Marital Rape: Consent, Marriage, and

Social Change in Global Context 1st

Edition Kersti Yllö
Visit to download the full and correct content document:
https://textbookfull.com/product/marital-rape-consent-marriage-and-social-change-in-
global-context-1st-edition-kersti-yllo/
More products digital (pdf, epub, mobi) instant
download maybe you interests ...

Biota Grow 2C gather 2C cook Loucas

https://textbookfull.com/product/biota-grow-2c-gather-2c-cook-
loucas/

Development and Social Change A Global Perspective

Philip Mcmichael

https://textbookfull.com/product/development-and-social-change-a-
global-perspective-philip-mcmichael/

Love and Marriage Across Social Classes in American

Cinema 1st Edition Stephen Sharot (Auth.)

https://textbookfull.com/product/love-and-marriage-across-social-
classes-in-american-cinema-1st-edition-stephen-sharot-auth/

Environmental Resource Management and the Nexus

Approach Managing Water Soil and Waste in the Context
of Global Change 1st Edition Hiroshan Hettiarachchi

https://textbookfull.com/product/environmental-resource-
management-and-the-nexus-approach-managing-water-soil-and-waste-
in-the-context-of-global-change-1st-edition-hiroshan-
What Predicts Divorce? : The Relationship Between
Marital Processes and Marital Outcomes 1st Edition John
Gottman

https://textbookfull.com/product/what-predicts-divorce-the-
relationship-between-marital-processes-and-marital-outcomes-1st-
edition-john-gottman/

The Abc s of a Beautiful Marriage A Guide to Loving

Your Spouse Above Your Marital Struggles Toyin Abiola

https://textbookfull.com/product/the-abc-s-of-a-beautiful-
marriage-a-guide-to-loving-your-spouse-above-your-marital-
struggles-toyin-abiola/

Male Rape is a Feminist Issue Feminism Governmentality

and Male Rape 2014th Edition Cohen

https://textbookfull.com/product/male-rape-is-a-feminist-issue-
feminism-governmentality-and-male-rape-2014th-edition-cohen/

Education, Sustainability and the Ecological Social

Imaginary: Connective Education and Global Change Jeff
Buckles

https://textbookfull.com/product/education-sustainability-and-
the-ecological-social-imaginary-connective-education-and-global-
change-jeff-buckles/

Big Data in Context: Legal, Social and Technological

Insights 1st Edition Thomas Hoeren

https://textbookfull.com/product/big-data-in-context-legal-
social-and-technological-insights-1st-edition-thomas-hoeren/
Marital Rape
Interpersonal Violence Series

SERIES EDITORS

Claire Renzetti, Ph.D.

Jeffrey L. Edleson, Ph.D.

Parenting by Men Who Batter: New Directions for Assessment and Intervention
Edited by Jeffrey L. Edleson and Oliver J. Williams

Coercive Control: How Men Entrap Women in Personal Life

Evan Stark

Childhood Victimization: Violence, Crime, and Abuse in the Lives of Young People
David Finkelhor

Restorative Justice and Violence Against Women

Edited by James Ptacek

Familicidal Hearts: The Emotional Styles of 211 Killers

Neil Websdale

Violence in Context: Current Evidence on Risk, Protection, and Prevention

Edited by Todd I. Herrenkohl, Eugene Aisenberg, James Herbert Williams,
and Jeffrey M. Jenson

Poverty, Battered Women, and Work in U.S. Public Policy

Lisa D. Brush

Child Victims and Restorative Justice: A Needs-​R ights Model

Tali Gal

Battered Women’s Protective Strategies

Sherry Hamby

Men Who Batter

Nancy Nason-​Clark and Barbara Fisher-​Townsend

When Men Murder Women

R. Emerson Dobash and Russell P. Dobash

Comparative Perspectives on Gender Violence: Lessons From Efforts Worldwide

Edited by Rashmi Goel and Leigh Goodmark

Marital Rape: Consent, Marriage, and Social Change in Global Context

Edited by Kersti Yllö and M. Gabriela Torres
 Marital Rape
Consent, Marriage, and Social Change
in Global Context

EDITED BY KERSTI YLLÖ

AND

M. GABRIELA TORRES

1
3
Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers
the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education
by publishing worldwide. Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University
Press in the UK and certain other countries.

Published in the United States of America by Oxford University Press

198 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016, United States of America.

© Oxford University Press 2016

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in

a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the
prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted
by law, by license, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reproduction
rights organization. Inquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the
above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the
address above.

You must not circulate this work in any other form

and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Yllö, Kersti, editor. | Torres, M. Gabriela, editor.
Title: Marital rape : consent, marriage, and social change in global context / Kersti Yllö and
M. Gabriela Torres, editors.
Description: Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, [2016] |
Series: Interpersonal violence series | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2015047825 | ISBN 9780190238360 (alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Rape in marriage. | Marital violence.
Classification: LCC HV6558 .M265 2016 | DDC 362.883—dc23
LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015047825

9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Printed by Sheridan, USA
For Kai, Hillar, and David (K.Y.)

For Sam, Ben, and Patrick (G.T.)

 That night our new husbands took us quickly …
They took us flat on our backs on the bare floor of the Minute Motel …
They took us in the best hotels …
They took us for granted and assumed we would do for them
whatever it was we were told.
Please turn toward the wall and drop down on your hands and knees …
They took us violently, with their fists, whenever we tried to resist.
They took us even though we bit them. They took us even
though we hit them …
They took us as we stared up blankly at the ceiling and waited
for it to be over,
not realizing that it would not be over for years.
—​Julie Otsuka, The Buddha in the Attic
 CONTENTS

Acknowledgments xi
List of Contributors xiii
List of Abbreviations xv
Note on Sources xvii

Prologue: Understanding Marital Rape in Global Context 1

Kersti Yllö

SECTION I Conceptualizing the Problem of Marital Rape

1. R
 econciling Cultural Difference in the Study of Marital Rape 9
M. Gabriela Torres
2. A
 n Overview of Marital Rape Research in the United States:
Limitations and Implications for Cross-​Cultural Research 19
Raquel Kennedy Bergen
3. Cross-​Cultural Studies of Gender-​Based Violence: Holistic
Approaches for Marital Rape Research 29
Jennifer R. Wies and Hillary J. Haldane

SECTION II The Lived Experience of Rape in Marriage in

Cross-​Cultural Context
4. Modern Marriage, Masculinity, and Intimate Partner Violence
in Nigeria 41
Daniel Jordan Smith
5. Marital Sexual Violence, Structural Vulnerability, and Misplaced
Responsibility in Northern Việt Nam 55
Lynn Kwiatkowski
6. Normalizing Suffering, Robadas, Coercive Power, and Marital
Unions Among Ladinas in Eastern Guatemala 75
Cecilia Menjívar
7. Marital Rape and the Law: The Condition of Black Township Women
in South Africa’s Democracy 87
Judith L. Singleton
x C ontents

