Without consent A landmark trial and the decades-long struggle to make spousal rape a crime

Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

Journalist Weinman (Scoundrel) provides a riveting account of the 1978 marital rape trial of John Rideout in Oregon. At the time, Weinman explains, only three states had laws against marital rape, and Oregon's had never been tested. In most states, a wife could still not legally refuse to consent to sex with her husband, as Rideout's wife, 23-year-old Greta, tried to do when he raped her in front of their two-year-old daughter. "I thought if I hit her, she would come out of it," Rideout told investigators, adding that if he had "done it right," she wouldn't be complaining. A pretrial motion permitted the defense to bring up Greta's sexual history, including an abortion, effectively putting her on trial instead. Rideout was acquitted, but public outrage launched marital rape to the forefront of feminist activism. Weinman charts the ensuing struggle and the tectonic cultural and legal transformations it brought about. Rideout was tried again 38 years later--and ultimately convicted--for raping two more partners (although a horror movie-esque coda reports that a recent Supreme Court decision has reversed one of the verdicts). Weinman's skills as a storyteller shine throughout, including in her vibrant portraits of silver-haired, booming-voiced prosecutor Gary Gortmaker and his longtime nemesis, defense attorney Charles Burt. It's a propulsive legal drama that underscores how difficult it still is to bring rapists to justice. (Nov.)

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Review by Library Journal Review

In 1978, Greta Rideout's accusation against her husband, John, became a landmark moment in women's history. Not only did it test Oregon's new law criminalizing spousal rape, but Greta was also the first American woman to bring rape charges against a husband she was still living with. Would she receive justice, or would the trial reinforce the long-standing belief that marriage implied consent? Though Greta's husband was acquitted, the Rideout case served as a catalyst. Not only did the trial's conclusion shine the spotlight on similar cases, it also led activists across the country to demand that laws on spousal rape be revised, clarifying that women's individual rights should not change after marriage. While Greta never saw justice in her case, she found some vindication years later, as John's other trials delivered justice to Sheila Moxley and Teresa Hern. VERDICT Weinman (Evidence of Things Seen: True Crime in an Era of Reckoning) tells the stories of Greta and the other survivors with empathy and respect, offering readers a well-researched and thoughtful narrative that sheds light on their experiences and broader systemic issues.--Vada Bunker

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Review by Kirkus Book Review

Journalistic study of the legal battle to criminalize marital rape. As late as 1974, writes Weinman, "it was perfectly legal for a man to rape his wife, because the veryconcept of marital rape seemed unfathomable" with wives considered property in the spirit if not the letter of the law. That was until the case of Greta Rideout reached a court in Oregon. She had reported to the police that her husband had raped her--and moreover, beaten her in the presence of their 2-year-old daughter. Greta's case prompted a wave of legislative reforms, such that by 1993, as Weinman chronicles, "marital rape was a crime in every state." As the author goes on to recount, Rideout's husband had all the psychological hallmarks of an abuser, abused himself in childhood, forever promising to change his ways but never doing so. While remaining closely focused on the Rideout case, Weinman's discussion is wide-ranging: She reports on statistical surveys indicating that as many as one in eight married women had been sexually assaulted by their husbands, though the word "rape" elicited far fewer numbers, as if the victims were reluctant to apply it to their experience. (A later study revised the figure slightly upward to 14%.) The Rideouts themselves provided fodder for commentary, much of it in the sexist framing of the period, with one calling the working-class couple "terminally stupid" and adding that "Greta had sensational legs and spent most of her time shaving them in the bathtub," while another railed against "women who dress inappropriately, flaunt their right to be comfortable at the expense of the comfort of others." The blaming-the-victim trope remained a constant, even as John Rideout, divorced from Greta, proved a repeat offender and was imprisoned for his crimes. A well-argued work of legal journalism that shines light on the darkest corners of married life. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

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