S4E15: Marital Rape & Consent in Intimate Partner Relationships: A Discussion with Maitri Advocates

Marital rape has been a crime in all 50 States in the US since 1993. The current California criminal code makes no distinction between rape by a stranger and an intimate partner or spouse. The non-consensual sexual relations within a marriage are subject to the same penalty and consequences resulting in registration in the sex offenders’ list among others. As an agency primarily serving immigrant survivors from South Asia, it has posed and continues to pose a unique challenge for Maitri in communicating with survivors and delivering a message of no tolerance to sexual violence within a marriage. How can we, as advocates, address this cultural conditioning, belief system and yet be trauma-informed and sensitive to our survivors? How do we bring up this conversation with both our survivors and our community? In this episode of Between Friends podcast, Maitri Self sufficiency Coordinator Tejeswi Dodda and Legal Advocate Urja Patel discuss some aspects of the community perspective on Marital rape and consent in intimate relationships. Tejeswi Dodda is the Self Sufficiency Coordinator at Maitri. Tejeswi has a background as a journalist and activist highlighting issues around women and girls in India. She has extensive experience in nonprofit work, with a focus on social impact, gender justice, and advocacy for survivors, and over seven years of experience in the DV space. With Maitri since 2021, she is responsible for programming for Maitri's transitional housing and economic empowerment programs. Urja Patel is the Legal Advocate at Maitri. Urja Patel earned a B.S in Psychology with a minor in Women and Gender studies. She currently works as a Legal Advocate at Maitri with the intention of utilizing her educational background to provide assistance to individuals of marginalized communities specifically relating to issues of gender violence. As a child of first-generation immigrants who did not have the proper knowledge of resources available to them in this country, she aspires to help navigate other first -generation South Asians through the legal system of the United States by providing education to these individuals on their rights.This episode is hosted by Eboni Collins, Maitri’s Digital Media Associate who has a background in Communication Studies and Digital Marketing. Resources Mentioned in the Discussion:Maitri Findings: Community Perspective on Marital Rape & Consent in IntimateRelationships:https://maitri.org/reportsPresentation on Findings recorded Live April 28, 2023:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IB8GcLwU2Kc&t=10sPlease help us improve our podcast by taking a quick survey: https://shorturl.at/nozD7This project was made possible by funding provided by the County of Santa Clara Office of Gender-Based Violence Prevention. [www.sccendviolence.org]#MaitriBetweenFriendsPodcast #MaitriBayArea #MaritalRape #MaitriStaff #Tejeswi Dodda #Urja Patel