8. Marital Sexual Violence in Turkey 103

Henrica A.F.M. (Henriette) Jansen, Ilknur Yüksel-​Kaptanoglu,
Filiz Kardam, and Banu Ergöçmen
9. Rape and the Continuum of Sexual Abuse in Intimate Relationships: Interviews
With US Women From Different
Social Classes 123
James Ptacek
10. Sexual Murder of Women Intimate Partners in Great Britain 139
Russell P. Dobash and R. Emerson Dobash

SECTION III Public Health, Legal, and Human Rights Perspectives

11. A Feminist Public Health Approach to Marital Rape 163
Jacquelyn Campbell, Bushra Sabri, Jocelyn Anderson,
and Veronica Barcelona de Mendoza
12. Marital Rape Laws Globally: Rationales and Snapshots
Around the World 177
Michelle J. Anderson
13. Human Rights Meets Intimate Partner Sexual Violence 187
Monica McWilliams and Fionnuala Ní Aoláin

Epilogue: Implications for Policy, Practice, and Future Research 199

M. Gabriela Torres and Kersti Yllö

Legal References 205

References 207
Index 233
 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The collaboration and innovation that is evident in this volume would not have been
possible without funding from the Wenner-​Gren Foundation through their 2012
Conference and Workshop Grant.
The completion of this volume was made possible with the editorial support of
Jessica Kruger, who spent long hours managing references, formats, and other minu-
tia that we all dread to work on but may not ignore. We are so grateful for her dedica-
tion to this project.
The patient listening, sage commentary, and careful editorial work of David
Leigh Potter on many versions of this work was an invaluable contribution.
Thank you also to Patrick Rashleigh, who gracefully worked with us on drafting
the figures in this volume.
Thanks to Rebekah Howland and Barbara Curtis, who worked with us tirelessly
during the 2013 Global Perspectives on Sexual Violence in Marriage Conference
that was held at Wheaton College, Massachusetts.
This is a project borne of cross-​d isciplinary collaboration that began in a class-
room. In addition to the conference support provided by Wheaton College for the
2013 Global Perspectives on Sexual Violence in Marriage Conference, our college
has also supported our project by funding the dissemination of the work at confer-
ences and awarding us a writing retreat at the Barbara Kellner Key West home. Most
important, we thank Wheaton for allowing us to teach together and thus begin a
process that has allowed us to learn deeply from each other.
At Oxford University Press, we have had the pleasure of working with incred-
ibly responsive and supportive editors. Thank you to Dana Bliss for giving us space
to think through what was at the core of our volume. Thank you also to Andrew
Dominello, an alumnus of our own institution, who is the very picture of profes-
sionalism and competence that we hope all our students will reach.
The writing companionship and support we received from Wheaton College’s
Scribbling Women has been precious to us. In particular, we want to thank Claire
Buck, Kim Miller, and Karen McCormack, who all shared valuable critical com-
ments on our book prospectus. Gabriela Torres also thanks Mary Beth Tierney-​Tello
x i i A cknowledgments

and Montserrat Pérez Toribio for the many fruitful conversations they shared with
her on the nature of gender and violence.
Most important, we want to acknowledge the patience, imagination, and hard
work of the authors featured in this volume. We thank them for engaging with us
over a long collaborative review process. Thank you for staying connected with us
through travel, difference, and the regular toils and sometimes wild turns of life.

Jocelyn Anderson,
Johns Hopkins University
Michelle J. Anderson,
CUNY School of Law
Veronica Barcelona de Mendoza,
Yale School of Nursing
Raquel Kennedy Bergen,
St. Joseph’s University
Jacquelyn Campbell,
Johns Hopkins University
R. Emerson Dobash,
University of Manchester
Russell P. Dobash,
University of Manchester
Banu Ergöçmen,
Hacettepe Üniversitesi
Hillary J. Haldane,
Quinnipiac University
Henrica A.F.M. (Henriette) Jansen,
United Nations Population Fund
Filiz Kardam,
Çankaya University
Lynn Kwiatkowski,
Colorado State University
LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS
Monica McWilliams,
Ulster University
Cecilia Menjívar,
University of Kansas
Fionnuala Ní Aoláin,
University of Minnesota Law School
and Ulster University
James Ptacek,
Suffolk University
Bushra Sabri,
Johns Hopkins University
Judith L. Singleton,
DePaul University
Daniel Jordan Smith,
Brown University
M. Gabriela Torres,
Wheaton College, MA
Jennifer R. Wies,
Eastern Kentucky University
Kersti Yllö,
Wheaton College, MA
Ilknur Yüksel-​K aptanoglu,
Hacettepe Üniversitesi
 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

AAS Abuse Assessment Screen

CDC Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
CEDAW Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination
Against Women
CESCR Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights
CLAS culturally and linguistically appropriate services
CTS2 Revised Conflict Tactics Scale
DEVAW UN Declaration on Elimination of Violence Against Women
ICCPR International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
IPV intimate partner violence
IPM intimate partner murder
IPSV intimate partner sexual violence
IPSexM intimate partner murder including sexual assault
KSGM General Directorate on the Status of Women
OHCHR Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
PEP postexposure prophylaxis
PrEP preexposure prophylaxis
PRWA Protocol to the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights
on the Human Rights of Women
PTSD post-​traumatic stress disorder
SES Sexual Experiences Survey
SexM sexual murder of women
SOTP Sexual Offender Treatment Program
SVAWS Severity of Violence Against Women Scale
TURKSTAT Turkish Statistical Institute
VAWA Violence Against Women Act
 NOTE ON SOURCES

Legal sources used in the chapters in this volume are cited separately. The lists of
references cited, legal and otherwise, are the consolidated references for all the
chapters. We hope that the compilation will be a resource and facilitate further
scholarship.
Marital Rape
 Prologue
Understanding Marital Rape in Global Context

