Todd Akin Isn’t Alone In His Rape Beliefs

Filed in National by on December 14, 2012

Let’s review:

Todd Akin: “If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down”

And now this comes to light

Superior Court Judge Derek G. Johnson: “I’m not a gynecologist, but I can tell you something,  If someone doesn’t want to have sexual intercourse, the body shuts down. The body will not permit that to happen unless a lot of damage in inflicted, and we heard nothing about that in this case.

“That tells me that the victim in this case, although she wasn’t necessarily willing, she didn’t put up a fight.”

Told you this mindset wasn’t a fluke.  And what is it with all this female body shutting down stuff?  That’s what keeps catching my attention – this super-secret feminine power.

In Republican Land there is a definition (on record) of what constitutes a “legitimate” rape:

South Dakota Republican Bill Napoli: “A real-life description to me would be a rape victim, brutally raped, savaged. The girl was a virgin. She was religious. She planned on saving her virginity until she was married. She was brutalized and raped, sodomized as bad as you can possibly make it, and is impregnated. I mean, that girl could be so messed up, physically and psychologically, that carrying that child could very well threaten her life.”

And there it is.  Please notice the criteria for who can be raped –  Virgin.  Religious.  Saving herself for marriage.

If you aren’t a religious virgin then you can’t be raped.  Altho… wouldn’t female virgins’ bodies have a way of shutting the whole thing down, as well?  Or is this skill only learned (bestowed?) after the loss of virginity?

There is something deeply disturbing about this mindset; something sinister that comes very close to justifying rape.  All roads lead back to the Madonna/whore standard, as well as, the boys will be boys defense.  Yet again, these guys are placing the responsibility on the women.  Hey, she must have wanted it.  If she didn’t then her body would have shut this whole thing down.  Because, you know, “some girls rape easy.”

The truth is… these guys really don’t believe rape exists.  That’s what they’re really saying.

Tags: ,

About the Author ()

A stay-at-home mom with an obsession for National politics.

Comments (10)

Trackback URL | Comments RSS Feed

  1. bamboozer says:

    This insanity was kicking around the far right anti abortion circles long before Aiken was dumb enough to say it in public. The goal is to ban all abortion, specifically for rape and incest. Thier battle cry is “that child could be adopted!” as if all children waiting to be adopted ever will be. The Republicans lost seats because of this stupidity but rest assured, they’ll be back with new and even more absurd claims.

  2. jason330 says:

    “…dumb enough to say it in public…” is spot on. The Republicans will be back with candidates that believe this garbage, but are better trained to not talk about it.

  3. Dana Garrett says:

    Why isn’t comments like this from the judge (as well as Scalia’s comparison of homosexuals to murderers) automatic grounds for impeachment?

  4. Vic Torino says:

    I am a Republican and I believe that rape is always wrong. So do all my Republican friends. Don’t make this a partisan issue because it’s not.

  5. Jason330 says:

    Vic, You quarrel is with your fellow Republicans who keep suggesting that there are degrees of rape based on the relative slutiness of the victim. Johnson is not an isolated case. Ostracize them, condemn them, drive these people from your party if you don’t want your party associated with this garbage.

  6. pandora says:

    Yep, Vic. You gotta clean up your own house.

  7. Steve Newton says:

    Ironically, one of the issues that counselors have to deal with in helping rape victims overcome shame and self-loathing is the fact that quite often the human body does NOT shut down. Fear/flight reactions in women being raped are so chemically similar to hormonal stimulation that rape victims can experience physiological symptoms of arousal, even orgasm, during rape. It often takes years for victims to come to grips with the fact that the reactions of parts of their bodies did NOT mean they enjoyed it, or were guilty, or were perverts, or etc.

    I guess that was left out of the judge’s training.

  8. myca_girl83 says:

    Hello typically uninformed, hyper-biased and exceptionally ‘holier than thou’ liberal friends. This loser idiot is listed as ‘no party affiliation’, but he was appointed by Gray Davis, who was a (hold your breath…) Democrat. Y’all should do a bit more research before jumping to a conclusion that makes you look like uninformed nut jobs. You’re welcome 🙂

  9. Hello, myca_girl83.

    The people who contribute to and comment on this blog are well informed, only somewhat biased and only a very small minority are “holier than thou”. Perhaps you should do some research before you make a complete ass out of yourself.

    The fact that Johnson was appointed by failed politician Gray Davis does not reflect poorly on Democrats. The “legitimate rape” and “a woman’s body shuts down” mantras have been pushed by the extremists in the Republican party for years. Johnson, regardless of his party affiliation or lack thereof, shares their views.

  10. anon says:

    The Judge must be removed from the bench. Idiot Republicans who believe the same must be shunned by society. I thought this mindset was squashed in the 1970’s.