, 2016
Lisa Featherstone reveals the controversies that dogged the campaign to criminalise marital rape in Australia in the 1970s and 1980s in the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence.
From 1976 to 1994, Australian jurisdictions introduced a raft of reforms to sexual assault laws. The new legislations expanded the definitions of rape and other forms of sexual assault, and reconsidered the treatment of victims on the stand. The legislative changes were driven by broader social and sexual shifts of feminism and the sexual revolution, including changing ideas about women’s roles and expanding ideas about sexuality and sexual practice. Most of the reforms were broadly welcomed, and were seen to reflect women’s shifting status within a modern society.
Yet there was one reform that caused substantial controversy: rape in marriage law reform. Though rape in marriage was ultimately criminalised in Australian states and territories, there was significant opposition to the idea that it should be a criminal offence for a husband to sexually assault his wife. Why was this, of all the reforms, so controversial?
http://www.auswhn.org.au/blog/marital-rape/
http://www.theage.com.au/comment/en...ion-we-need-to-recapture-20170922-gymw5y.html