Still Crazy After All These Years

Amazing that on the same day that the Augusta National Golf Club announced that it has decided to welcome in the 21st century (12 years later) by accepting women into their private club, another member of the U.S. House of Representatives has reminded us that we are currently reliving the 50's.

Todd Akin of Missouri is currently challenging Claire McCaskill for her Senate seat.  He announced yesterday that he had been assured by an actual doctor that actual "legitimate rape" rarely occurs, because if a woman doesn't really want the sex, her body will reject the pregnancy.

Wow, and wow.

This would be comic if it didn't so completely represent the wild-eyed, right-wing republican mid-20th century, Mad Men mentality of a woman's place.  While fellow GOP reacted with horror, that horror has more to do with, "I can't believe he just said that" than "I can't believe he really believes that."

We have been assaulted by a sanctimonious GOP for too many years to doubt for one minute that Akin does not represent his fellow right-wingers.  Forcing a woman to proceed with a pregnancy in situations of rape has long been on the republican agenda.

But allow me to get personal here.  We all know a woman who has been raped.  We may not be aware of it, because for most rape victims, the rape is accompanied by shame, and so the crime is kept secret.  Teenagers afraid of rejection, adult women afraid they will lose their job, spouses trying to keep peace in the home by giving in, children, for God's sake, who are helpless in the face of this evil.

And instead of the help and support they deserve, they have been receiving sanctimonious false-Christian nonsense from the people we have elected to keep us safe and free.

I grew up in the 50's and 60's.  If you were a girl or woman, and you were assaulted sexually, it was a given that:  your skirt was too high or your hair was too long, you were somewhere you weren't supposed to be or you were out when you should have been home.

Women and girls get raped.  They don't deserve it.  They have a right to be protected from the consequences of that attack.  They deserve our help and support, so that they do not feel responsible for the attack.

So let's hope that, even with all the republican walk-back on Akin's idiotic comments, we women stop supporting those who believe we are irrelevant instruments in a pregnancy resulting from a rape.

And congratulations Augusta National.  Maybe someday the US Congress will join you in the 21st Century.