KERSTI YLLÖ

Rape is a controversial concept. We can define rape simply—​as forced, noncon-

sensual sex involving vaginal, oral, or anal penetration. But, it is never that simple.
There is no straightforward understanding of rape based only on the act itself.
Cultural and legal definitions of rape are always shaped by the relationships and
status of those involved, a premise that holds both historically and cross-​culturally.
An assault by a stranger is more likely to be seen as a “real rape” than one by some-
one known to the victim. A “chaste” woman—​or young girl—​is more likely to be
considered a “victim.” A prior sexual relationship is regarded as a reasonable defense
because consent is assumed. In some cultures, consent is not even something that
an individual wife can give. The families that arranged the marriage guarantee her
permanent consent. The power relations that contextualize the act are critical. That
is why efforts to understand and intervene in marital rape are so difficult.
As Estelle B. Freedman (2013, 3) points out in Redefining Rape, “At its core, rape
is a legal term that encompasses a malleable and culturally determined perception
of an act… . The meaning of rape is thus fluid.” Early rape laws defined the assault as
a property crime against the husband or father whose wife or daughter was defiled.
Under this framework marital rape is an oxymoron because a wife is legally a hus-
band’s sexual property. When 17th-​century rape laws—​f rom British common law
to the Qing dynasty in China (Ng 1987)—​sanctioned rape, it was considered a vio-
lation of a woman’s chastity, again not possible in the context of marriage. Further,
British jurist Lord Matthew Hale (1736/​1847, 628) addressed the issue of consent
directly by declaring that, “The husband cannot be guilty of a rape committed by
himself upon his lawful wife, for by their mutual consent and contract the wife hath
given up herself in this kind unto her husband, which she cannot retract.” Still today,
this ideology of permanent, irrevocable consent pervades legal and cultural concep-
tualizations of marriage and forced sex within it. And, this ideology has global reso-
nance, not because people on many continents were influenced by Lord Hale, but
because control of women’s bodies through marriage is foundational to patriarchy.
The ways in which marital rape is condoned varies enormously cross-​culturally.
In the United States, for example, forced sex in marriage is illegal, yet numerous atti-
tudinal surveys show that Americans regard the rape of a wife as far less serious than
a similar assault on an acquaintance or stranger (Yllö 2010). In India, the Supreme
2 P rologue : U nderstanding M arital R ape in G lobal C onte x t

Court ruled in February 2015 that marital rape was not a criminal offense. A gov-
ernment minister then told the Parliament that marital rape could not be crimi-
nalized in India as “marriages are sacrosanct” in that country (BBC News 2015).
At the most vile extreme, Boko Haram, a radical Nigerian sect, has kidnapped and
repeatedly raped hundreds of women and girls calling it “marriage.” One victim
recounts, “They choose the ones they wanted to marry. If anybody shouts, they said
they would shoot them” (Nossiter 2015). As Freedman (2013) argues, rape is a mal-
leable term. Apparently, so is marriage.
There has certainly been resistance to rape throughout human history, but it
was not until the late 20th century that rape became the object of intensive politi-
cal analysis (Freedman 2013, 271). The antirape movement that grew out of 1960s
consciousness-​raising groups, as well as Susan Brownmiller’s (1975) groundbreak-
ing Against Our Will, led to dramatic rethinking about rape. At that time, marital
rape was legal in all fifty US states as well as in virtually all other countries across the
globe—​yet it was not the focus of attention or activism.
Around 1980, David Finkelhor and I were studying child sexual abuse and wife
battering (respectively) at the University of New Hampshire. It occurred to us that
we had never really considered the sexual abuse of wives. Our initial review of the
literature turned up no social science research and a handful of legal articles debat-
ing the spousal exemption to rape laws. Our research project that culminated in
License to Rape: The Sexual Abuse of Wives (1985) began. Intensive interviews with
fifty women who had experienced forced sex by husbands and cohabiters began to
break the silence surrounding sexual violence in marriage. In 1982, Diana Russell
published her pioneering survey research in Rape in Marriage and established that
forced sex in marriage was indeed a widespread and significant problem in the
United States. During the next decade, marital rape was criminalized in every state,
owing to the work of feminist activists who used our research to challenge the idea
that these sexual assaults were inconsequential. While marital rape received some
attention as these changes took place, it still did not take hold as a public issue. While
child sexual abuse and date rape—​a nd most recently campus sexual assault—​have
generated extensive research, attention, and intervention, the only major addition
to the marital rape literature was in 1996 with Raquel Bergen’s Wife Rape. In 1999,
I wrote a piece titled “Wife Rape: A Social Problem for the 21st Century” predicting
that numerous social changes would bring the issue of rape in marriage out of the
shadows.
A few years ago, I decided to try to explore how marital rape is understood, expe-
rienced, and sanctioned globally. As a sociologist with a US focus, it was clear to
me that I was unprepared to pursue cross-​cultural work alone, so I sought out my
Wheaton colleague in anthropology, Gabriela Torres. Her work on femicide and
the state in Guatemala as well as her deep understanding of anthropology’s emic
approach—​a nd the power and limits of such a perspective—​have been critical to
developing the nuanced understanding of violence against women cross-​culturally
that is so fundamental to this volume.
At this point in the 21st century, three significant currents are bringing marital
rape into public focus globally. First, the idea that women’s rights are human rights is
no longer a radical or fringe perspective. Organizations such as the United Nations
and Amnesty International, which traditionally regarded human rights in narrowly
political terms, have moved to a more expansive understanding that acknowledges
Prologue: Understanding Marital Rape in Global Context 3

woman abuse in the private sphere as a rights violation. Important legal changes
sanctioning these violations then follow. The international human rights/​women’s
rights perspective is built on an abstract Western conceptualization of individual
autonomy and liberty (although that is not to say that indigenous women have not
fought for equality and freedom within their own societies). Still, the universal
(cross-​cultural) implementation of the human rights agenda is complex and sub-
ject to sometimes-​contentious debate. Nevertheless, the idea that women are equal
human beings with bodily integrity is taking hold, and that change has major impli-
cations for the understanding of marriage and the nature of the sexual relationship
within it.
Second, and closely related to the change just discussed, is the global trans-
formation of marriage as an institution and a relationship. As Stephanie Coontz
(2005) and Jennifer Hirsch and Holly Wardlow (2009) explicate, the traditional
model of marriage as a contract between families for the purpose of reproduction
is shifting toward marriage as a companionate and intimate relationship world-
wide. Admittedly, this shift (and its connection to increases in female education)
is highly uneven and often resisted globally. Further, it is not always a change that
uniformly empowers women (Smith, this volume). Nevertheless, the idea that
marriage is a relationship between two people involving romantic love and sexual
intimacy validates the conceptualization of a wife as a distinct, autonomous being.
With that comes a recognition of her independent decision-​making and capacity
to give or withhold consent. And, that creates a tectonic shift in the way marital
rape can be understood and the sanctions and interventions that can be brought
to bear.
The third current of change that brings marital rape to the forefront is the HIV/​
AIDS pandemic. It has become clear that large numbers of married women, par-
ticularly in sub-​Saharan Africa, have been infected by their husbands. Lacking the
ability to deny sex—​or even ask for sex with a condom—​can be life threatening
for women and their children. In its 2001 Declaration of Commitment on HIV/​
AIDS, the United Nations made clear the link between women’s sexual autonomy
and AIDS prevention. The declaration committed member states to develop and
implement national strategies to

empower women to have control over and decide freely and responsibly on
matters related to their sexuality to increase their ability to protect themselves
from HIV infection; [and ensure] … reduction of their vulnerability to HIV/​
AIDS through the elimination of all forms of discrimination, as well as all
forms of violence against women and girls, including harmful traditional and
customary practices, abuse, rape and other forms of sexual violence, battering
and trafficking in women and girls.1

