Rape is only really rape if it involves force. So says the new House Republican majority as it now moves to change abortion law.
For years, federal laws restricting the use of government funds to pay for abortions have included exemptions for pregnancies resulting from rape or incest. (Another exemption covers pregnancies that could endanger the life of the woman.) But the "No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act," a bill with 173 mostly Republican co-sponsors that House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) has dubbed a top priority in the new Congress, contains a provision that would rewrite the rules to limit drastically the definition of rape and incest in these cases.
With this legislation, which was introduced last week by Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.), Republicans propose that the rape exemption be limited to "forcible rape." This would rule out federal assistance for abortions in many rape cases, including instances of statutory rape, many of which are non-forcible. For example: If a 13-year-old girl is impregnated by a 24-year-old adult, she would no longer qualify to have Medicaid pay for an abortion. (Smith's spokesman did not respond to a call and an email requesting comment.)
I have a question.
Perhaps one of you can help me to answer it.
How in the hell do women continue to vote Republican?
This party routinely steps on the rights of women, minorities, and homosexuals, and yet there are still those from each of those demographics that STILL routinely votes for them, as if they have not heard a single thing this all male, whites only, bunch rich assholes have been saying since the very inception of their party.
How can women especially support a political party that refuses to protect the most vulnerable among us, rape and incest victims, for purely political reasons?
I am sorry but refusing to acknowledge that a young woman has really been raped simply because the man who violated her did not also beat her into submission, is NOT an indication of a differing point of view, it is an indication of the lack of humanity.
I have known far more than my fair share of women who spent their childhoods dreading the nights when daddy made a special visit to their rooms, or who were violated by a "friend" after they became too intoxicated to realize what was happening until they woke up the next morning lying naked on the floor with their shredded underwear wadded up next to them, to not understand that these constitute a VERY real violation which requires that they receive the same compassion and access to medical treatment that a women who has been both raped and beaten deserve.
But hey that is just me. You know the guy with the young daughter, and whose underage mother was impregnated by a man who was legally an adult. What do I know?
Their rabid anti-abortion stance will last exactly as long as it isn't their daughter, grand-daughter, sister, mother that is pregnant by a rapist.
ReplyDeleteActually it is pretty well documented that they routinely seek out abortions, and then continue to oppose abortion rights, in some cases multiple times, but medical confidentiality laws make it hard to say anything about it. They have cognitive dissonance, and cannot mentally process the event, so they fail to see the hypocrisy.
Deletehttp://theprogressivetruth.blogspot.com/2007/07/only-moral-abortion-is-my-abortion.html
http://mypage.direct.ca/w/writer/anti-tales.html
- 24% of women who had abortions considered the procedure morally wrong.
- 7% of women who'd had abortions disagreed with the statement, "Any woman who wants an abortion should be permitted to obtain it legally."
- A 1994/95 survey (2,3) of nearly 10,000 abortion patients showed 18% of women having abortions are born-again or Evangelical Christians. Many of these women are likely anti-choice.
-The survey also showed that Catholic women have an abortion rate 29% higher than Protestant women.
- A Planned Parenthood handbook on abortion notes that nearly half of all abortions are for women who describe themselves as born-again Christian, Evangelical Christian, or Catholic.
With the economy going to Hell in a hand basket and wars breaking out all over the middle east - why in the name of all that's holy are the Republicans focusing time, energy and government funds on changing the definition of rape?
ReplyDeleteAre they planning on commiting a lot of them soon?
It is as Rachel Maddown pointed out the other night: GOP lips are saying jobs, and more jobs, but there is culture war in their actions.
ReplyDeleteThis GOP crew will not be satisfied until women can be legally paid less and children expected to work starting at age 13 after an education that exposes them to the all powerful, men who eschew marriage for what they say is their faith.
Clearly none of these millionaire cultural experimenters have never been under the control of a pervert who uses religious authority.
What do they think the pope is talking about?
The GOP is hell bent on starting another circle in hell for woman, children, the elderly, the sick, minorities, vets. . . . Humanity left this group a long time ago.
ReplyDeleteThere's no simple explanation, but what I've observed is that many young RW women simply don't stray from Mom and Dad's influence as far as politics. In some of the truly smothering (in most cases, Xtreme Xtian) families here, the child DOES NOT question what the parents believe. Quite a few parents are homeschooling their children as well, keeping them sequestered and controlling what they learn, making the opportunity for debate even slimmer. If kids do thoughtfully challenge their parents' views, they're ridiculed (sometimes publicly) for being a "smart ass" and/or told they'll go to hell. If a kid has low self-esteem (which also seems to be rampant in this environment), those words are frightening. It's easier to just let your parents dictate their views, and they become yours. It's a sheeple mentality that cuts across all financial demographics.
ReplyDeleteA friend of mine (in her late forties) tried to discuss her newfound progressive outlook with her elderly mother. Her mom was flabbergasted. She didn't speak to my friend for over a year, and neither did the rest of her family. My friend refused to back down and tried to shrug it off, but being ostracized by those she cared about was painful for her. The upside of this episode is that my pal is promoting her own teenage daughter's independent thinking--focusing on her education, including college, which is something that intimidated her own mother.
Never let the apple fall far from the tree, or let the child wander out of the safe little NeoCon fantasy bubble. And they'll circle the wagons, 'cause there's a "Socialist Communist Muslin in the White House" (heard verbatim).
always amazes me how these people think...i don't think abortion is this great thing either but their hypocrisy is staggering...they want to bring all these unwanted children in the world , but once they are here they are on their own. No healthcare, no welfare etc.
ReplyDeleteThey make me sick!!
And how do you redefine incest ?
And if you are a girl or a woman who passes out after some horny dude slips a drug in your drink and then rapes you, that, too, would not be considered rape by these cretins in Congress.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Gryphen. I agree with you 100%. No thinking person can believe that Republicans care about women. Their actions do not back that up. I've been raped twice. I guess mine was "legitimate" rape since it was at gunpoint both times. Woohoo. Rape isn't just about physical force. It is about power and fear. It is about control. To tell a woman (or child) who has been raped that it doesn't count because there wasn't enough force involved isn't just wrong. It is evil, and horrifyingly cold hearted. All this for a possible fetus that these same people will hate anyway because it will be born to a person of color, or a poor person, or a liberal, or an athiest, or a Buddhist, or a socialist.
