Re: Islam and marital rape...
I agree that there is forced sex in and out of wedlock but the difference is when out of wedlock you did not have the right for it according to Islam. When in wedlock you had right for sex but you abused it (you may call it rape but the context for each is different).
Again, I think that forced sex and torturing your wife through sex is not allowed in Islam, and is equivalent to rape!
That is the difference, right here does not mean that you can claim it without the proper context. Right simply means if I had sex with my wife it would not be illegal according to Islam or termed the same as adultry or rape (when you are not married). If your spouse wants to engage and you don't you don't tie your spouse to the bedposts and have it, if you do that then you are abusing the right you have been given (you may choose to call it rape but I choose to call it abuse, I can only abuse what I have). Now the part where you say it is punishable by death, don't agree there. If the wife is not happy with the husbands sexual orientation, she can ask for a divorce (khul) and be rid of it.
Ever considered that most women are forced not to even take khula and are repeatedly terorized one way or another? (Even when it is not khula but talaaq according to the Quran and is legal action just the way a man would seek it). Separation and divorce is for matters other than domentic violence where the wife is brutalized. Those matters could be disagreement in lifestyle, or simply not getting along... a non-violent end to a non-violent approach.
Not mixing anything here but I was the one who pointed out that we should not mix the norms of different cultures and religions. You never know.
The Norm is the Quran. Women are not man's peoperty, spouses are garments of each other.