As I read Shauna's letter, my anger at Akin and his ilk grew and grew with each word, each paragraph. I have to wonder if those men (and probably a few women out there, too) believe that women who are raped are real human beings. Rep Todd Akin, how dare you? How can you speak, how can you think so heartlessly, so soullessly? Have you no shame? I suppose not. You should resign...NOW.Dear Rep. Akin,My name is Shauna Prewitt. You do not know me, but you should. I am one of the approximately 25,000 women who every year become pregnant as a result of rape, and I would like to help you better “empathize” with my story.During my final year of college, I experienced an event that was so absolute in its effects that, since it occurred, it has figured as the point of reference from which all understandings and meanings of my life now stem: I was raped.I do not know if, in your terms, it was “legitimate rape.” Yes, I cried hysterically. Yes, I fought until my body ached. And, yes, I changed afterward in ways I could not ever imagine.
UPDATE: One of my Facebook friends thought it might be best if Akin hangs in as a Representative and as a candidate for the Senate, and he may just be right. Drip, drip, drip...
The idea that anybody in the 21st century - no, make that any century since time began, it doesn't take advanced medical knowledge to understand - the idea that women don't get pregnant from being "legitimately raped" is simply too asinine and preposterous.
ReplyDeleteWhat I want to know is, what woman in her right mind, no matter how politically conservative, votes for goons like Akin? And yet there must be some, or people like him would never get elected to anything. So here we see the complete triumph of a mindless orthodoxy over over the most basic facts of common sense - even of self-preservation, on the part of the deluded women.
And did you catch the President's statement to reporters today? Wherein he deplored Akin's comments and said, in effect, "this is why we don't need an all-male body of men making medical decisions for women."
I've run out of words to respond to the lunacy.
DeleteObama also said:
“The views expressed were offensive. Rape is rape,” the president said of the Missouri Senate candidate. “And the idea that we should be parsing and qualifying and slicing what types of rape we’re talking about doesn’t make sense to the American people. And it certainly doesn’t make sense to me.”
I think Akin might still win. Politics these days is about tribal warfare and has nothing to do with policy or interests. He might easily turn the angry Dems and the now hostile Republican establishment to his advantage. "The same rich coastal snobs who look down their noses at folks like you are now after me," he might say. And those legions of folk who feel threatened by demographic and cultural changes, who feel shut out and patronized, will agree with him. Those few who might be persuaded to change their vote because of his comment will more likely stay home than vote Democratic.
ReplyDeleteAppealing to people's resentments is an easy road to political success. Just ask Richard Nixon.
Counterlight, you may be right. Akin could hang in and even win. He has until 5pm today to take his name off the ballot. After the deadline, a court order will be required to remove his name. He says he won't, but I'm guessing he will.
DeleteI just keep shaking my head. I really cannot believe someone like that is running for office, but I know there are others just like him already there. How did he get elected to the House?
ReplyDeleteAmelia, Akin is not alone. There are others with the same views in the Senate and the House, although, since the uproar, some may be now be putting distance between themselves and Akin. But for how long?
DeleteIndeed, I think this is a great "Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain" moment. This incident casts a bright spotlight on Republican's neanderthal views on women.
DeleteThe Tea Partiers and fundamentalists, along with the politicians in their grip, have created an alternate universe in which truth and facts don't matter. Say and do whatever it takes to reach the desired goal, which is to keep power in the hands of wealthy, manly white men. It's a mystery to me that so many women and members of the middle and working classes don't see the power-play for the sham it is.
DeleteMay I suggest the alteration ". . . wealthy, straight white men" - and propose that the specific alternate universe is that of The Handmaid's Tale?
ReplyDeleteAmy Davidson in the New Yorker:
There is a notion, common in conservative rhetoric lately, that desperation is always elsewhere, and that the crises in ordinary lives do not need to be contemplated or worried about—not by nice people. They are rare; something has gone wrong; maybe the complaint isn’t legitimate; maybe it’s their own fault. That indifference goes beyond the question of rape and abortion.
Read more http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/closeread/2012/08/what-does-todd-akin-think-legitimate-rape-is.html#ixzz24DA8kQTj
May I suggest the alteration ". . . wealthy, straight white men"...
DeleteActually, I thought to say "straight" at first, and that's pretty much what I meant, but I also intended to mock. "Straight" would not have expressed the mocking tone I intended. And remember: Some of the self-proclaimed manly men turn out not to be so very straight.
We're not quite at The Handmaid's Tale yet, but Atwood was quite the prophet.
Davidson's article is very good. She articulates many of the questions that ran through my mind, but that I did not have time to write, such as if the raped woman becomes pregnant, is she less likely to be believed when she says she was raped?
I get you on the ironic use of "manly." Grin.
ReplyDeleteWhen I read THT back in the 80's, still youngish and naive, I thought Atwood was just doing a weird kind of science fiction. Damned if she wasn't prophetic, though, as you say.