The current article examines rape as a form of sexual violence, drawing upon comparative research to describe and then proffer a tentative explanation of one specific type, referred to as ritualistic rape. Several cross-cultural examples and selected national data are referenced to examine three different forms of ritualistic rape: forced marriages or abductions, ritual defloration, and wife-lending. The evidence indicates that such “normative” or socially condoned rapes appear quite commonly in one form or another in nearly every society. The last section offers a general theory of ritualistic rape rooted in D. Black’s pure sociology perspective by identifying the confluence of several underlying structural features that purport to explain the conditions under which ritualistic rapes tend to thrive.
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