ReplyDeleteUNFUCKINGBELIEVABLE.
ReplyDeleteAs someone who was the victim of rape, I find this appalling. Republicans are a FUCKING. JOKE.I literally feel ill over this.
Why won't you tell us what happened to AlaskaWTF?
ReplyDeleteLet's make sure this stays in the news. It was on Gawker. I won't be happy until this is on the NYT, HuffPo, ABC, CNN, CBS, NBC, and yes, even FOX. Let's make this an issue!
ReplyDeleteWell, I am a woman, and I can tell you that I think part of the problem is that there is no modern women's movement. If there was, unbelievable bills which re-define rape wouldn't dare to exist. Culture develops before Law. Private comes before Public. That's where it needs to start. But it's lacking.
ReplyDeleteThe reason there is no movement is because women are not only fearful, suspicious, unschooled, and brainwashed,..but also because of the fracturing of American thought, our balkinization, our conflicting ideals and goals.
You mentioned three groups, women, minorities, and homosexuals. They exist within sub-cultures, and their identities overlap.
Have a white woman talk to a black woman about feminism, and you'll get a bloodbath, as issues like abortion, classism and racism come up. If that white woman is gay, and she asks for support on a ballot from minority females, it's likely cultural ideals will get in the way. Latinos have their own interests, and for years down here in Florida, the cuban block, female and all, voted lockstep Republican because of culture and because of Castro. When female Haitian immigrants were forced to live in unsafe conditions in compounds for illegals, where were the White and Latino women fighting on their behalf? And yet, flip that around...ask a Haitian woman to join a woman's movement and she'll ask you, why? Throw Islam in the mix, and now you have issues such as female circumcision, wearing of veils and full coverings, arranged marriages and even honor killings. Ask Americans to look at that and find the line between oppression and personal freedom and it's not always clear.
If a news station wants a go-to source for the female voice,...where does he go? Which culture? Which religion? Which racial group? Which generation?
When the Tea Party was created, my initial reaction was absolute shock, because it's not often you see Americans who are strangers to each other, organizing on common ground. but then I realized the members were pretty similar, and this was just a manifestation of citizens feeling completely unidentified with other citizens of this country.
Both of my sisters have been raped, by men who they thought were "friends"; one was a new (soon to be ex-) "boyfriend" at the time.
ReplyDeleteIn both cases, my sisters clearly said NO, NO, NO, and pushed away the "friend"; were they listened to an respected? No, they were not.
They were in their twenties, and not children, they did not go to the police (no bruises or scars..only their word against the "friend") but they had been deeply betrayed. For years afterward they distrusted their own judgment about who was "safe" or not.
How sad to see them transform from outgoing, cheerful girls to timid, fearful creatures. HORRIBLE!
It will be interesting to see if they can get away with it.
ReplyDeleteRape, both under criminal law and civil law falls under the definitions of assault and battery.
So some how the Republicans will have to either redefine the act of forced sex as somehow not being as serious as, say, purse snatching, which is, under both civil and criminal law, assault & battery (battery is the actual physical attack in the duo of assault & battery), and is the more serious part of that combo of crimes.
Or they will have to redefine assault and battery for the whole criminal code and the whole civil code.
This concept would take women back to the the level of legal protection women did not have half a century ago.
So ladies if you are sexually assaulted make sure your are grievously injured if you want the law to consider that you were actually raped.
In other words to prove that the one crime, rape, occurred you would, again, have to, by law, cause additional crimes to be committed against you.
If necessary, you would have to resist enough so that you are beaten, strangled, shot, stabbed, suffocated or otherwise suffer additional batteries, or better yet are murdered, so that Republican men are satisfied that you suffered the battery of being raped.
Perfectly logical, if you are a Republican.
In the 1960's as attitudes were beginning to enter the 20th century on the matter of rape, the police actually recommended that women resist so that they would suffer sufficient additional injuries to prove that they had not give consent.
I'm not kidding, that is what law enforcement recommended.
They did not however recommend that if a man were forced to give up his wallet by a gang or to someone with a gun or knife, that they has to sustain physical injury to prove that they had not given the wallet up consentually.
If its forced sex and the guy has a knife make sure you are cut or stabbed, if he has a gun make sure you are at least pistol whipped if not fatally shot, if he has only his hands make sure you are sufficient beaten or strangled so that it will show that you were being forced. The best proof of course is being so severely injured while you are being raped, that you die.
However once you are dead you cannot identify, or testify against the rapist, so that's a good thing as it saves the cops and prosecutors so much work.
This is what happens when politicians become the lapdogs of religious zealots. Blackhearted bastards.
ReplyDeleteOhiovoter
The best answer I have come up with is that most better-off Americans (or those who think they'll soon be there) believe the Republicans better protect their financial status. Not the country's pocketbook, but the voter's. So they will vote Republican, vote their own interests, even if they have to hold their noses.
ReplyDeleteThose same well-off Americans also know that if someone in their families needs an abortion, they can pay to get it, even if they need to take them out of the country. Sort of like before Roe v. Wade, when Southerners flew to NYC for the day for abortions.
Now throw in the votes of the "values voters" who have been convinced by Fox and their ministers that God and morality require them to vote Republican (which is against their own financial interests), and you've got the votes.
Remember the bumper sticker:
Vote Republican.
It's easier then thinking.
I too, 61 yr old mother of two, cannot understand why a woman would ever be a republican. I am a Southerner and have lived most of my life in the South, around Republican women. Much of is has to do with religion, the kind that removes your ability to think. Abortion is not acceptable under any circumstances and, oh by the way, there's that part about being submissive to your husband. That means everything, not just sex. Then you add on to that the race thingy. We used to be Dixicrats...that was before LBJ and the Civil Rights era. Include a current black president, and Wah La....you have Republicans. I know I just scratched the surface, but this is pretty much my take on it. I am sure you will hear a lot about individual liberties, but I don't buy it. As I said, I am a Southerner, sometimes Southwesterner, but I am a Yellow Dog Dem to the core.
