implicitly gives husbands a green light to rape their wives with impunity

Because we all know that men are pigs who will take any opportunity to rape whenever we get an implicit green light.

Thailand and Mexico are out there making these hugely positive social changes. Here in the USA we have George f*&%ing Bush and the Banana Republicans, and every time it rains we have a power outage. Which exactly is the third world country?

Way to read your own mindset into something. It doesn't say what you think it says. It doesn't say a thing about liklihood or prevasiveness. You might want to think about why you're so defensive.

...growing weary of the increasingly tiresome obsession with rape? Based on the level of attention lavished on it, you'd imagine that acts of consensual sex are truly exotic events.

Look, maybe for the first hundred times it was a tolerable subject to blog on. But every other day now it's rape this, rape that, rape-ity-rape-rape-rape. My God. Give it a rest.

Why not re-title this blog to "Rapesheet", and have the contributors legally change their names to Catherape Price and Rape Clark-Rapey?

Why would the person being quoted say, "so this is very good news." If they didn't intended to suggest that it would in any way curb rapes? The mere thought of that is ridiculous as rapes still occur in countries in which it is and has been for centuries a crime.

As for your personal attack... way to stay civil. It's unfortunate you couldn't see my comment for what it was: A method of using hyperbole in a similarly absurd way to draw attention to other similarly absurd conclusions.

perhaps you should read a different blog. Or just read the topics you enjoy reading about - that's what the headlines or for, to help you pick. This blog isn't to everyone's taste. When the writers discuss lipstick, people start shrieking about how there are all these real women's issues in the world and who cares about lipstick. When they talk about rape, people are mad that this blog is such a downer, talking about real women's issues all the time.... I don't get it. Start your own blog if you don't like this one. Then you can feel firsthand what it's like to have the public nitpicking about your topics, your politics, your journalistic skills, your responsiveness to readers, and what a stupid bitch you are, 24/7, ad nauseum, without any of the sensitivity we normally afford people when we are in a real conversation with other humans. Sounds like fun, doesn't it?

I’m not sure what figure is current – but I think something like one in every 6 American women have been sexually assaulted (many by husbands and boyfriends). If that’s not news worthy enough for you then it’s time to move along and find something else to read.

I don’t always have a witty comment when it comes to serious topics (often there isn’t much to add) but I am still reading and the only thing I’m truly sick of are insensitive comments from the peanut gallery.

I have visit to websites where women from Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia, and Vietnam leave message. Many times there has been discussion about problems. Women mention they work hard both inside and outside the home and come home and be battered by husband with no jobs and much drinking. Some women have had rape by husband. Some men have cheats and other wifes but too bad for the old wifes. If the women want a divorce the men will beat them and take the children.

Lots of drinking in Asian countries cause problems.

"I’m not sure what figure is current – but I think something..."

This makes you part of the peanut gallery.

Heavy cultural lifting for sure but at least this is a start and a move in a positive direction. I don't doubt that attention will need to be paid close to enforcing this law but at least now lawyers and human rights activists have something to fall back on. This is some of the most uplifting news I've heard all day. Hopefully this kind of progression will rub off in other parts of the region.

Thailand has made some positive steps towards gender equality in recent years. For example, a law forfeiting the right to own land of a female Thai citizen who has married a foreign male has been challenged, and is quietly being "unenforced". And the country is a genuine leader in social attitudes towards the LGBT community.

I would caution against being too excited over the marital rape law, however. In Thailand, a law on the books does not necessarily translate to justice on the ground.

Still, this is obviously an enormous step in the right direction and should inspire similar legislation in other countries.

First, in terms of the topic of Thailand outlawing marital rape, the U.S. did not outlaw marital rape until the last thirty years. That is, states didn't start passing laws well into the late 1970s, and some states today still don't classify it as "rape" when it happens between husband and wife (see your own state's statutes, you'll be surprised).

Second, how did this law come about? What's going on in Thailand that got this law passed? I know how the US laws got on the books, but a little insight into the law's origins would've been a valuable addition to this post.

Third, per the comments telling posters to go read other blogs, I can't imagine a more un-insightful response. Last time I checked, Salon and Broadsheet both tout themselves as a community, and within the community there are going to be disagreements. Telling people to go elsewhere and that their opinion isn't needed hurts us all. How does it hurt us all? Well first it reminds me of the 'America, love it or leave it' fallacy that is so popular among people who don't really want to think. And by chasing away (or hoping to chase away) people who post lame-ass name games with rape leaves us not knowing what people's counter-arguments are. I mean, anyone who wants to can post. Go for it. Give it your best. And so they do and they insert "rape" into Broadsheet author names? I mean, if that's the best they got, let 'em post I say. I think it speaks more to their lack of insight than anything else.

Fourth, here's something of substance the nay-sayers could've actually engaged, which I myself feel is important. While I don't think postings about rape on Broadsheet are too frequent, I do notice sexual violence is rarely discussed in the main reports on Salon, which leads me to agree that sexual violence is ghettoized in Broadsheet. That is, I agree that Broadsheet may post about rape more often, but that's because rape is rarely talked about in other front-page areas of Salon. Sure, we get parenting and political violence (Abu Ghraib, Gitmo) aplenty on the front page, but rarely is sexual violence front-page news, so it appears here. (The only exception I can think of is the constant cute white girl or woman case that the cable news networks love more than the war now that things have "gone bad" there.)