In my view, it is telling that the United Nations arrived at such strong support for
women’s sexual autonomy as a strategy for curbing the AIDS pandemic. A woman’s
right to choose or refuse sex should be fundamental, regardless of disease conse-
quences. Nevertheless, it is clear that the AIDS pandemic gives urgency to efforts
to address rape both in and outside marriage. In this context, marital rape can be
approached as a public health problem. Prioritizing women’s health and reducing
the harm and illness that forced sex brings is a promising approach to intervention
4 P rologue : U nderstanding M arital R ape in G lobal C onte x t

in marital rape in contexts where an emphasis on women’s autonomy would gener-

ate resistance in both men and women.
Contributors to this volume develop these themes at some length, drawing on
their intimate knowledge of a range of cultural contexts and a variety of disciplinary
approaches. While we have called this book Marital Rape, this is not the term that all
authors use. Different chapters refer to forced sex, sexual assault, sexual abuse, repro-
ductive abuse, and intimate partner sexual violence, among other terms. We have
not tried to impose a uniformity of usage because there are good reasons for differ-
ent terms at times, especially because the women in the studies are often not legally
married to the intimate partners who assault them. We have tried to avoid popular
acronyms like IPSV (intimate partner sexual violence) because we find them cold
and distancing, but otherwise consider many terms as generally interchangeable.
But, let me explain why we focus the volume on marital rape. The ideologies of
irrevocable consent and permanent sexual access, which are central to the legal and
cultural condoning of forced sex in intimate relationships, are a central character-
istic of the institution of marriage. Historically and cross-​culturally, marriage has
guaranteed men sexual and reproductive access to women. The significance of an
individual woman’s consent varies considerably from culture to culture. In some
contexts, a wife’s consent is not a consideration at all because sexual access for the
purpose of reproduction is understood by the families arranging it as the purpose of
marriage. Historically in the West, by contrast, marriage explicitly granted the wife’s
ongoing consent. The presumption that a cohabitor or date or former girlfriend has
granted consent to sex on any given occasion because she consented previously
grows out of this assumption in the marital contract. In this context at least, consent
is not just a matter of personal choice or interpersonal conflict; it is an institutional
premise. By focusing on marital rape cross-​culturally, we do not exclude other inti-
mate partner sexual violence but rather emphasize the institutional underpinnings
that give rise to the full range. Further, we explore the meaning of consent in dif-
ferent cultures and consider the ways in which those understandings are changing.
It is important to note that the research and analysis of rape in marriage and other
intimate relationships that this volume offers are focused entirely on heterosexual
relationships. There is no question that the institution of marriage is changing, and
one of those changes is the growing acceptance and legalization of same-​sex marriage.
This positive change portends further transformation as the terms husband and wife
fade as signifiers of rigid gender roles. Increasingly, spouses of all gender combina-
tions negotiate their intimate and marital roles and responsibilities. It is also clear
from growing research that gay and lesbian couples are not immune from the domes-
tic violence so common among heterosexuals (Island and Lettelier 2012; Renzetti
1992). We expect that future research will take up the issue of forced sex in same-​sex
marriages. Our current focus is on the millions of women worldwide who are sexually
violated by their husbands and intimate partners in the context of a marital institution
that has for millennia controlled access to women’s bodies for reproductive purposes.
Throughout this volume—​w ith contributions ranging the globe—​sexual violence
in intimate relationships is always considered in familial, legal, social, and cultural
context. In this sense, our framework is consistent with Lori Heise’s (1998) inte-
grated, ecological model for understanding gender-​based violence. Marital rape is
understood as “a multifaceted phenomenon grounded in the interplay of individual,
Prologue: Understanding Marital Rape in Global Context 5

family, community and socio-​cultural factors” (262). These factors can be visualized
as concentric circles moving out from the personal level. Several chapters document
that the injury and harm individual women experience in very different cultural con-
texts (Guatemala, Turkey, and Vietnam, for example) have a deep commonality of
suffering and endurance. At family and community levels, however, the meanings
of marriage and consent vary enormously, from forced and arranged marriages to
widely accepted cohabitation based on individual attraction. Many of the chapters
also emphasize how the broader context of legal, political, economic structures and
cultural norms profoundly shape the experience of sexual violence. While marital
rape is the most intimate of violations, it is also the form of violence against women
that is most clearly sanctioned by the state, which specifies through laws and their
implementation what sorts of violations are condoned and even expected. These laws
crystallize cultural norms that are widely shared (although varying in their specific-
ity) that regard a wife’s body as not her own. Exploring the interconnections among
these layers of contextual factors is a central focus of this book.
A central purpose of Marital Rape: Consent, Marriage, and Social Change in Global
Context is to expand the global attention to gender-​based violence to explicitly
include forced sex in marriage and other intimate relationships. This most intimate
form of violence against women has been hidden behind closed doors for too long,
and this volume presents the first in-​depth consideration of marital rape globally.
A further goal of this volume is to consider the implications of this wide-​ranging
research for policy and practice to more meaningfully intervene in this pervasive
form of violence and suffering.

This volume grows out of an important collaboration that is international, interdis-

ciplinary, and intergenerational. As Gabriela Torres and I approached this project,
we realized just how little scholarship—​especially outside the United States—​
has been focused on marital rape. Social psychologists had documented attitudes
toward marital rape. Sociologists had explored the experience and estimated rates.
Legal scholars had debated the spousal exemption in rape laws and criminaliza-
tion. However, despite its long tradition of research on marriage and kinship and
its relatively recent turn toward gender-​based violence, anthropology had pro-
duced no studies of forced sex in marriage. This gap in particular was troubling
because anthropology was the discipline so clearly suited for exploring practices
cross-​culturally.
We decided that our first step was to convene a small conference of research-
ers and activists to consider how we might begin a global response to rape in mar-
riage. With support from the Wenner-​Gren Foundation, we gathered together
for three days at Wheaton College (Massachusetts) in May 2013. Participants
included anthropologists, sociologists, legal scholars, public health researchers, and
human rights advocates who had worked in countries from Vietnam to Nigeria to
Guatemala to the United Kingdom and United States. Unsurprisingly, this combi-
nation created a rich epistemic stew of perspectives and positions and some highly
contentious debates. Sociologists, lawyers, and human rights proponents took a
more etic approach: marital rape understood as a social problem and human rights
violation. Anthropologists took a more emic perspective, emphasizing cultural rela-
tivism and a more holistic approach that sought to understand practices from the
6 P rologue : U nderstanding M arital R ape in G lobal C onte x t