ReplyDeleteGryphen, with all due respect, the Republicans have not always followed illiberal policies since their founding. Study your Republican Party history. From its founding in the 1850's, it was a force for progress in America, including, eventually, ending slavery. Under Teddy Roosevelt, they were most definitely the Progressive party in America. During the 1920's, 30's, and even 40's, they were the pacifist, isolationist, anti-imperialist party. And even in the 1950's and 1960's, they were the party of sensible, moderate, thoughtful conservatism. Your criticism really only apply to the Republican party of the last 30 years, most especially the last 10, when they really went off the rails. Speaking of rails - Transcontinental railroads - which united America from coast to coast, bringing the transportation revolution to all of America? Republican policy.
ReplyDeleteGryphen - This issue fits right into what Floyd has been saying about Republicans and religion. When it comes to governing there hasn’t been enough difference between the Republicans and Democrats. But there is a chasm between the two parties when it comes to abortion. If you are an anti-abortion evangelical Christian you (most likely) vote Republican, and you are a huge piece of the Republican base. The Republicans know this and with this bill they are throwing red meat to their base, which will gobble it up. It’s an emotional appeal, no critical thinking required – or desired.
ReplyDeleteI so appreciate your understanding of this and your point of view as a man. And not to bash men but I really don't feel that men should be able to make laws that affect women's bodies and lives! It makes me furious to watch these pompous asses spout off against abortion when they have never had to worry about unwanted pregnancies, manage birth control issues, and deal with all the emotionally trying issues that go with the childbearing years for women (approx ages 14-50).
ReplyDeleteI used to be a nurse at Planned Parenthood- that did not perform abortions (very few of them do) but we saw a lot of scared young women who came for pregnancy & STD testing, birth control, and the ability to talk to nonjudgemental, sensitive medical staff, instead of going to their family doctor with their parent.
For many young girls, the first act of intercourse is often not their choice, but commonly a "date rape" type of scenario (if they're not a victim of childhood molestation) where things get out of hand quickly and they feel pressured or forced to give in. So how would Bristol's birth control advice work in these situations???
I'm sure no one is pro-abortion because it's not ideal physcially or emotionally for women to go through. However, if men are going to be able to restrict a woman's rights over her body then maybe we
should pass a law that men can only have sex when they are trying to create a child with their spouse, then we wouldn't have as many unwanted pregnancies! You like that one guys??? How about limiting sex to a few times in your life and once your wife is pregnant, you're done. (I certainly don't want this but it's about as extreme as some anti-abortion views).
My reasons for women voting republican.
ReplyDelete1) Joel Osteen and others like him force eternal damnation down these womens throats. So they believe it.
2) They are women that cannot think for themselves and their families & church make em do it.
3) They feel superior when they protect the innocent fetus that has not been born. But when they are born they do not want to help them. They are TWO FACED HYPOCRITES like Sarah Palin.
4) They feel like they are saving the world by saving babies, but truly have no idea the impact of their actions.
5) They are weak women that cannot think for themselves and follow people like Sarah Palin who does not go to church and uses white for her abortions.
6) They are the weaker of women living on earth and are suppressed by the christain dogma. They don't have the BALLS to think for themselves. They are COWARDS like Sarah Palin the Biggest COWARD!
7) I guarentee many anit-abortion GOP'ers have had abortions. Is that right Sarah and Bristol Palin? Have you ladies had abortions? How many sweet Jesus?
8) They are not intelligent to do anything else because they are so surpressed by their Godly husbands fucking hookers while they are told to make money speaking around the country.
9) They deny when their husbands rape young girls or even their daughters and always cover for them and destroy and participate in much harm and suffering to young women.
10) They are the sickest and saddest most demented two faced lying farces that think they should be President because they are REAL AMERICAN Godly women that are rich and can use white out for an abortion and not the governments money.
They are the scum of the earth in my eyes.
Unfortunately, this f*cker Chris Smith is my representative. He panders to a very old, highly conservative area in NJ - senior citizen enclaves. As long as they are "assured" Medicare and Medicaid are "safe" they keep voting the bastard in. Because of the gerrymandering he usually gets 75% of the vote. Last election he ran on the "Obama murders furrin babies by funding abortions" vote.
ReplyDeleteI don't get it either, Gryphen. I can tell you that I was married to a white, middle-class republican male, Army officer. He believed in the woman's right to choose, supported me in any independent endeavor I chose, and wanted his two daughters to have all the advantages that men had. He also didn't believe in war. Go figure. I went out to cancel his vote every election.
ReplyDeleteI often wonder why any middle or lower class person would ever vote republican. I really think that most republicans think they are taking the moral high road by voting that ticket. WTF?! The fact is that democrats suck greatly at promoting their own platform. We're too tolerant and accepting of other points of view, I guess.
"This is what happens when politicians become the lapdogs of religious zealots. Blackhearted bastards.
ReplyDeleteOhiovoter"
Yes and being lapdogs of the corporations enables them to grab power to inflict their views on us. The perfect "marriage" of money and religion.
71 in Ohio
Maybe those who vote for this horrid idea should be required to be raped - you know, so they they can properly define things, like force, from an educated perspective.
ReplyDeleteI continue to vote GOP because of women like Lisa Murkowski. Not because of dufass like Palin or Bone.
ReplyDeleteMy daughter is the product of rape. Her birth mother was 12, birth father 28. In Mexico, I guess it's OK. I am grateful for my daughter. But if this should happen to her, after the 28 yr old is dead and gone, I will hold her hand through any proceedure she wants to get this put behind her.
ReplyDeleteAnd I vote GOP, but not for nutbags.
I really have no idea why ANYONE continues to vote for Republicans. I refuse to vote for anyone who is anti-choice, anti gay, and tries to push there religious agenda on the masses.
ReplyDeletefrom the "words matter" corner: to all those who supported Polanski's defense with that "rape-rape" nonsense - this is what it gets ya! Woman-shaming and blaming is not limited to republicans.
ReplyDeleteLet's just be a little clear here. Not all Republicans are Christians.
ReplyDeleteOther than that, I think people vote Republican for two reasons:
Money, they don't want to share it for any reason, particularly not with those less fortunate or the big bad government.
Race, they like to keep it in the family if you know what I mean - the white family.
As for rape and women's rights and pro-choice issues, they don't care about any of this because they have the means to determine their own fates, or those of their daughters - pay for abortions, pursue legal action if they see fit, etc.
In other words, they don't need laws because they operate above the law. They are special, didn't you know? They don't need government at all, aren't they amazing?
