Misogynous notions about rape and pregnancy rampant among the right

Todd Akin is getting a real kicking from his own party over remarks he made in which he claimed that women rarely get pregnant from being raped. Not stopping there, he added, "From what I understand from doctors... if it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down." 

However, wouldn't it be strange if the same party that has pulled Akin's funding and called for him to step down from the Missouri Senate race he is trying to win, actually had some of the same crazy ideas about rape and pregnancy? On second thought, where did Todd Akin get the strange idea that a woman cannot get pregnant from rape? And where did he get the idea that there are shades of rape? It is not just your imagination. Misogynous ideas about rape and the apparent mystery of female conception are rampant in the right wing, even amongst elected officials. Rachel Maddow points out that the third bill that House Republicans introduced after taking over the chamber in 2010 would have essentially created a new category of rape, called "forcible rape," which is the term Mike Huckabee used when asking Akin what he meant by "legitimate rape." To which Akin replied, yes. Sure does seem awful similar to "legitimate rape."

Kudos to Rachel Maddow and her excellent research staff.

Akin's election hopes may be slipping "off the cuff"

By Nathan Rothwell 

Pictured: Rep (MO) Todd Akin

I've written before about my ties to Missouri, and the embarrassment I invariably feel when another local political figure attracts the wrong kind of spotlight to my home state.

We couldn't even go another six months before Todd Akin, longtime Representative of my voting district and newly anointed Republican candidate for the Senate this year, brought the spotlight back to Missouri - and just when it seemed like everyone had forgotten about Roy Blunt drafting legislation to placate religious figures who had the audacity to shrill that contraceptive services amounted to "rape of the soul."

As I'm sure you've all heard by now, Akin gave an interview on KTVI-TV in which he made the outrageous claim that female rape victims rarely become pregnant. He added further: "From what I understand from doctors... if it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down."

Akin has since backtracked from his not-so-artfully-worded comments in this interview, although his apology comes qualified with more attacks against pro-choice advocates and non sequitur criticism of the Democrats' handling of the economy. As my mother always told me, "If your apology contains the words 'I'm sorry, but....', it's not really an apology."

While Akin presumably hopes that his backtracking will put this issue to rest, his non-apologetic apology actually deserves more investigation. He claims he "misspoke," and his remarks were "off-the-cuff." Dictionary.com defines the term "off-the-cuff" as "with little or no preparation; extemporaneous; impromptu."