“If I Don’t Allow Him to Have Sex With Me, Our Relationship Will Be Broken”: Rape, Sexual Coercion, and Sexual Compliance Within Marriage in Rural Cambodia

Abstract

Rape, sexual coercion, and sexual compliance within marriage are major components of gender-based violence globally. This article examines a range of non-consensual sexual experiences within heterosexual marriage in Aoral and Thpong districts in Kampong Speu, Cambodia. Interviews were conducted with 11 married women and thematically analyzed from a critical realist and feminist perspective. Four categories of non-consensual sex were identified and analyzed (rape/forced sex, sexual coercion, sexual compliance, and internalized pressure). These are discussed in detail, alongside the need for educational efforts that disrupt traditional gender norms that create a context conducive to women’s non-consensual sex in Cambodia.