Divorce rape

Divorce rape is a political term used in right-wing debates to criticize the alleged bias in Western countries for the law and divorce courts to strongly favor women over men in legal divorce proceedings. This allegedly affects both no-fault divorce and contested divorce cases, especially when it comes to the division of property and child custody matters. The term has been criticized by left-wing commentators.

Meaning

Opponents of divorce rape allege that since the liberalization of divorce laws in the 20th Century, the law has increasingly been influenced by feminist theory and viewpoints to economically "exploit" men. These critics claim that most divorces are deliberately initiated by women, who are said to often marry so-called "provider males" near the end of their fertile years, and then use alimony and child support, and also palimony laws, to extract a portion of these men's wealth and income for many years after the divorce. However, divorce rape is said to occur at the dissolution of many types of marriages where the man has significant assets. Divorce courts are said to overwhelmingly favor women over men in child custody cases, with men at a disadvantage in getting joint custody. One of the earliest users of the term was the Chateau Heartiste blog, which initially called it divorce theft.

Debate

The concept of divorce rape has become increasingly prominent in so-called red pill and alt-right circles in the 2010s, where it is claimed that women are more likely to exploit "weak" or "beta" males. Critics are divided whether the best defense is to have a strong marriage where the woman doesn't want to initiate divorce, or to never get married at all.

However, feminists themselves counter that divorce laws provide a necessary counterbalance for the alleged systemic exploitation of women by men throughout their lifespans.

Also see

• Divorce law by country
• Divorce demography
• Child custody laws in the United States
• Manosphere concepts
• Alt-right concepts
• Jim's Blog