Let the chattering classes fend for themselves...
"How in the hell do women continue to vote Republican?"
ReplyDeleteBecause men don't have a monopoly on stupidity.
Let's not forget those instances of Date-rape drugs being used. Would that be considered "force"?
ReplyDeleteYes, I saw this yesterday and was appalled.
ReplyDeleteAnd you are exactly correct--why in the WORLD do people still vote for them? It is scary how much the GOP can manipulate people with their phoney family values crap.
And apparently its been out there for a while that Jenna Bush had an abortion right after her father was elected and she was in college. And he spins the anti-abortion meme to get votes.
These Repubs are such hypocrites!
You've been raped? Contact Sarah Palin, she will sell you official Wasilla Rape Kits for 49.95 with an exam from Tawd Palin for free.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous 6:25, that's a great idea! If they need to define "force" then they really need to experience it so they can stand behind their ridiculous opinions.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous @ 5:43AM said:
ReplyDelete"Gryphen, with all due respect, the Republicans have not always followed illiberal policies since their founding. Study your Republican Party history...."
Unfortunately, you aren't voting in the past, much as some Republicans and Teabaggers wish. You're voting for the parties you've got - for the future. You may not like the Democratic Party, but if you'd rather vote for a party that stands for all that is against your own interests, your reasoning is beyond comprehension.
There was an old expression that went something like "If you're not a liberal when you're 25, you have no heart. If you're not a conservative by the time you're 35, you have no brain."
I think there should be an extension to that - "If you aren't a liberal again by 45, you have no soul".
Just another step in the American taliban plan to wrest control from all those meddlesome women. It will be interesting to see which self-hating congresswomen support this.
ReplyDeletePlease read Margaret and Helen http://margaretandhelen.wordpress.com/ for their excellent remarks on the issue. Those of us who went through the War on Women back in the 1970s, also remember that Republicans and others killed the ERA. I still cringe whenever I see or hear Phyllis Shafly's name. It is up to this generation of women to fight to save the rights so hard-fought-for by their predecessors.
ReplyDeleteThe gains of the Women's Rights Movement will be stripped away, one by one, if the Repubs have anything to say about it. And they are being led by Judas Goats named Palin and Bachmann.
Just for kicks, women ought to start a movement against Viagra. I bet that'd make the guys in Congress think twice.
ReplyDeleteStuff like this is why I'd like to get my tubes tied- but I can't afford it or the recovery period.
Randall said...
ReplyDeleteTheir rabid anti-abortion stance will last exactly as long as it isn't their daughter, grand-daughter, sister, mother that is pregnant by a rapist.
2:52 AM
____________________________
Their rabid anti-abortion stance will stand, as will their denial of committing rape or of this happening to one of their own (no matter how fantastic the storyline may need to become, plus whiteout services as required) -- as well as denying access to needed abortion services to any unfortunate liberal/ real feminist-principled/ impoverished/ minority/ disabled, drunk or drugged/ underage or otherwise-not-to-be-believed woman or girl.
Then, rapes will happen "only" to liberal/ real feminist-principled/ impoverished/ minority/ disabled, drunk or drugged/ underage or otherwise-not-to-be-believed women or girls -- not to one of their own.
Apparently those liberal/ real feminist-principled/ impoverished/ minority/ disabled, drunk or drugged/ underage or otherwise-not-to-be-believed women or girls asked for it/ deserved it/ had consensual sex and so can live with the result/ was trying to trap that poor man/ led him on...
If reps could not get out of admitting one of their wimmen was raped, it would be made to be the fault of a librul.
herk
2010 elections will prove to be a blessing I disguise. By 2012, everyone will have had two years of this crap, and reject it big time.
ReplyDeleteHmm, if I'm on Medicaid then I probably don't make a lot of money anyway. If I can't pay out of pocket for an abortion procedure after a 'non-qualifying' rape, how exactly will I be able to afford the baby from birth to age 18?
ReplyDeleteThis kind for law is designed to protect the men who wrote it, and their brothers and friends and sons and grandsons from possible charges of rape.
ReplyDeleteIn the late 60's or early 70's one of the elite all male universities, I believe it was Columbia, polled their students.
The poll ostensibly was on dating behavior, but was really about rape.
What it showed was that 92% of the students had committed acts that would fall under the definition of rape, as it was defined at the time.
So when the Republicans or any group that is largely American and male wants to loosen the definition of legal rape, and this Act would bleed over into how rape laws enforced and interpreted, they are doing it to protect them and their "culture."
By cloaking their motives as based on religion they have been effective in brain washing and or beating a large number of women into accepting the religious PR, which often comes from the pulpit, that allows men to perpetuate acts of sexual coercion and violence, and blame any negative outcome on the victim.
Randall said...
ReplyDeleteTheir rabid anti-abortion stance will last exactly as long as it isn't their daughter, grand-daughter, sister, mother that is pregnant by a rapist.
2:52 AM
I agree that would seem logical, but history proves that assumption to be incorrect.
When I was raped, at age 40, on a vacation in a foreign country, in my expensive hotel room, by a stranger/hotel employee who came into my room on the pretense of something to deliver, I did not dare protest/fight, literally for fear of my life. There are times when there is no overt physical violence, but it is horribly unimaginable just the same. If I had become pregnant I would have had an abortion, no doubt about it. I have never told family or friends about this and never will. How many more of me are out there? Zillions.
ReplyDeleteThese clowns only pretended to be for fiscal responsibility just to get elected. Now, they are showing their true colors and exposing the fact that their interest is in fighting 40+-year-old cultural wars. With this proposed legislation, which only someone lacking in either compassion or sanity would agree with, they are willing to sacrifice the well-being of countless men, women, and children on the altar of their morally bankrupt ideology.
ReplyDeleteWith all the problems this country is facing, why the hell would anyone want to pay folks who use their power to inflict their sick thinking on the rest of us? I agree that no woman in her right mind would support this madness. I have always said that they would overplay their hand as usual when they came to power. So far, they are living down to expectations.