point of view of particular cultures. Does marital rape even exist when a culture
has no term for it and no shared understanding of it? On the other hand, who con-
trols the shared understanding within patriarchy? How do power relations shape
our understandings? What is an appropriate and effective approach to intervention
in demonstrable social suffering that does not bring a missionary zeal or bear the
imprint of colonialism?
These debates bring me to the power of collaboration. Extraordinary effort to
listen and understand differing points of view—​a nd learn from them—​is critical
to our effort. Our goal has not been to emphasize counterpoints and identify win-
ning arguments. Rather, it has been to carefully articulate important theoretical,
empirical, and policy positions concerning marital rape and to consider points of
integration. How can sociologists and human rights advocates temper their often-​
blunt assertions about the social problems and violations that they want to chal-
lenge by more carefully considering cultural contexts (without abandoning their
strong convictions)? How can anthropologists maintain their holistic cultural lens
while also taking a firmer stand against practices that may be widely accepted in
a particular culture yet cause enormous social suffering? And, how can we bridge
the often-​yawning gap between scholarship, policy, and practice—​especially across
disparate cultures—​to begin to ameliorate this global problem?
I am so grateful to our contributors, many of whom attended the Wheaton con-
ference and committed to new directions in their research as a result of what they
shared and learned. This volume weaves together many strands of theory, research,
policy, and practice, which is not to suggest that it represents a consensus. It is my
hope that Marital Rape: Consent, Marriage, and Social Change in Global Context is a
testament to the power and promise of a growing collaboration that contributes to
the global effort to end all forms of violence against women.

Note
1. Declaration of Commitment on HIV/​A IDS, G.A. Res. S-​2 6/​2 , U.N. Doc. A/​R ES/​
S-​2 6/​2 (Aug. 2, 2001) §§ 55, 56.
 SECTION I

Conceptualizing the Problem

of Marital Rape
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
The Project Gutenberg eBook of Outside Saturn
This ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States
and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no
restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it
under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this
ebook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the
United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where
you are located before using this eBook.

Title: Outside Saturn

Author: Robert E. Gilbert

Illustrator: Richard Kluga

Release date: October 5, 2023 [eBook #71815]

Language: English

Original publication: New York, NY: Royal Publications, Inc, 1957

Credits: Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed

Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK OUTSIDE

SATURN ***
 OUTSIDE SATURN

By ROBERT ERNEST GILBERT

Illustrated by RICHARD KLUGA

Gangsters were out of date, and the ice-sweeper

was an unlikely thing to steal. But Vicenzo
was a streak, so what else could Henry do?

[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from

Infinity January 1958.
Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that
the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]
 CHAPTER I
Aziz ripped the radio from Henry's spacesuit and carefully resealed
the panel. "Dis'll be the weldin' of ya, kid," Aziz said, crinkling his
round, sallow face in an attempt to smile. "Yer name'll be in ever' yap
—in our orbit, dat is."
"But what—" Henry tried to say.
"No doubt at all," Vicenzo agreed, cleverly shorting Henry's drive
tube.
"I don't—" Henry said.
"Vicenzo figured it right, kid," Aziz said. He gestured with powerful
arms too long for his short body. "Ya'll hit dat ole sweeper square on
the bulb. Vicenzo's a streak."
"I'm a genius," Vicenzo admitted. He smoothed the black bangs
covering his forehead to the eyebrows, and he fingered the pointed
sideburns reaching to his chin. "You jump into space, Henry, and
then we'll increase velocity and sink into the Rings."
Aziz begged, "Do us a blazer, kid. We won't go far. Too low on fuel."
He lowered the helmet over Henry's bushy, blond hair and ruddy
face and clamped it shut.
Vicenzo and Aziz left Henry in the airvalve and closed the inner door.
When the valve emptied to vacuum, Henry reluctantly lowered the
outer door and stepped to the magnetized platform.
Henry stood twenty meters above Ring B of the Rings of Saturn.
Below him, balls of ice, metal, rock, and assorted cosmic debris
flowed slowly past with stars occasionally visible between the
whirling particles. To either side, the billions of tiny moons blended
with distance to form a solid, glaring white band. Henry bent his
knees and dived into space.
Holding his body stiff with a practiced rigidity, and cautiously moving
arms and legs to check any tendency to tumble, Henry glided above
the Rings. Turning his head, he saw exhaust spurt from the
collection of spherical cabins, tanks, and motors that was the
spaceship; and the craft moved from his line of sight, leaving him
alone.
Henry drifted above a flat surface more than sixty-six thousand
kilometers wide. To his left, Ring B extended to the black circle of the
Cassini Division which separated it from the less brilliant Ring A. To
his right, the gleam of Ring B abruptly changed to the dimness of the
Crape Ring through which the surface of Saturn was visible. Of the
giant planet, forty-three thousand kilometers away, Henry saw but
half a crescent marked with vague white and yellow bands and
obscure spots.
Red and green lights blinked ahead. Most of the approaching ice-
sweeper was shadowed and invisible against the blackness of
space. Henry saw no lighted windows, but he experimentally aimed
his signal torch at a dome on top of the space station.
Moving with the exact velocity of the Ring, the sweeper, a bundle of
huge cylindrical tanks bound together with fragile girders, apparently
grew larger. A rectangular snout, swinging from side to side and
probing into the Ring, dangled below the front of the sweeper.
Dancing in mutual gravitational attraction, the tiny moons constantly
closed the open lane behind the snout.
Henry blinked his torch and saw its red reflection in the sweeper's
observation dome, but no one answered the signal. Gaudy with
lights, the station drifted past below Henry's level and nearly one
hundred meters away.

