Rape and the Right-wing.

To quickly review, rape is bad. To elaborate, no means no, if the victim is unconscious, he (yes conservatives, men can be raped, too) or she cannot give consent, it constitutes rape, and sex does not have to be consensual to result in pregnancy. Oh, and while we are on the subject, jokes and good ol’ boy comments about rape are made at the peril of those who tell them. Perhaps I am a bit unsophisticated, but I can’t remember the last good rape joke I heard, can you? There is no lighter side to sexual assault. Just a few handy hints to keep in mind. Occasionally, those on the right just cannot seem to resist the urge to say patently stupid things about rape and somehow manage to alienate people with their position on a topic that is otherwise pretty much settled in the minds of all but the rapists themselves and the occasional idiot politician. Republican Congressman Todd Akin’s comments regarding rape make him only the latest in the GOP to espouse a 16th century outlook on the matter of sexual assault. First, there was 1990 Texas gubernatorial candidate Clayton Williams. On a cold and overcast day, Williams dismissed an impending storm as being like getting raped. “If it’s inevitable, just relax and enjoy it,” the alleged human told an assembled crowd of ranch hands and reporters. [1] Or take for example the late North Carolina State Representative Henry Aldridge, a Republican and staunch anti-abortionist. During a fight over eliminating state funding for abortions among the states’ poor, Aldridge pronounced that, “The facts show that people who are raped-truly raped-the juices don’t flow, the body functions don’t work and they don’t get pregnant.” [2] If Todd Akins’s comments were made decades ago, they could be explained away as simple ignorance. However, in the modern age, with so much information so readily available, his words must surely be nothing less than the kind of blinding lack of compassion so common to the right-wing, a sad tradition that is unlikely to go away in our lifetime. What do you think? Post a comment. [1] The AP, “Texas Candidate’s Comment About Rape Causes Furor,” New York Times, March 26, 1990, accessed 22 August, 2012, http://www.nytimes.com/1990/03/26/us/texas-candidate-s-comment-about-rape-causes-a-furor.html [2] Wire Reports, “NC Legislator Says Rape Victims Don’t Get Pregnant,” Mount Airy News, April 21, 1995, accessed 22 August, 2012, http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=5eU_AAAAIBAJ&sjid=X1gMAAAAIBAJ&pg=6720,2257940&dq=