Let's be clear on this bill...it does NOT change the CRIMINAL definition of rape. What it DOES seek to change is the definition that applies to federal funding of abortions. Which means that a woman could be a victim of rape according to criminal statutes, but because it was not considered 'forcible' enough for these misogynists, she cannot get federal assistance for an abortion should she become pregnant. Theoretically, her rapist could be arrested, charged with rape and go to jail, but because she was not sufficiently injured, OR was drugged or drunk, OR mentally incapable of giving permission, OR over 18 and coerced by a family member, she would be forced to give birth to her rapist's child if she does not have the money to pay for an abortion herself.
ReplyDeleteFrom what I understand, this legislation could also restrict access to private insurance coverage for abortion if there is ANY federal funding of ANY part of the insurance policy whatsoever, regardless of whether or not abortion coverage is paid for separately.
The big problem with this bill seems to be the variation in state legal definitions of 'forcible'. Many states do not have legal definitions of what constitutes 'forcible' rape and the final decision could be left up to the personal views of a judge. Since many of the states that do not have criminal definitions of 'forcible' rape are found in the more fundamentalist parts of the country, the women there are subject to a judge's personal values...and essentially raped again.
I also wonder if this bill could eventually open up the possibility of redefining the criminal designations of rape and sexual assault. Since there are so many right wing, super-religious state and federal legislators and governors right now, I would be very worried that this could be the start of an effort to bring us back to the days when a rape was considered a woman's fault... unless, of course, she died in the process.
@6:05 -- How about restricting Viagra, Cialis, etc. to only married men too! MY religious view DEMANDS that only married men should be able to achieve erections!
ReplyDeleteThese hypocrites would look at you like you had 10 heads if you even thought of proposing such a thing. Yet they see nothing wrong with trying to impose their religious views over every woman's uterus -- that's perfectly okay and acceptable in Rightwinglandia.
Anonymous Anonymous said...
ReplyDeleteYou're typically a Republican woman until you or someone you know gets raped. Then you are not.
4:12 AM
To you and me that seems so logical.
But remember women like Angle equate rape to making lemonade. Angle, Palin, Bachmann, Shalafly etc., are totally insensitive to the damage it causes the victim, or that that victim, if forced to bear the child of a rape is made, by tier logic and laws, a slave of the rapist, as well as the victim.
@ Anonymous said...I really have no idea why ANYONE continues to vote for Republicans. I refuse to vote for anyone who is anti-choice, anti gay, and tries to push there religious agenda on the masses.
ReplyDelete-------
I agree. I know there are moderate Republicans, who aren't religious fanatics, but they have their hands tied because of the corporate campaign funds they receive. My sister is registered Republican (all of her voting 30 years), but in 2008 she voted for President Obama, and continues to be appalled at the leadership of her party. I have always been independent, but actually signed up as a Democrat. I value my "independence" but I decided to support a progressive mind-set for the sake of my grandchildren who have to inherit this mess.
Hannah @ 7:00
ReplyDeleteLet's not forget those instances of Date-rape drugs being used. Would that be considered "force"?
--------
Good question...and one that this bill does not seem to answer clearly. There is a strong possibility that the rape of a woman who was drugged or drunk would NOT be considered 'forcible'. That could very well be left to the discretion of a judge.
Sweet, huh???
Politics is like driving
ReplyDeleteTo go backward, put it in R.
To go forward. put it in D.
To see a list of the sponsors for this bill:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.opencongress.org/bill/112-h3/text
8:04 -
ReplyDeleteHmm, if I'm on Medicaid then I probably don't make a lot of money anyway. If I can't pay out of pocket for an abortion procedure after a 'non-qualifying' rape, how exactly will I be able to afford the baby from birth to age 18?
********
Well, you SHOULD have thought of that BEFORE you allowed yourself to be raped in the first place!
You MUST have led the poor fellow on, or been dressed like a floozy, or been out after 5 pm, or been in a place that wasn't safe, or been anywhere except an appropriate church social...
Don't forget, once you give birth, you're on your own and the gubment shouldn't have to give you or your baby a penny since you obviously don't deserve it. You SHOULD have been born into a rich white family, after all!
(So, how does it feel to turn the clock back 50 years?)
OT. Hilarious take on Sarah's response to the President's SOTU speech.
ReplyDeletehttp://voices.washingtonpost.com/compost/2011/01/wtf_moments_with_palin_on_the.html
It's time woman united on this topic. Pro-life, Pro-Choice, it doesn't matter. Rape is rape. I would like to see all Republican woman who vote for this to be called to the carpet. All the men should as well, but women especially!!
ReplyDeleteCarrie
The culture wars, the wedge issues, are all they've got.
ReplyDeleteThey are bankrupt otherwise.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/28/koch-brothers-gather-billionaires_n_815719.html#s232309&title=Rush_Limbaugh
ReplyDeleteDon't forget, in Sarah Palin's Wasilla, rape victims were required to pay for their own rape kit.
ReplyDeleteRick
Horrible
ReplyDeleteThe people who are hot to inflict a ban on abortion know, every single one of them, that they and their families will never be a victim of their action. Their people always could and always will be able to get an abortion whenever they wish.
ReplyDeleteUntil one of THEIR kids or wives gets raped, then its "The Only Moral ABortion is My Abortion"
ReplyDeletehttp://mypage.direct.ca/w/writer/anti-tales.html
"In 1973, after Roe v. Wade, abortion became legal but had to be performed in a hospital. That of course was changed later. For the first 'legal abortion day' I had scheduled five procedures. While scrubbing between cases, I was accosted by the Chief of the OB/Gyn service. He asked me, 'How many children are you going to kill today?' My response, out of anger, was a familiar vulgar retort. About three months later, this born-again Christian called me to explain that he was against abortion but his daughter was only a junior in high school and was too young to have a baby and he was also afraid that if she did have a baby she would not want to put it up for adoption. I told him he did not need to explain the situation to me. 'All I need to know', I said, 'is that SHE wants an abortion.' Two years later I performed a second abortion on her during her college break. She thanked me and pleaded, 'Please don't tell my dad, he is still anti-abortion.'" (Physician, Washington State)
ReplyDelete"The sister of a Dutch bishop in Limburg once visited the abortion clinic in Beek where I used to work in the seventies. After entering the full waiting room she said to me, 'My dear Lord, what are all those young girls doing here?' 'Same as you', I replied. 'Dirty little dames,' she said." (Physician, The Netherlands)
"I had a patient about ten years ago who traveled up to New York City from South Carolina for an abortion. I asked her why she went such a long way to get the procedure. Her answer was that she was a member of a church group that didn't believe in abortion and she didn't want anyone to know she was having one. She planned to return to the group when she went back to South Carolina." (Physician, New York)
"I once had a German client who greatly thanked me at the door, leaving after a difficult 22-week abortion. With a gleaming smile, she added: 'Und doch sind Sie ein Mörderer.' ('And you're still a murderer.')" (Physician, The Netherlands)
"My first encounter with this phenomenon came when I was doing a 2-week follow-up at a family planning clinic. The woman's anti-choice values spoke indirectly through her expression and body language. She told me that she had been offended by the other women in the abortion clinic waiting room because they were using abortion as a form of birth control, but her condom had broken so she had no choice! I had real difficulty not pointing out that she did have a choice, and she had made it! Just like the other women in the waiting room." (Physician, Ontario)
http://mypage.direct.ca/w/writer/anti-tales.html
This issue (of why women, who are being discriminated against, by Republican attitudes, still vote for the swine) brought to mind how I felt, when seeing the statistic of the last election:
ReplyDelete70% of Latinos in Nevada voted against Sharron Angle.
