Tod Akin's Right, but He's Really Wrong.

[donquixote99]

Tod Akin is the 'legitimate rape' guy, remember? He collected no end of grief for that bit of syntax. It was such a public opinion disaster for the Republicans that he was pressured to apologize, and he did. Still, he lost his 2012 senate race anyway. And now he's taking the apology back.

He does this in his new book, “Firing Back: Taking on the Party Bosses and Media Elite to Protect Our Faith and Freedom." The title indicates that Akin feels badly used. Basically, it's his contention that the reaction against 'legitimate rape' was a lot of 'willful misunderstanding.' And he's got a point.

Everyone reacted as if he was using 'legitimate rape' to mean what it sounds like: proper rape, permitted rape, even good rape. But he thinks all his critics knew or should have known that what he meant was 'real rape.' If it's real rape, against the woman's will, the stress and trauma will act to prevent conception, in most cases, Akin continues to believe. So he now insists he said nothing wrong.

I agree with Akin in that his critics should have known he was trying to say 'real rape.' After all, his critics were liberals and/or professional writers, so their language skills vastly exceeded his. Correctly decoding his message would in general have been child's play for them. They just succumbed, in the midst of campaign season, to an irresistible temptation to get some big licks in by exploiting a bad choice of words.

But there's a deeper problem, one that Akin probably does not suspect that he has. Consider a bit of folk wisdom one still hears now and then (though it's no longer respectable). It's purportedly advice for women. It assigns responsibility for the trauma of rape to the woman, and is unsympathetic to the point of misogyny. It goes like this: "If rape is inevitable, lie back and enjoy it."

Now, regarding 'legitimate rape.' We immediately ask 'Well, what is 'illegitimate rape, that is, not real or not actual rape?' The answer would seem to be 'when the woman consents, at some level.' When she takes the old folk advice that continues to seem good to the unreconstructed male attitudes found so often in conservative circles. If the woman does not physically resist, or at some point stops resisting, it's not really rape. She chose to lie back and enjoy it.

Behind the 'legitimate rape' comment is the belief that rape often isn't 'legitimate,' that is, not 'real rape,' because the women really want it. That belief is what makes Akin a man who actually does believe in 'legitimate rape,' in the sense of 'good rape.' That belief is what makes him wrong, even if that's not what he was trying to say at the time. That belief is what makes him yet another Republican pig.

[finnbow]

Akin is a buffoon. You can bet that the GOP is less than thrilled to have that cretin raise his ugly head again.

[Dondilion]

Wow! He has a book deal.

Recent times Repubs seem to do better financially with their books.

The guy at Fox has a whopping "Kill" series.

[bobabode]

Remember the 'pubbie's Priebus postmortem after '12 drubbing?
When they determined that it wasn't their policies that turned the electorate off, it was only their marketing strategies.
As long as they grimly hold on to misogynistic beliefs that alienate better than half of voters, they'll continue to wander in the wilderness.

[JJIII]

The thing that bothered me more than the purposeful misunderstanding of what he said was his belief that in the case of "real rape" the woman's body would reject the fertilized egg. Where the hell did that come from?


Come out of the woods,Tod!

.

[donquixote99]

Originally Posted by JJIII

The thing that bothered me more than the purposeful misunderstanding of what he said was his belief that in the case of "real rape" the woman's body would reject the fertilized egg. Where the hell did that come from?

Probably from someone telling him that pregnancy from forcible rape was rare. Attributing this to rape stress and trauma is likely his idea.

I'd figure that it's rare because first the odds are against any one act of intercourse resulting in pregnancy, and second lots of women are on the pill and lots of rapists use condoms.

[Bigerik]

What the hell is wrong in America that a guy like this can get so close to a seat in the Senate???/

[VanishingPoi]

Originally Posted by Bigerik

What the hell is wrong in America that a guy like this can get so close to a seat in the Senate???/

What about Sarah Paleo as VICE PRES! Yes, what is wrong in America?

[Tom Joad]

Originally Posted by bobabode

As long as they grimly hold on to misogynistic beliefs that alienate better than half of voters, they'll continue to wander in the wilderness.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4R5wZs8cxI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXiRcUNn64o

[donquixote99]

There are lots of such scenes nowadays. This one, for example:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=de9toBiFpnE