For discussion: If you were a pedophile

[DanaC]

Depends on if they were married or not.

Rape in marriage was only recognised in UK law in the mid 90s. Prior to that it was considered impossible for a husband to 'rape' his wife as she'd effectively given life-time consent to sex at any time that her husband wanted by dint of her saying yes at the altar.

Also, whilst rape was often used (and is still often used) as a form of intimidation in war, there was also a common attitude until very recently (and indeed some people still take this view) that when a woman says 'no' she means 'yes'. In fact, in courtship it was for a long time considered proper for the woman to protest and for the man to persuade forcibly. That showed that she was properly demure and he was properly manly.