Okay, but THAT means that 30% DID!
She said everything but how she'd like to see a law passed that would make it legal to shoot Mexicans from out your car window.
She should not have received ONE SINGLE VOTE, much less 30% of what is a huge portion of the population in that state.
So, I suppose this shows how there are a LOT of people who wander into the polling booth, completely unaware of any REASON for casting their vote.
@ 8:16
ReplyDeleteI wondered too about how this would affect "criminal state law". A rapist could cite the new Federal defination as "it wasn't rape" Will we see states fight government "mandating" law on this issue?
In one respect, we must learn from the Right to Life Movement. They are well organized, well funded and have tenacity. They have fought for 30+ yrs trying to over- turn every aspect of Roe v Wade by redefining when "life" begins and now to what constitues rape.
On the Viagra front; isn't it gods' will that you can't get it up?
ReplyDeleteSan Rafael
In high school, a number of my "friends" got knocked up. Two got knocked up by coaches; this was back when the drinking age was 18. These coaches would party with underaged students (yes we had fake IDs and got into all the clubs) and at least two got pregnant. You bet that both of these "upstanding" coaches, both belonging to the Kiwanis and Rotary clubs, payed for those girls to have abortions. Ironically, one of the women who had an abortion, is now a rabid right wingnut. I am this close to reminding her of her own 'story' on facebook, for all the world to see and for her to 'remember' where she came from.
ReplyDeleteRepub men only value women for one thing. That's why they support Sarah. Tracy Morgan spoke the truth.
ReplyDeletePoliticalguineapig actually it is strange you brought this up. There was a legislator that went on the floor wanting all sexual enhancements covered in insurance so he introduced a bill to that affect. I can't remember who he was or even the state but yeah he was helping all those men.
ReplyDeleteThis makes me sick. Just because they don't want the funds to help this victims. Shame on them and damn them all to hell.
Sorry I can't write anymore because it would be very offensive in language to express my feelings.
Wonder how many of these guys are trying to justify the past/present/future (rape) actions of themselves, their buddies, their sons.
ReplyDeleteThey sound uncomfortably like the extreme Islamists they profess to be against.
You're right, Gryphen. It's mainly those old, rightwing, white men who want to enforce this. I have felt it was...as always...an issue of controlling women's sexuality, asserting male "ownership", and of punishing them for demanding control of their own bodies. I would never push abortion on anyone, but I would always support the individual's right to make that decision. Why any woman would vote for these neanderthals is a mystery to me too. I find them totally disgusting.
ReplyDeleteI'm the commenters who pointed out this article in a comment on one of IM's posts yesterday. Thank you for bringing this to your readers' attention, Gryphen. Anon 8:16s concern about this potentially opening up a legal redefinition of rape is exactly why I'm so concerned about this.
ReplyDeleteThere is another piece of this bill of concern to people supporting reproductive choice: one piece of the bill may make it harder to get coverage for termination services in private, employer-sponsored plans. Employers get a tax break for employee coverage, and that break may be eliminated by this bill.
Anon@6.18 - your post puzzled me a bit. It seemed to say that your Republican husband DID support you and your daughters in liberal ideas, plus he was against war, but that you canceled his vote. Implying that you were of different thoughts.
ReplyDeletePlease explain. Thanks.
They should be made to watch the movie "Precious".Her whole life beat her into submission.
ReplyDeleteGryphen, could you start linking us to Margaret and Helen again? I just caught up on the blog today but would like a little reminder when something new comes on. I don't check it daily like I do with IM.
ReplyDeleteThis just makes me sick!
ReplyDeleteThese older, fat, white Republicans back there in Congress have been there far too long and should never be elected again!
They are trying to make things so difficult for President Obama! Are you noticing how they continually are throwing up all sorts of obstacles and not doing one damned thing about jobs? And, now President Obama has to involve himself w/this mess in Egypt along w/everything else!
I cannot imagine this abortion bill will be approved. But, the new bill will create an uproar and take the emphasis away from the Republicans and TeaBaggers campaign promises, which were jobs, jobs, jobs!
I'll be eager to see how the Repub
and Dem Congress 'women' handle this matter. Certainly means we are going to have to be on phones, write letters, send faxes and emails and assure that all our friends and family members are aware of this new rape issue.
And, I'll do everything I can in this next election cycle to work against the Republicans that are running on the city, state and national levels. They are a frightening bunch!
I worry for our President - he is getting so thin and gray and has only been in office two years!!! Cannot imagine the pressure he is under with these assholes working so hard against every step he takes. And, of course we can be pretty sure that Palin, Bachman, Limbaugh, Beck, Hannity and O'Reilly will support this matter.
Many excellent comments here. As pointed out by Anon 8:16; sometimes one wonders whether this is the end, or a step on the way to something else.
ReplyDelete"Anon 8:16
I also wonder if this bill could eventually open up the possibility of redefining the criminal designations of rape and sexual assault. Since there are so many right wing, super-religious state and federal legislators and governors right now, I would be very worried that this could be the start of an effort to bring us back to the days when a rape was considered a woman's fault... unless, of course, she died in the process.
Think like they do- Let's see what the Bible says on this issue. Actually they don't even need to correctly interpret or even refer to the bible; they just need to SAY that they did.
