Constant "unconsiderate" sex with a partner can be worse than rape by a stranger, feminist writer Germaine Greer has suggested. While rape by a stranger is “bloody bad luck”, Ms Greer likened it to the impact of being run over by a bus, but when rape happens with a loved one it can instead force a woman to reassess her whole life.

The Australian writer was speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme as part of a round of publicity for her essay On Rape, which has sparked controversy around the world.

She told Today: “I think it’s important that we don’t diminish the effect of constant unconsiderate (sic) use of a woman’s body by the man who she loves.

“In some ways it is worse to be abused and treated without consideration by the people who are at the centre of your life, stranger rape is bloody bad luck, for sure.

“But it’s like being run down by a bus. You don’t have to internalise it and look at the structure of your whole life from that point of view. It is way out there in left field.”