While trying to understand the Torah view of rape and sexual abuse, it is important to be aware that these same questions apply in the secular world. Furthermore the current understanding of rape and sexual abuse as primarily psychological abuse and trauma to the victim - is only about 30 years old. The following are some of many articles on the topic.
Statutory Rape - In History Context
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Guardian In 1862 the US physician Dr Edmund Arnold testified in court that it was "very improbable" that pregnancy could result from rape, because "in truly forcible violations … the uterine organs cannot well be in a condition favourable to impregnation". Before dismissing such comments as a relic of the 19th century, fast forward to last year, when Bryan Fischer of the American Family Association claimed that trauma from a "genuine case of forcible rape" would make it "difficult" for a woman to conceive a child.
That rape has long been contested ground is perfectly illustrated by a new book, Redefining Rape: Sexual Violence in the Era of Suffrage and Segregation. Written by the feminist historian Estelle B Freedman, the book covers key moments in the history of rape, and includes more recent controversies – such as the speech by US Senate candidate Todd Akin last year in which he used the term "legitimate rape" to argue against abortion in cases of rape and incest.
In British law, which provided the basis for many American statutes, the term "rape" originally referred to the nonsexual crime of violent theft (from the Latin raptus or rapere). It was not until the 12th-century Codex of Gratian that a clear distinction was made between abduction and rape, with the latter defined as "forced sexual intercourse".
In the 15th century, the father or husband of a raped woman pressed criminal charges because the legal definition of rape in England had narrowed to apply to the theft of a woman's virtue, either a daughter's virginity or a married woman's honour.[...]
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