Without Consent: A Landmark Trial and the Decades-Long Struggle to Make Spousal Rape a Crime

by Sarah Weinman Narrated by Sarah Weinman

Overview

From Sarah Weinman, author of Scoundrel and The Real Lolita, comes an eye-opening story about the first major spousal rape trial in America and urgent questions it raised about women's rights that would reverberate for decades.

In 1978, Greta Rideout was the first woman in United States history to accuse her husband of rape, at a time when the idea of “marital rape” seemed ludicrous to many Americans and was a crime in only four states. After a quick and conservative trial acquitted John Rideout and a defense lawyer lambasted that “maybe rape is the risk of being married,” Greta was ridiculed and scorned from public life, while John went on to be a repeat offender. Thrust into the national spotlight, Greta and her story would become a national sensation, a symbol of a country's unrelenting and targeted hate toward women and a court system designed to fail them at every turn.

A now little-remembered trial deserving of close, wide, and lasting attention, Sarah Weinman turns her signature intelligence and journalistic rigor to the enduring impact of this case. Oregon v. Rideout directly inspired feminist activists, who fought state by state for marital rape laws, a battle that was not won in all fifty until as recently as 1993. Mixing archival research and new reporting involving Greta, those who successfully pressed charges against John in later years, as well as the activists battling the courts in parallel, Without Consent embodies vociferous debates about gender, sexuality, and power, while highlighting the damaging and inherent misogyny of American culture then and still now.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Important and impressive…Without Consent is history, yes, but also a warning about the future. A reminder of what happens when a right is given half-heartedly, or without teeth, or with every expectation that it will be diminished or eliminated. What does it mean for a society when rights are less foundations than pendulums — which basically makes them playthings, whims, historical artifacts?” — Lisa Belkin, author of Genealogy of a Murder

“With characteristic rigor and grace, Weinman recounts a harrowing, overlooked chapter in the struggle for women’s rights in America. But this book does far more than unearth history. It stands as a powerful testament to the individual courage women have displayed, and the personal sacrifice they have been forced to make, in demanding dignity and freedom. We owe Weinman a debt of gratitude for telling Greta Rideout’s urgent story.” — Seyward Darby, author of Sisters in Hate

“In this compelling deep dive into the havoc and trauma wreaked by misogyny, Weinman deftly uses Oregon’s first marital rape case to explore the failures of our criminal legal system and to trace the harm caused by a society that—then, as now—refuses to see women as people deserving of equal rights.” — Roxanna Asgarian, author of We Were Once a Family

“This definitive account of the Rideouts’ relationship and trial is a major contribution to the history of women fighting for control over our bodies—and a reminder that for many Americans, as recently as the nineties, marriage was effectively a form of ownership. This is a rigorously reported story that’s as propulsive as it is haunting. Without Consent cautions us that the fight for justice does not always end with the passage of a just law.” — Alex Mar, author of Seventy Times Seven

“Through detailed research and beautiful writing, Sarah Weinman has created an evocative, unputdownable, and haunting narrative about one woman and the trial that changed marriage for all women in America. . . . Sarah Weinman has made a name for herself as a master of true crime writing, and this book is Weinman at her best.” — Lyz Lenz, author of This American Ex-Wife

Product Details

BN ID:	2940194449507
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	11/11/2025
Edition description:	Unabridged