Results revealed that media coverage of the issue has been muted. Six cases were reported during that year, exemplifying a wide range of contexts of marital rape. Only cases in which the husband had an alcohol problem and threatened his estranged wife with a knife before raping her resulted in a prison sentence. The concept of estrangement accompanied by violence seemed useful to endorse the traditional stereotype of rape, so these cases appeared uncontroversial. The other cases were more challenging as cases of marital rape and produced outcomes that seemed unsatisfactory for the victims in a variety of ways. Surprisingly, the Times appeared not to have mentioned any marital rape cases in 1993, suggesting either that the new crime of marital rape is not being much used or that bringing potentially contentious cases before the courts is avoided. Findings indicated that marital rape has become a minor variation of stranger rape. Table, notes, case citation, and 3 references (Author abstract modified)