Henry struggled futilely in his suit and tumbled through space. He

saw the flaming arch of the Milky Way and then the immense
shadow of Saturn stretching black across the Rings. Somewhere,
the bright exhaust of a distant spaceship streaked across the stars.
By missing the ice-sweeper, he would continue on a spiral course
down toward Saturn, until he at last fell into the methane; or, if his
falling body accelerated enough, he might establish an orbit closer to
the planet and revolve around it, until he died of thirst. Vicenzo and
Aziz would never find him and would probably not search long.
Fire shot past Henry's gyrating figure. A thin cable followed the small
rocket. Henry's flailing arms struck the cable, and his gauntleted
hands gripped the strands. He pulled back the spent rocket, and the
missile's magnetic head clanked against his spacesuit. The lifeline
reeled him toward the station.
A hairless, brown, deeply wrinkled face watched Henry from a small
window beside an open airvalve. The cable pulled Henry to the
muzzle of a rocket launcher. He jerked the magnetic head loose and
shut himself into the valve. He slid the inner door open and, weakly
kicking his legs, floated on his back into the sweeper.
An old man, the owner of the wrinkled face, stopped Henry from
drifting into the far wall of the cramped compartment. The old man
wore shorts and a sleeveless shirt, and his shrunken limbs seemed
to have no muscles. He drew Henry down to the magnetized deck
and removed the space helmet.
"You're just a boy!" the man wheezed in a cracked voice. "Where'd
you come from, boy?"
Henry, watching through half-closed eyes, almost said that he was
twenty years old. Then he remembered to mutter, "Water."
The old man said, "How'd you get out here? There's been no ships in
days. What are you doing here all by yourself? I almost missed you.
You'd been on a bad course if I had. Just happened to see your torch
twirling around out there. Ain't many people can come that close with
a life rocket and not hit a fellow. For a second, I thought the rocket
was going to bust you. Of course, being skillful the way I am, it didn't
seem likely, but I—"
"Water," Henry moaned.
"Water? Why sure. How long you been drifting, boy? Must be mighty
thirsty. What's your name? I'm Ranjit. I've never got used to people
not telling their last names. Of course, even when I was your age,
most people called each other by their first names. I can't hardly
remember what my last name is. You might not think it to look at me,
but I'm 107 years old. Here, let's get you out of that suit and see
what kind of shape you're in."
Horizontal and vertical wrinkles formed ragged crosshatching on
Ranjit's forehead. His nose and ears were large and grotesque with
age. He unsealed the spacesuit at the waist and, holding Henry
against the deck with one hand, pulled off the top section.
"Water!" Henry gasped. Peeping secretly, he saw that the teletype,
near the airvalve, was dismantled, with the parts tied in bunches
floating over the empty case. He located the radio above an
aluminum desk in the far corner. He could see no visular set
anywhere.
Ranjit dragged off the lower section of the suit, leaving Henry
resplendent in orange knickers and red blouse. "How do you feel?"
Ranjit asked. "What ship are you from? I don't see how they could
just leave you. I'd better report this. They must be looking for you.
Funny I haven't heard about it. Of course, the teletype's out of
whack. I'm fixing it. I'm handy that way, fixing things. The heater
broke down the other day, but I've got it going good now. I've started
melting ice again. The tanks were about empty after that last ship
fueled up. The Asteroid Ann, it was, or was it the Mimas Mae?
They've both been by lately, but—"
"Water!" Henry pleaded. He had to do something to make Ranjit
leave the compartment. He tried to listen for sounds that would
locate the other crew members. Holding his handsome blond head in
his hands, he sat up. The movement lifted his body from the deck,
leaving his metal-soled shoes attached, so that he sat in mid-air.
"Water?" said Ranjit. "If there's one thing I've got, it's water. Let me
see, there must be a flask someplace." He rummaged in the netting
that covered two opposite walls of the compartment and secured an
incredible clutter of weightless tools, books, food cases, clothing,
oxygen tanks, spacesuit parts, wire, tubing, and other items. Still
talking, Ranjit vanished through an opening almost concealed by the
net.

Henry leaped to the radio. He whipped a pair of insulated snips from

his pocket and cut through the electric cord in four places. He thrust
the severed pieces behind the desk and stood listening. Somewhere,
Ranjit continued talking, but Henry heard no answering voices. The
only other sounds were the whine of electric motors and the throb of
pumps. Henry pulled out a screwdriver and paused as he noticed a
sign above the desk. The sign said:

AAAAAAA CCCCC D EEEEE

G H IIIIH LLLL MM NNNNNNNNN
OO PP Q RR S TTTTT UUUUU
Shaking his head, Henry released the clamps, turned the radio, pried
off the back, and stabbed and slashed at the interior with the
screwdriver. He replaced the back and returned to his position on the
deck just in time.
"—really should," Ranjit continued, walking through the door. "You're
lucky I saw you at all. Of course, I'm watchful all the time. Would you
believe I've been right here on this sweeper for nine years? Here's
some water, boy."
Henry squirted water from the flexible flask into his mouth. Ranjit
said, "You ain't as thirsty as I thought you was. How come you wasn't
calling for help?"
"No radio," Henry mumbled. "The drive tube wouldn't work either."
"What were you doing in a bunged-up suit like that? You'll never live
to be as old as me if you take such chances. If this station had
visular, I'd have picked you up in that, but the company said I
wouldn't have no use for it."
"Where is everybody?" Henry asked, pushing himself unsteadily to
his feet.
"Everybody who? Are you hungry? How long since you had anything
to eat? There's nobody here but me. Karoly and Wilbur both passed
beyond, Wilbur just two weeks ago. He was only 94 too. The
company's sending some help, they say. I don't see how they expect
one man to run an ice-sweeper, even if he is handy like me. This is a
dangerous job, although you might not think so. Do you realize,
young fellow, we're whizzing around Saturn once every nine hours,
four minutes, and twelve seconds? That's an orbital velocity of
nineteen point eight kilometers per second! We've got to go that fast
to stay in this orbit."
"There's no one else here but you?" Henry said.
"Think what would happen if something slowed us down!" Ranjit
exclaimed. "We'd start falling toward Saturn and finally crash!
Meteors are scarce out here, but what if a spaceship came around
retrograde and smashed this station head-on? There ain't a thing I
can do if it starts falling. Part of it's a ship, but the company took the
motor out. All I've got is the flywheel steering gear. The control
room's right up there above my bunk."
Ranjit pointed to a sandwich bunk hoisted against the pipes and
conduits that crisscrossed the ceiling in abstract patterns. He said, "I
can spin this sweeper like a top, if I want to, but I can't accelerate it."
He squinted through the small window beside the airvalve.
"Speaking of spaceships," he rambled, "there's one out there now.
Wonder who it is? There's not a thing on the schedule. Looks like
they would've called in."
Moving to the radio, the old man fumbled with knobs and switches
and pounded on the cabinet with his fist. "This radio's deader than a
asteroid!" he yelled. "First the teletype and now the radio. I'm
supposed to report all ships to Titan, but how can I with no
equipment? Maybe that's your ship come hunting you. What did you
say your name is?"
"Henry," said Henry.
"Henry, huh? My name's Ranjit. I better get up to the big valve. That
ship'll be clinching in a minute."
"What does that sign mean?" said Henry, seizing the old man's bony
wrist.
"Sign? Oh, there over the desk? I just put that there to confuse
people. It's a puzzle that spells out something in an old-time
language, Latin maybe. Christian Huygens published that way back
in 1655. He used a puzzle while he was checking some more. He
was the first man to figure out what was around Saturn. It means
something like, 'There's a flat ring that's inclined to the ecliptic that
circles the planet without touching it.' Well, let go of me. I've got to
see about that ship."
"Just stay here and be calm, Ranjit," Henry said.
"What?"
"Be good, and you won't get hurt."
"Get hurt? What are you talking about, Henry? That's no way to talk
to a fellow that saved your life. If it hadn't been for me, you'd still be
falling. You were slower than the sweeper. I saved your life!"
Henry blushed in sudden shame and released Ranjit's arm. "Why,
why, I—I guess you did!" he stammered.
Henry lived in an era that had been preceded by wars which
destroyed more than half the people of Earth. It was a time of rigidly
controlled population, highly specialized training, and constantly
increasing life expectancy. Each human life was considered a
distinct and invaluable thing. Since the end of the final war, the
Crime War, seventy years before, murder had become an obscene
and almost meaningless word, and natural death was rarely
mentioned. Saving another person's life was considered the most
magnificent act that anyone could perform, and almost the only way
to become a public hero, since actors, entertainers, policemen, and
officials were thought to be no better than anyone else.
"I'm—I'm sorry," Henry said, blushing until he perspired. "I'm all
mixed up."
"That's all right, Henry. You were out there a long time."
Something struck twice against the hull of the ice-sweeper. "There's
a clumsy pilot!" Ranjit yelled. "I better go see what he's trying to do."
"Wait," Henry said, grabbing the old man's arm again. "I—" He
stopped speaking and frowned in confusion. When he considered
recent events, he realized that Vicenzo and Aziz, by their inexpert
maneuvering, had almost caused him to pass beyond. All of Henry's
education, haphazard as it had been, emphasized the belief that a
person who caused another to pass beyond could only be regarded
with loathing. A person who saved a life must be treated with eternal
gratitude and veneration by the beneficiary.
Ranjit said, "Let's go, Henry! What are you up to? I've had a feeling
you ain't exactly zeroed."
"I—I think I should tell you," Henry said.
"Listen. Somebody coming aboard," Ranjit said, jerking his arm from
Henry's relaxed grip and facing the doorway in the netting. Henry
waited for Vicenzo and Aziz to enter the compartment.

