In 1978, Greta Rideout was the first American woman still living with her husband to charge him with rape, which was only a crime in four states at the time. The ensuing trial and relentless media coverage brought the issue to the country's attention, but the fallout -- which included an acquittal, a TV movie based on the case, and criminalization across 50 states over the next fifteen years -- was enormous. At a time when women's rights are being rolled back at alarming rates, what does the Rideout case tell us about a woman's right to bodily autonomy? And if a man can get away with raping his wife, who else does he have the impunity to rape? Join Sarah Weinman as she discusses the case at the heart of her book-in-progress, Without Consent.
Bio:
Sarah Weinman is the author of The Real Lolita and Scoundrel and editor of several anthologies, most recently Evidence of Things Seen: True Crime in an Era of Reckoning (2023). Weinman writes the monthly Crime & Mystery column for the New York Times Book Review. A 2020 National Magazine Award finalist for Reporting and the Calderwood Journalism Fellow at MacDowell, her work has also appeared most recently in Esquire, The Atlantic, New York, and Vanity Fair. Weinman lives in New York City.
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