I’ve been living in the patriarchy for 56 years. I’m getting tired of this shit.

[kpete]

Rape. It’s Just Different. Wait. No, It’s Not.
Posted on October 24, 2012

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It’s always interesting to me how differently, from almost every single other crime, we perceive rape and what this difference tells us about living in patriarchy.

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And Mr. Mourdock’s assertion that rape victims should have to bear and give birth to the fetus that results from rape is yet another example of how rape — a crime committed almost exclusively by men and suffered overwhelmingly by women — is treated differently from other crimes. If someone rapes you and you get pregnant, that is, according to Mr. Mourdock, the xian god’s will (and what an unfeeling, brutal, weak, nasty, dirty, snarling, ill-mannered, id-controlled god he is, too). As a result the state should step in and prevent modern science and modern medicine from helping, to, as much as possible, put you back in the position that you occupied immediately prior to the rape (i.e., the state should prevent you from having an abortion or using the morning after pill).

I’m unable to think of any other crime of which this is true. In fact, in almost every other crime (and/or contract violation), returning the victim to the position occupied just prior to the infraction is the primary goal of our legal system.

If someone steals your car, the state will, if possible, make them return your car. If they wrecked your car, the state provides mechanisms that will allow you to sue the robber and get back the value of your car, the money you spent renting a car in the interim, the money you spent on counseling to make you feel better after the theft, etc. If someone assaults you, the state will, if possible, make them pay for your medical bills, missed wages, pain and suffering. Even murder. If someone murders me, the state will attempt to make that person reimburse my estate, paying attention to my life expectancy, what my future earnings would have been, my value to my family, etc. I may not be able to be put back in the position that I occupied before the murder, but my estate can be and the state will labor to do so.

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I’ve been living in the patriarchy for 56 years. I’m getting tired of this shit.

http://hecatedemeter.wordpress.com/2012/10/24/rape-its-just-different-wait-no-its-not/

[Sadiedog]

1. Well stated! nt

[ColumbusLib]

2. Excellent point

And well-stated; haven't heard this argument before. Thanks for bringing it up!

[HopeHoops]

3. Obama said the same thing on Leno that I've been saying here - "Rape is rape". It's simple.

The word "rape" doesn't need any qualifiers, other than for the purpose of situational reference (date rape, incest rape, gang rape) for context, but whatever qualifiers you apply to it, RAPE IS STILL RAPE! That's that.

[Spazito]

4. Excellent OP...

"I’m unable to think of any other crime of which this is true. In fact, in almost every other crime (and/or contract violation), returning the victim to the position occupied just prior to the infraction is the primary goal of our legal system."

Exactly.

[ProudProgressiveNow]

9. +1

[Swede Atlanta]

5. Grumpy old men (mostly white)

feel threatened. Their hegemony over the world is evaporating before their very eyes. They see suppressing women and limiting their ability to control their bodies as a way to feel superior again. "We'll show those uppity women that want equal rights. We'll just hide behind our religious convictions...hee-hee we really could give a rat's ass about life - we luv us some capital punishment, poverty, starvation, slave wages...hee-hee."

[deadbrokediva]

6. Just call it Tiny Dick Syndrome

What else can explain the hatred these RAPE-publicans have for women? Everyone knows Thug men are bad in bed to begin with.

[smirkymonkey]

21. Yep. That's it in a nutshell.

Welcome to DU deadbrokediva! I appreciate your input1

[SCVDem]

7. 'Howling Mad' Mourdock

With apologies to the A Team.

[Solly Mack]

8. k/r

[Bainbridge Bear]

10. But, but, but don't you understand?

To these "Christians" who so dominate our legislative system the fertilized zygote is a full on human being and is "sacred". That's why God's gift must be brought to term. Its only after the birth that these hypocrites begin their indifference by slashing social programs that make it easier to actually raise that "sacred" child. In other words, when you are in the womb you are a sacred gift of the Big Guy Upstairs even if the horrendous and violent crime of rape created you. After birth, you are on your own in the hardass Ayn Randian world that they are creating for the 99%.

[SCVDem]

18. When you're poor and have a child

they expect you to be beholden to their church.

Everything in any religion is in there to maintain power and grow the base.

If church is going to change our secular laws, then we really need a war on religions which do so.

Seperation is mandatory!

[avebury]

11. K&R nt

[Grammy23]

12. Like you, I've lived in a male dominated world for far too long....64 years in Nov.

And I'm sick to death of them deciding things that impact the lives of women. And on a similar note, I am fed to the teeth with the mostly male world weighing in on the mind, thoughts and preferences of god. It all works together. Just keep on telling us how "he" (god) has planned it, how we just have to accept THEIR insights on all of this, shut up and be quiet. They intimidate a whole bunch of the females who AGREE with them because they use the fear card (you'll burn in hell for ALL of eternity if you don't believe all of this) and so, we often find women who will vote against their best interest. How do you get through to them?

Those of us who are sick of this really do need to stand up and quit playing this nasty game. We need some vocal leaders like those who marched and protested back when I was younger. Roe V. Wade is on the line. Our rights to access to contraception are on the line. All manner of issues important to women are being challenged right in front of us. We cannot sit by and allow them to take us back to the 50s. Those were NOT the good old days, in spite of what some would tell us. It makes my blood run cold to think of going back to a time when the only choices women had for facing unplanned pregnancies (whether by rape or simply by accident) were all BAD choices.

And on the subject of rape.....it is a crime. End of story. I have talked to several women who were either raped or almost had it happen....it nearly happened to me with a guy I knew at work who offered me a ride home. I still remember the fear and confusion I felt when I realized what he was trying to do. And that was over 40 years ago. NO woman should be forced to bear a child that is conceived in that way. And it certainly should not be left up to some politicians in Washington to make the decision for me or any other woman.

[mlevans]

13. I know it's been said before,

but until men start getting pregnant this situation will continue. These bastards drive me nuts, give me the feeling I've got to always be apologising for my sex.

[whathehell]

16. It can't be said too often..

"apologizing for your sex" indeed. If either gender has things to "apologize" for,

I'd say it's them, not us.

[dsharp88]

14. I half-expect some Republican to say, "Rape should only be between a man and a woman."

"Otherwise, it's just wrong."

I don't really mean to make light of this, but they're just going off the deep end.

[Odin2005]

15. These fuckers have lost their minds.

[fozzieferocious]

17. SO true...

These modern-day Neanderthal Republican "Christians" are just another shade of crazy from the people they love to blow up in the Middle East that would just assume stone or behead their own daughter for being raped.

[SCVDem]

19. Want to hear crickets?

Let's talk about rape in our prisons.

[ProfessionalLeftist]

20. It all has its basis in one core attitude and that is....

...that women are not human.

[smirkymonkey]

22. What amazes me is that more DU males don't stick up for us on these threads.

I am pretty much ready to declare celibacy for the rest of my life and I happen to be a very pretty woman. I get a lot of offers from men all the time. However I have been so disgusted by the behavior of men and the lack of so called liberal men speaking out against it lately that I am pretty much disgusted by all of them.

It just doesn't seem worth the bother anymore. I can get my emotional needs met by my family and by dogs. As far a sexual needs, when I think about having sex with a man, I can only think about the disgusting things that men have thought and done to women lately and it makes me want to swear off it forever.

[Scout]

23. perhaps the ones who don't are afraid the other guys won't like them anymore...

and they can't stand up to peer pressure.

[smirkymonkey]

24. Then they are weak. And I don't want a weak man.