we have met todd akin, and he is us
We Have Met Todd Akin, and He Is Us
Lissa Harris
. . . .
In summation: Under Akin Law, many rapes would be trivialized, many more would go unpunished, and many people who are raped would fail to obtain any semblance of justice. But the difference between Akin Law and the current state of affairs is not one of quality but of degree.
And when we claim that Akin is trying to redefine rape for American society, we have cause and effect backwards. Rather, we should say that the current state of political discourse is the product of a culture that wholeheartedly supports the division of coercive sex acts into “rape” and “rape-rape,” and is content to quibble over where to draw the line. Whenever some apologist struggling to draw the line between rape and real rape throws up his or her hands and says “Oh, you know what I mean,” we do know. Almost everyone who’s been raped has wondered uncomfortably, at some point, what side of that line they’re on. God knows I have.
. . . ..
Akin’s Theory of Rapeology is monstrous. But it’s not his, not really. It’s ours. He got it from a culture of rape apologetics that is rarely challenged in polite conversation, and is certainly not confined to one end of the political spectrum.
I have little faith that any amount of bloviation, by anyone, will be sufficient to shift the current appalling state of American discourse on sexual violence to more evidence-based territory. But it seems to me that a little more first-hand testimony in an arena currently dominated by non-rapees probably couldn’t hurt. Thus, I’m throwing this woefully inadequate little essay onto what is already a vast pyre of stupidity, in the hopes that someone who might once have been tempted to utter the phrase “legitimate rape” will think for a minute before grossly abusing the English language.
. . .
http://www.thenation.com/article/169597/we-have-met-todd-akin-and-he-us
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