Another possibility- see what the founding fathers said and did.
History books for a short while described certain slave owner-slave 'relationships'. Those by modern standards would be considered rape, but those references are being scrubbed too. As Michele Bachmann recently said: the founding fathers did actually abolish slavery. That is why they call it the War of Northern Aggression in the South: there was no need to fight a war over slavery; it was already finished before the war was started by the North.
Whether these legislators live it, actually believe it, even understand it; it is what the RW marketing department has decided is the slogan to use.
As these idiots fear (or claim to) the imposition of Sharia law in the U.S. they KNOW that their version of theocracy (call it talibengelical rule) is:
1. Ordained by God.
2. Less likely to cause eternal
damnation. (back to the bible
says thing again).
3. Guaranteed to increase votes
and campaign contributions.
If the stupid voters are distracted by all this hoohaw, and forget that the country has been wrecked and nearly bankrupt by the rule of a succession of republican idiots; then that is an extra bonus.
Something else on the long list of things voters need to forget or misremember- they need to forget that Afghanistan was bad for the Soviet Union. Sarah's recent Sputnik moment was helpful in that regard.
So this means if there is no sign of physical force it will not be called rape.
ReplyDeleteWomen will get killed.
If their choice is to fight to be believed then more women will fight back and raise the violence level.
No one is "redefining" rape. Only who will pay for an abortion. You Dems sound like you want everyone to believe the GOP doesn't care if people (male or female) get raped; not the case at all! GOP just prefer to recognize peoples right to self defense and keeping the rapist locked up. Punish the offenders, don't let them go because of a "mental" condition. Sounds like Libs only care about paying for the abortion AFTER a woman is raped.
ReplyDelete1979.
ReplyDelete18 years old.
The Army.
Germany, sent out to the field for the first time.
The only woman and 1500 men.
I was the Medic, they were Engineers.
Alone, in the dark being watched, only I didn't know
Vilseck, Germany after two weeks without a shower, we were allowed to go to Tent city for 2 days.
Much Celebrating. Much Drinking. After showers the partying started.
I was invited.
A cute boy
Fun
free drinks
more drinks
Something wrong....
Room spinning
Dizzy
can't walk
being carried
pass out
wake up
can't move
tied up
can't talk
gag in mouth
voices
someone on me
wet between the legs
laughter
another body on me
tears
another body
all night
over and over again
how many?
Don't know
too many
over and over again
thrusting
sweaty
pawing
pain
tearing
more laughter
in and out of conscience
how many?
could be twenty
could be a hundred
all ranks
all sizes
all ages
all penises
all thrusting
all sweating
lots of pain
smell of greasy tent
smell of booze
smell of tobacco
smell of man sweat
smell of semen
smell of sex
all thrusting
all groping
all squeezing
all pawing
only one, who when he saw my tears, stopped in his tracks
But he walked out, and another came in to take his place
over and over again
no help
none in sight
all night long
in and out of reality
in and out of dreams
more body's
more men
more thrusting
how many hours?
finally the sweet release of awareness
awakening
naked
in the showers
bruises and blood everywhere
Pain
oh my God the pain
all consuming pain
my clothing in a pile
scrub
scrub
scrub
scrub
scrub
scrub
scrub
scrub
water is cold
scrub some more
scrub
scrub
scrub
scrub
scrub
scrub
scrub
scrub
put on uniform
met at door, by commanding Officer
stern words about MY behavior
told if I talked, it would be MY fault
Threatened with prison for "enticing"
handed orders to be transfered
Told to pack my bags
Transportation waiting
Warned again
If you talk, you die
or worse
watching blindly as the trees roll by
curling up inside of me
hiding the pain
hoping the pain will fade
as the bruises do
can't walk, can't sit, can't take a shit
blaming myself
Others have
so why not me?
Guilt
it weighs on a mind
remembering what was said
silence it is my friend
denial
lock the pain away
never talk they said
never talk I did
The pain it became my friend
To this day, it never ends.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This is the first time I have EVER written or spoken about that night. The ONLY reason I have after thirty years is, because it is STILL going on! What happened to me, happens to thousands of women in the military every year!
1 in 3 women in the military have been raped.
Let me repeat that so it sinks in....
1 in 3 women in the Military have been raped.
I have learned through the years one must NEVER be silent when it comes to Rape and Abuse! otherwise it can (and does) happen again, and again.....
I was very lucky I did not get pregnant from my rape.
Even though my rape took place over 25 years ago, because I only recently started to talk about it, I have been suffering from PTSD.
You want to bet that Boehner uses Viagra? I'll wager he does because he drinks too much...which effects his little tool.
ReplyDeleteWe need these assholes out of Congress!
Someone said this is a redmeat diversion by the Republicans because they know it will take hold with their base!
ReplyDeleteAll of them (Teabaggers too) campaigned on jobs, jobs, jobs and cutting the budget and know damned well the jobs are not going to be there for people to secure in these next two years.
I so hope the Dems and Independents stand up to these creeps in Congess!
DoubtingThomas, words can not express how sorry I am that that happened to you. You are brave to share.
ReplyDeleteDoubting Thomas, oh my God. There are no words, absolutely none, to convey my horror and profound sadness at what you were forced to go through. I simply can't imagine all the ways this negatively impacted your life.
ReplyDeleteI'm so proud of you for speaking up.
I'm ashamed to say I had no idea about this horrible statistic. How are we as a country letting this happen? How many women, daughters-mothers-sisters-wives, have returned from a deployment, running into the arms of their family with smiles on their faces but unspeakable pain in their eyes? How many??
Doubting Thomas, I am again so truly sorry for what you were forced to go through.
If you feel a catharcis from speaking about it, I am sure Gryphen would encourage a guest post.
I wish only healing and peace for you.
I have tried repeatedly to have this conversation with my mother, who is a Republican. What it comes down to for her is the idea that abortion is NEVER right, and she can't "in good conscience" vote for someone who doesn't at least pay lip service to the idea that it should be illegal.
ReplyDeleteI've tried to tell her that very few people, if any, are PRO-abortion. I've explained that I believe a) I (a woman in her childbearing years) don't have the right to tell a girl who has been raped or is the victim of incest that she MUST have the baby, and b) a bunch of old white men who will NEVER be in this situation absolutely do not have the right to make this decision for any woman or girl.
