"A Beginning for Other Women": The Marital Rape Exemption and the Rideout Case
On March 17, 2017, an Oregon man named John Rideout received a sentence of more than sixteen years in prison for rape and sodomy. His two victims, a woman he knew from church and his ex-girlfriend, spoke before a judge at the Marion County courthouse before sentencing; one said she hoped Rideout received help, while the other declared, “I am a victim no longer.” [1] Addressing the court, Rideout maintained his innocence, and then stated he was proud of his accusers, because they “stood up to me.” [2] Nearly forty years earlier, another woman stood up to Rideout: his former wife, Greta. On October 10, 1978, Greta Rideout, then 23 years old, telephoned the Women’s Crisis Center in Salem, as well as the Salem Police Department, alleging that her 21-year-old husband beat and raped her. She underwent a medical examination at Salem Memorial Hospital, where the doctor who examined her later testified she suffered from bruising around the left eye and cheek; her lips appeared bitten; an