The paper examines factors that put women at risk of being killed by their husbands, including their mere availability as a victim, the acceptance of husbands' proprietary claims on their wives, and husbands' dysfunctional violent inclinations that are usually expressed in various forms of coercion. Men's tendency to exhibit coercive sexual proprietariness may be exacerbated by such factors as their wives' relative youth, coresidency status, and age disparity between husband and wife. 3 figures and 47 references