US Republican ignorant of female biology. Again.

I'm so angry about it, and the comments underneath are just as bad! I've been trying to counteract them but feel I'm a fairly lonely voice which is sad.

JA hero for the masses, couldn't possibly do anything could he?
Because no man put on a pedestal before has ever proven himself to be a complete arsehole

Perhaps he's thinking of female rabbits reabsorbing their foetuses and assuming that all pregnancies can do that. Or that a body should be able to expel the evil within it if the souls is pure enough.
Who knows what foul nonsense is bubbling in his brain and then spewing out of his mouth.

www.newstatesman.com/blogs/politics/2012/08/george-galloway-assange-only-accused-bad-sexual-etiquette#comment-250216

thought I'd add here rather than start a new thread, but the jist is, if the woman is 'already in the game' - i.e has had sex once and has fallen asleep - it is not rape if she wakes to find some a man penetrating her, just 'bad etiquette', according to George Galloway.

I always knew he was a contemptuous wanker anyway but this is just....

"Legitimate rape"????

does he mean "rape in a dark alleyway, with a knife held to your throat by a man wearing a balaclava" as opposed to other sorts of rape, which are presumably "illegitimate". Perhaps he thinks that the foetus (not forgetting it is of course conscious from the moment of conception) is frightened to death by the violence of the "legitimate" attack, and so there is no pregnancy.

Perhaps someone should buy him a dictionary and bookmark it at the "legitimate" page and the "rape" page. A book on basic biology might be too taxing for him.

Mooncup, obviously only the "total stranger grabbing you in dark alley" is a "legitimate" rape. If you got pregnant from rape then yours must have been one of those non-real ones, by someone you know. Or you simply didn't struggle enough to make it real. Might have even been drunk or in a short skirt, we all know that in this case it does not count..

The man is an utter moron. Obviously fed a pile of drivel by his rightwing politicos, and not enough sense to check the ACTUAL facts of the situation, because they don't actually matter, all that matters is his Belief.

Fuckwit.

I think he's heard how female orgasm helps the sperm in the right direction and decided that women who don't orgasm don't get pregnant, so if you were raped you didn't orgasm from it so didn't get pregnant.

What an absolutely massive, stupid bellend.

That is all.

Yes, all those Bosnian women who were raped by Serb soldiers and got pregnant actually wanted it all along.

His choice of phrasing is telling: 'legitimate rape'? Given that rape is by its nature illegitimate (unlawful), it makes no sense. Clearly he is intending to make a distinction betwen 'legitimate' rape victims and all those women who make it up. Sigh.

the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down

Yes it does

Its called the morning after pill or an abortion. . .

The level of stupidity is amazing

I like the parody twitter account:
news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/gop-senate-candidate-says-misspoke-legitimate-rape-005818070.html

There really should be a requirement for people who seek to pass legislation about pregnancy/abortion to have a basic understanding of reproductive biology.

This is in the magical land where evolution is a myth and climate change isn't happening, right? Why let something as trivial as biological anatomy get in the way of entitled white men's ability to control the world and all the women in it?

Ah but schobe Mr Akin has offered an expression of his " deep empathy I hold for the thousands of women who are raped and abused every year. Those who perpetrate these crimes are the lowest of the low in our society and their victims will have no stronger advocate in the Senate to help ensure they have the justice they deserve."

Therefore rape exists, but pregnancy caused by rape does not. It's really very obvious when think you about it.

I don't even want to think about how this relates to child victims of rape who conceive.

It reminds me of the ducking stool for suspected witches. If you drown, you're innocent and were never a witch.

In this case, he seems to be saying that if you get pregnant, then it couldn't have been rape. Perhaps then he would favour sewing scarlet letters on women again?

If you don't get pregnant, well what is there to complain about? Or worse - there's probably wasn't any intercourse at all and just a silly woman crying rape again.

I wish I could say that this is so absurd, nobody would take it seriously.

Surely if that was true, every unwanted pregnancy would have been mysteriously miscarried and no-one would have even heard of abortions?

The magic only works if you get pregnant during rape, StormGlass. If you become pregnant through consensual sex then - clearly - the anti-pregnancy pixies are not able to help you.

That's a clever "no-apology apology". Logically the only thing he implies he misspoke about was not to offer his sincere sympathy for rape victims (presumably mainly those rape victims who don't get pregnant, since they must be the ones who were actually raped - this would conveniently allow for all male rape victims to be genuine victims).

As you say, DoctrineofEnnis - if he believes that abortion should not be allowed in cases of rape, that's his opinion and he is free to state it. But to suggest there is no requirement for it because pregnancy does not result from rape is a dangerously stupid remark. And this, as the Twitter quote in your article mentions, from someone who sits on the Science and Technology committee of the House.

If he really believes that "the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down" , then how does he explain the demand for abortions?

Surely if that was true, every unwanted pregnancy would have been mysteriously miscarried and no-one would have even heard of abortions?

And this man is not a would-be politician. If Wikipedia is to be believed, he's an actual politician - the US representative for Missouri's 2nd congressional district. So he's already in a position to influence legislation. Which is very scary.

Thank God I don't live in the USA.

Oh good Lord. Yes, because if a woman is pregnant after a rape, she must actually have wanted it, so it wasn't rape. Simple!

I actually don't agree with an 'exception' policy 'allowing' abortion for rape and incest only - it's the woman's choice and that's it. But what a nobhead.

It would be funny if it wasnt so terrifying that this man could actually make his views law.

Thats a bit embarrassing for him. At least he revealed his lack of knowledge now before anyone had to vote for him rather than leaving people in doubt about whether he was ignorant or not.

TeamEdward, YANBU, except with your usename.