Some have suggested to me that in not so distant past, marital rape was very commonplace.

This is usually used in the context of "Life was terrible for women back in the day, and now men are upset that they can't abuse women anymore, so fuck them". Usually accompanied by some permutation of "tradcons r stoopid!"

So what is the rate of marital rape exactly? Wikipedia article on the subject tells us it could be as high as 50% or as low as 1%.

From my limited perspective it appears to me to be rather rare. Personally I can't imagine raping anyone, let alone someone I love, I think many men feel like me. Furthermore even in the past I feel like wives typically had control over when/how/if sex happens.

So how common was/is this problem in your experience? Studies/personal anecdotes/educated opinions are all welcome.