A friend of mine posted the link below to FB today. I read it and it hurt so much to read it. I have been doing my best to avoid talking about this subject since it was blasted. But here we are, I watched the interview with Rep. Akin, I heard him say the words. I watched it again and listened again.
First things first, this guy is an asshole. Period. Ok ok so I'm a liberal leftist so that's biased in most people's eyes, but let's strip all that away. What the fuck is legitimate rape? No really? What is legitimate rape? I don't even know what that means. I can't begin to describe how awful it is to know that there are people who would even utter those words. Then I started doing the research, sure there's the "I hate Mitt Romney" and "Ryan is a douchebag" pages that give stats on their voting records and talk about how Ryan wants to redefine rape. But how do you really redefine rape?
Think about all the women in the service who are raped by their peers. Once upon a time our government didn't allow women in combat for fear of capture and sexual assault as a POW. But we have a low percentage of that and a high incidence of rape by their fellow servicemen. But is it legitimate?
Let's talk about date rape or rape by way of being drugged, stranger rape, gang rape, child rape, rape of a man, rape, rape, rape, rape rape!!!! Say it: rape. All of the rape scenarios involve the same damn thing, being forced against your will.
Rep. Akin and like minded thinkers need to stop for a moment and read the link below. It is so moving and eye opening and uplifting. Rep. Akin I want to know if you knew what it is like to be forced to endure a pain from something that you are supposed to share with someone intimately. Do you understand how it feels to feel your flesh tear and to feel and smell the breath of someone you hate? At which point does the body turn off the potential for conception? Is it supposed to occur while you're focused on an object in the room trying to remove yourself from your body or while you have your eyes closed wondering why time is going by so damn slow telling yourself you will make it through this?
Or what about the fact that rape is sexual in nature because there are those individuals who feel that is how you conquer someone? In our country is sex not everywhere? In media, in politics, in policies and procedures at work? Or in that unspoken certainty when you meet someone you could fall in love with that sex is part of the deal when you get to that point? Having said all that, and knowing that all day everyday those things are all around us is a rape survivor not reminded regularly of the heinous act that was endured?
All that said, all the rhetoric, all the controversy, all the media bytes at what point do we step back and begin as a nation, as a gender to address the real issue? At the end of the day it isn't about rape or abortion or when a human life starts. It's about exerting control over women. How often do we hear about morality laws governing men and their promiscuity? Whether your pro-choice or pro-life makes no difference. We, women, are half the population, we work, pay taxes, own businesses, on top of giving birth. We endure and endure and endure. The thing I don't understand about regulating things that impact women is that the Rep. Akins of the world don't give a shit about the person until it impacts them personally. So all of the women out there who have been victims of rape (the men too) are faceless.
You don't care about the days they had to miss from work to recover from the physical trauma, or how you take the extra day because you keep reliving the questions the police ask you or the bullshit exam that you know will never be DNA tested and how silly it is as you lay back and get your pubic hair combed. You almost laugh thinking about it except that you would never be on that table had you not had the surreal experience you just had.
In closing, Rep. Akin and your army of woman haters if you don't want us to have access to abortions or whatever else you think we shouldn't have access to say it. Stand on your soap box and call us all sinners, but how dare you have the audacity to trivialize an act so heinous. You know nothing of strength or courage. You hide behind words becasue the world around you is changing and you're not ready. Stop using words that metaphorically rape us again.
http://www.xojane.com/it-happened-to-me/dear-representative-todd-akin-i-got-pregnant-from-rape?utm_medium=facebook
