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-   -   Tod Akin's Right, but He's Really Wrong. (http://www.politicalchat.org/showthread.php?t=7884)

donquixote99 07-20-2014 10:23 AM

Tod Akin's Right, but He's Really Wrong.
 
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 07-20-2014 10:25 AM

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

Dondilion 07-20-2014 10:54 AM

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 07-20-2014 11:08 AM

Remember the 'pubbie's Priebus postmortem after '12 drubbing? :rolleyes:
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 07-20-2014 11:18 AM

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.:confused: Where the hell did that come from?


Come out of the woods,Tod!

.

donquixote99 07-20-2014 12:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JJIII (Post 231876)
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.:confused: 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 07-20-2014 01:45 PM

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

VanishingPoi 07-20-2014 02:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bigerik (Post 231886)
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 07-20-2014 04:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bobabode (Post 231870)
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 07-20-2014 08:18 PM

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

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

sheltiedave 07-20-2014 08:53 PM

Only a male could think there is a good rape and a bad rape.

barbara 07-20-2014 10:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sheltiedave (Post 231922)
Only a male could think there is a good rape and a bad rape.



Yep. You are right about that

bobabode 07-20-2014 11:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sheltiedave (Post 231922)
Only a troglodytic & sociopathic male could think there is a good rape and a bad rape.

My .02. :mad:

icenine 07-20-2014 11:29 PM

Bullshit.
"Legitimate rape" is just code for blaming the victim.

Ike Bana 07-21-2014 07:12 AM

It's a rape if it's coerced in any way. A woman can be on her back with her knees open, decide it's not what she wants...attempt to resist...and if the guy's actions, or they guy's prior history with her suggest to her that she could be in worse trouble if she continues to resist, and in effect it seems like consent to the rapist...IT'S STILL A RAPE.

Prior history??? Prior history...I hear the misogynists exclaim!!! Yes, prior history, since, for instance, there are wives who don't want sex with their husbands but go along with it out of fear of the consequences if they don't. It's rape. Except in Virginia where, by statute, a woman can't be raped by her husband. Unless that's changed, but I don't think it has.

Dondilion 07-21-2014 07:41 AM

How this guy get into the book business.

Oerets 07-21-2014 08:14 AM

Wow this guy is a piece of work. I wounder what his wife and daughters really feel about his views?


Barney

nailer 07-21-2014 08:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sheltiedave (Post 231922)
Only a sociopath could think there is a good rape and a bad rape.

Gender bias corrected.

nailer 07-21-2014 08:42 AM

Coerced sex is rape regardless of gender.

donquixote99 07-21-2014 08:47 AM

True point.

Pio1980 07-21-2014 09:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nailer (Post 231939)
Gender bias corrected.

Correctomundo! There are some female wingnuts that seen to agree with Akin.

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Tom Joad 07-21-2014 11:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pio1980 (Post 231951)
Correctomundo! There are some female wingnuts that seen to agree with Akin.

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Female wingnuts are wierd.

I can understand male wingnuts.

I mean most Dudes are self centered assholes.

It's our in our nature.

But women are generally the nurturing type.

finnbow 07-21-2014 01:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pio1980 (Post 231951)
Correctomundo! There are some female wingnuts that seen to agree with Akin.

Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk

They'll believe anything Boss Limbaugh tells them to believe.

Pio1980 07-21-2014 02:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by finnbow (Post 231986)
They'll believe anything Boss Limbaugh tells them to believe.

Excrement in Fraudcasting.

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Tom Joad 07-21-2014 03:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pio1980 (Post 231993)
Excrement in Fraudcasting.

Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk

I don't understand how anyone can buy into anything that fat piece of shit says.

Pio1980 07-21-2014 03:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tom Joad (Post 231996)
I don't understand how anyone can buy into anything that fat piece of shit says.

Limbotomised dittiot lemmings.

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MrPots 07-21-2014 04:50 PM

I've always liked this one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukZDbYWVybs


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