Saturday 11 July 2009

No To Rape

Parliament debated the Penal Code amendments in 2007. That debate was dominated by the non-repeal of Section 377A. But another important issue was the partial abolition of the marital rape defence, under which it was legally impossible for a husband to rape his wife. My thoughts on this injustice are in my speech.

A few Singaporeans have now started a campaign to repeal the remainder of the marital rape defence that remains on the books. I signed the petition earlier today, and I would encourage everyone to join me in expressing your disagreement with the Government's stand that in most situations, it is actually OK for husbands to force their wives to have sex against their wives' consent.

4 comments:

Pkchukiss said...

The PAP administration is still mainly a chauvanistic one, with a view that ladies are the weaker sex. That necessitated the creation of the Women's Charter. Ironically, through the desire to protect females, such laws actually expose the underlying assumptions lawmakers made about women; that they are weak, and therefore need protection.

So, it is doubly ironic when the same protection offered under the Women's Act isn't extended to married women. The only logical explanation is that the government generally beholds the traditional view on ladies being the weaker sex, as well as the (really backward) notion of a subservient wife to a husband. These laws are sexist, and should be amended to support our goal of achieving equality for all Singaporeans. Thanks to these enlightened times, women and men are both more than capable of standing up for their rights, and as the strong support for equal-rights advocacy groups like AWARE in our society shows, these laws are redundant.

Chee Wai Lee said...

Thanks! I've signed the petition with my comments on how abhorrent the idea of my "legal right to rape my wife" is.

Maybe we should make all women serve "National Service" - 2.5 years of TKD and physical fitness training :P ... just kidding, the last thing I want to encourage is the temptation of violence at home.

David said...

You surely have my support! 3 cheers~~~

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