CHAPTER II
Two people entered, but they were not Vicenzo and Aziz. The first
was a small, thin man with a long, sad face. He wore a somber black
oversuit. The second was a girl no older than Henry.
"Please, Joachim," the girl whispered, "don't antagonize them. Ask
about the fuel first."
Henry gaped at the girl, and his face grew hot. Since he had spent
his young life among the Moons and Asteroids, never going farther
sunward than Pallas, he had seen few girls his own age and none as
beautiful as this one. Her hair, dyed in tiger stripes of black and
yellow, was parted in the middle and, held by silver wires, extended
from the sides of her head like wings. She wore blue hose, silver fur
shorts, and a golden sweater sparkling with designs in mirror thread.
Metal-soled shoes too large for her feet slightly marred the total
effect.
"High," said the man with the sad face. "I am Joachim, Second Vice-
President of the SPRS. This is our Corresponding Secretary, Morna."
His deep voice rolled around the compartment as if the lower keys of
an orchestrana had been struck.
"Low," Ranjit responded. "I'm Ranjit, and this is Henry. Why didn't
you make an appointment? The tanks are about empty, and you may
have to wait several hours. What do you feed your atomics, water or
hydrogen? It'll be even longer if you need hydrogen. I haven't done
any electrolysis today. I wasn't expecting—Look at that girl, Henry!
I'm 107 years old, but I can still appreciate a sight like that! I don't
see how a homely fellow like you, Joachim, ever got such a luscious
girl."
"Ours is strictly a business relationship," said Morna with indignant
formality. "We do need fuel, Ranjit. We planned to refuel on Dione,
but the moon was not where Joachim thought it should be. If—"
"Later, Morna," Joachim interrupted in a hollow voice. "I have come
thirteen hundred million kilometers on a mission, and I intend to fulfill
it! I represent the SPRS. We have written to you, Ranjit, but you
have never answered."
Ranjit said, "The SPRS? Oh, yeah, you're the ones are always
sending me spacemail. It's about all I ever get, and I appreciate it. I
don't get much mail, out here, and I don't see many people. This
fellow here, Henry, was the first I'd seen in days. I saved Henry's life,
or did he tell you?"
"How wonderful!" Morna exclaimed in awe. "I've never spoken to a
Saver before! Think of it, Joachim! Ranjit saved Henry!"
"That is very nice," Joachim admitted, "but—"
"You're a hero!" Morna cried, seizing Ranjit's hands. "How does it
feel to be a Saver? It must be sublime!" She turned to Henry and
grasped his arms. "How do you feel, Henry? You must almost
worship Ranjit! Such a noble man!"
Ranjit cackled. "Look at him blush! I don't believe he's been around
girls much. Since Joachim don't have no claim on her, Henry, I'd do
some sweet talking if I was your age. I pulled Henry in on a lifeline,
or he'd be falling into the methane by now."
"Isn't that wonderful?" Morna marveled, smiling glamorously.
Joachim said, "Everyone be quiet and allow me to finish! I have
come thirteen hundred million kilometers on a mission, and I intend
to fulfill it! I am Second Vice-President of the Society for the
Preservation of the Rings of Saturn. You, Ranjit, and the people on
the other three stations in the Rings are destroying the most glorious
and inspiring feature of the Solar System! The divine pinnacle of
Creation! A miracle that may be unique in the Universe! You are
destroying the Rings of Saturn for the greedy, selfish purpose of
selling fuel to spaceships!"
"Spaceships got to have fuel," Ranjit said, "and don't talk so loud. Ice
is scarce, you know, unless you want to chase comets. One side of
Iapetus has a sheet, and Titan has some. If you go on in, you'll find a
little on some of the Moons of Jupiter, and a few of the Asteroids are
—"
Joachim said, "You are destroying the Rings of Saturn! This is the
most despicable crime in a long history of the devastation of nature
by greedy men! When you have eventually melted the last crystal of
ice and departed with your hoard, Saturn will spin desolately alone
through the night, shorn of his glorious halo that has been the solace
and inspiration of man since prehistoric times!"
"Not when they never had telescopes, it wasn't very inspiring," Ranjit
said. "I don't see why you're jumping on me, Joachim. I never
answered your letters because there wasn't nothing to say. I just
work here. You'll have to talk to the company to—"
"The Saturnine Fuel and Oxygen Company is headed by stubborn
men!" Joachim said. "They refuse to consider or answer our
demands! That is why I have come to appeal directly to the
operators of these ice-sweepers! You must immediately stop
sweeping the Rings into your tanks! You must tell your superiors that
you refuse to destroy the crowning glory of the Solar System!"
Ranjit said, "They'd just hire somebody else. I don't know as we are
destroying the Rings very fast. This was the first sweeper put in orbit
nine years ago, and I can't tell no difference in Ring B. There's an
awful lot of stuff in the Rings. Some of the balls are solid ice, but
some are just ice coated, so we melt it off and throw out the core.
Some don't have ice on it, so we throw it back. We don't use
hydroponics on the sweepers. We get plenty of oxygen when we
take off hydrogen, so we toss a lot of solid CO2 overboard, too. No,
we ain't taking as much from the Rings as you think. They'll get ionic
motors to working, one of these days, and it won't take hardly no fuel
at all."
"Nevertheless, I believe—" Joachim tried to say.
"You've got a hard hull, anyhow," Ranjit said, "coming out here telling
me to stop when you need fuel yourself. Supposing I stopped right
now. How would you get away? And what would I do? I got a bad
heart. About half of it's artificial. That's why I've been living under
zero G for fifteen years. I can't go back to Earth. The docs say more
than four-tenths G would do for me. Before I got this job, I was living
in a hulk orbiting around Titan, just waiting to pass beyond. Now I got
something useful to do and something to live for. I may last till I'm
120."
Henry, who had been stupidly smiling at Morna with too much
intensity to follow the discussion, jerked his head around and
gasped, "You, you can't stand acceleration?"
Ranjit said, "Not enough to go anywhere. I got a bad heart, a very
bad heart. About half of it's—"
Vicenzo and Aziz, spacesuited, crowded into the compartment
through the doorway in the netting. "Dis is a stickup!" Aziz
announced over a loudspeaker on the chest of his suit.
"Don't move," Vicenzo growled, scowling beneath his black bangs.
Since deadly weapons were extremely rare and difficult to obtain, the
pair had armed themselves with long, hand-made knives. Vicenzo
also carried a cumbersome rocket launcher, a remodeled lifeline
tube.

"Gangsters!" Ranjit wheezed. "I ain't seen a gangster in twenty

years! I fought them in the Crime War! I—"
"Shut up, old man," Vicenzo ordered. His sideburns twitched around
his cruel mouth. "Everything fixed here, Henry?"
"Are you into this, Henry?" Ranjit said.
Vicenzo snarled, "I told you to shut up!"
"Let me talk to you alone, Vicenzo," Henry said.
"Spill it now. Is this all the crew? Did you smash communications?"
"Yes," Henry admitted. "The old man is the crew. The others just
came aboard."
"Why didn't you fix the other ship?" Vicenzo said. "We had to clamp
on, because it was blocking the valve. We came through it, and you
hadn't even smashed the radio. There might've been a crew aboard,
for all you knew."
"Vicenzo's a streak, kid," Aziz said. The short, wide man's sallow
face looked horrible behind the faceplate. "You oughta done like
Vicenzo said," he advised. "You won't get nowhere goofin' like dat or
—Hey, take a check on the doll! I never thought to see nothin' like
dat on a sweeper! Lucky me!"
"She's not in this," Henry said. "She's from the other ship. Leave her
alone, Aziz."
"Don't yap at me like dat, kid," Aziz warned.
Morna, who had stood as if frozen, turned to Henry and squealed,
"You're a gangster? How awful, after I thought you were nice, letting
Ranjit save your life!"
"Shut up, girl," Vicenzo said.
"A gangster!" Morna shrieked. She slapped Henry twice across the
face, knocking his shoes loose from the magnetic deck. He flipped
and fell against the net with his feet touching the ceiling.
In the confusion, Joachim broke from his terrified trance and dived
through the door. "I'll get 'im!" Aziz roared and, waving his knife,
followed the fleeing Second Vice-President.
As Henry struggled to regain an erect position, Morna wailed in his
ear, "I thought you were good and handsome, but you're a gangster!
You didn't deserve to be saved!" She slapped him again, knocking
him to the deck, and began to weep wildly. Under no gravity, the
tears spread in a film across her face. Surprised, she stopped crying
and wiped her cheeks with her hands. A few tears flew into the air as
shimmering globes.
Joachim floated into the compartment. His long chin was bruised,
and he muttered, "Save the Rings!" Aziz, grinning, followed and
stood on guard before the door. Morna gasped, darted to her
employer, and made helpless gestures.
"All right, now," Vicenzo said. "Let's get this jaunt moving. Henry, tie
these cubes up and—"
"We can't do it, Vicenzo," Henry said, staring in horror at Joachim's
half-conscious body.
"What?"
Henry said, "It's the old man. His heart's bad. The acceleration would
k-kill him!"
"Dat's the chance he's gotta take," Aziz sneered.
"You mean you don't care if you m-murder someone?"
"It's all in the orbit," Vicenzo said. "I told you that when you clinched
with us."
"I didn't believe you," Henry said. "You can't hurt Ranjit! He saved my
life!"
"Dat's what he was supposed to do, so's ya could get aboard," Aziz
said.
"But he really did save me! He pulled me in on a lifeline. I would've
missed the station. I wouldn't be surprised if you two tried to m-
murder me! I'm checking out. The whole deal's off. Both of you get
back in the ship and go! I'll give you that much of a chance. I'll stay
here and take Revision, or whatever's coming to me."
"The kid's stripped his cogs," Aziz laughed through his loudspeaker.
Vicenzo aimed his rocket launcher at Henry's midriff. He growled,
"Too bad you turned cube, Henry."
"Don't fire that thing in here!" Ranjit yelled. "You'll blow a hole
through the hull! What are you fellows up to? I never saw such
mixed-up goings on."

Henry said, "They're going to steal the ice-sweeper. That's why I had
to be taken aboard, so I could wreck your equipment and keep you
from reporting us or calling the other stations. The sweeper is
supposed to vanish without a trace. I'm sorry I ruined your radio,
Ranjit. I was supposed to try to keep the crew from becoming
suspicious while Vicenzo and Aziz were clinching. They're going to
move the sweeper into a Sun orbit, somewhere, and use it for a
base. They're going to hijack spaceships."
"Of all the crazy schemes!" Ranjit snorted. "You gangsters are space
happy! You're ready for the psychodocs! You can't get away with
gangstering these days! I fought your grandfathers in the Crime War.
I was in the Battle of Jupiter Orbit. We whipped you good, and nearly
wiped you out, but, ever so often, a few of you still turn up and try
silly stuff like this. Solar Government will get you!"
Vicenzo said, "Shut up, old man! Aziz, hold the girl. If the rest of you
don't behave while I'm tying you, Aziz will stab her."
"Dat'd be a awful waste," Aziz said, twisting Morna's arms behind her
back. Morna began to cry again. Teardrops floated like tiny planets.
Vicenzo pulled a long cord from his pack and lifted Joachim with one
hand. "Save the Rings," Joachim mumbled. "You are desecrating the
glory of the Solar System." Vicenzo lashed Joachim's wrists to an
overhead pipe.
Vicenzo said, "All right, Henry, you and the old man put your hands
against that pipe."
Ranjit said, "I'm 107 years old, but never in my life—"