I went to a liberal Christian college where I was introduced to the idea that one can believe that abortion is morally wrong but legally necessary. This is the view I--and I think many others--hold. I believe there are many more effective, compassionate, and practical ways to oppose abortion--better sex ed, harsher penalties for rape, etc. Unlike my mom, I have also had friends who did have abortions, and not even in rape-related situations. So I know it isn't an easy decision or a quick-fix birth control method. But I also know that these women would have had their lives derailed if they'd been unable to get an abortion, while the baby daddies waltzed off scot-free.
But what it really comes down to, at least for my mom, is a sincere belief that abortion is murder and thus should be illegal in all circumstances. She thinks it's merely tangential that support isn't in place for underage and/or poor single mothers. She also believes it's extremely selfish for a girl in this situation to choose to keep a baby. So the answer is simple--if you're raped, you have the baby, then give it up for adoption. Because to do anything else is compounding the wrong done to you by choosing to murder an innocent baby.
This is what my mom and people like her sincerely believe. For them, the rights of women and girls are secondary to the rights of the baby. And this is why they believe that they must, as Christians who hold "all life" sacred, vote Republican.
I went looking to see what my state (OH) considered "forcible rape" and found this wonderful piece of information which answers the question that many people have been wondering about (emphasis mine- wasn't sure how to bold or italicize):
ReplyDelete"Legal statutes in many states as well as at the federal level also prohibit rapes which occur when a perpetrator engages in a sex act with an unwilling victim who is unconscious or who is intoxicated with alcohol or drugs to the point that their ability to appraise or control their conduct is substantially impaired. The FEDERAL CRIMINAL CODE defines this type of rape as AGGRAVATED SEXUAL ABUSE BY OTHER MEANS. Sometimes it is referred to as drug or alcohol facilitated rape."
(found in 'cdcoh.pdf'-I googled "Ohio law forcible rape")
So, no. If someone drugs you and you become pregnant, the abortion is an exception to the forcible rape exception. Nice to know, huh?
Doubting Thomas, I am struck equally by the horrifying pain of your experience and by the way you conveyed it with such stark, poetic eloquence.
ReplyDeleteI am so, so, SO sorry this happened to you--while you were a teenager in a different land, serving your country, no less! And I'm also glad you have finally chosen to speak out. I hope you can begin to heal.
And my gosh, I wish I could get my hands on all those bastards who did that to you....
Apparently the Republicans would like to go back in time. Interesting since they hate science and all. Perhaps they could use Mr. Peabody's WABAC machine. I think we should give them a portion of the country to live in without electricity, internet, TV, cars, etc. and let them have at it. Then the rest of us could work on renewable energy, stopping the imperialistic war machine and the future without them trying to destroy every advance we have made and future progress.
ReplyDeleteOne of President Clinton's first acts after taking office in 1993 was to lift a ban on abortions at U.S. military hospitals, giving servicewomen access to a procedure that had been available to civilians for 20 years.
ReplyDeleteTwo years later, the new Republican-controlled Congress reinstituted the ban, which remains in effect today as scores of soldiers become pregnant on the battlefield.
Now, with lengthy deployments in a military that is 15 percent female and with revelations of sexual assault in the armed forces, critics say it's time for a change.
Even in cases of rape and incest, military health insurance doesn't cover the procedure, which costs $325 to $650 in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, according to the Planned Parenthood Federation.
Legislators have tried several times to amend the law, Congress again rejected a proposal to permit military facilities to provide abortions on request to patients willing to pay.
Pregnant soldiers in countries where private clinics don't offer abortions, such as the Middle East and Afghanistan, are caught in a bind.
The military, and many service members themselves, offer many counterarguments, one that says with restrictions on sexual relations in combat zones and with birth control available, deployed soldiers should not get pregnant.
But it's clear that birth control and no-sex rules aren't working.
In Iraq and Kuwait alone, the Army said 163 of its soldiers had become pregnant as of June 17. It did not have numbers for Afghanistan or other areas of deployment.
A 1999 study of Army pregnancies and their effect on military readiness said, on average, from 5 percent to 6 percent of Army women were pregnant at any given time.
The Air Force and Marines said they do not track pregnancies. The Navy did not respond to requests for the information.
That doesn't stop the military from offering service members vasectomies and cosmetic surgery, including liposuction, breast implants and nose jobs.
Beth Eby, an Army warrant officer who was stationed in Baghdad from January through July, e-mailed her parents in Roanoke, Va., in May that some pregnant soldiers in her unit opted to perform abortions on themselves rather than face disciplinary measures.
Women had been warned of "harsh punishment" for becoming pregnant in violation of a no-sex rule, and the Army had even stopped handing out condoms to her unit in the apparent hope it would discourage sexual activities, Eby said in one of a series of e-mails home.
Abortion rights activists say their biggest concern is women who become pregnant after rape or coerced sex with a senior officer. According to the Department of Defense, there were 1,012 reported sexual assaults of service members in 2003 and 901 in 2002.
The Miles Foundation, which assists servicewomen and female military dependents who have been victims of violence and sexual assault, has handled 187 sexual assault cases involving soldiers stationed in Iraq, Kuwait, Afghanistan and Bahrain, said Kate Summers, the foundation's director of victim services.
The military's handling of pregnancy and abortion has swung from one extreme to another.
From the 1950s until the early '70s, servicewomen who became pregnant faced expulsion from the military.
When the Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade ruling in 1973 overturned state bans on abortions, military facilities began providing the procedure. At that stage, activists say, pregnant soldiers often were pressured to have abortions rather than face discharge for having babies.
I think that the answer is religion, manipulation of emotions through religion. The Republicans at the top are corporates who want control, money and power and they are either nominally religious or fully pretending to be religious. A few are spiritually deluded. And they use the religious handle, the "family values party" stuff, to FOOL the common, religious folk into thinking that the Republican party stands for religion and values.
ReplyDeleteOnce they believe that, it pretty much trumps all else. So they use an issue like abortion and drum it up in people's emotions far past what the issue would naturally do, so as to keep people narrowly focused on these super-important issues, and make them care about it so much that they become one or two issue voters.
It's pure manipulation. And this way they get the common people to allow them to maintain their hegemony and become an oligarchy. They really couldn't care less about gay marriage and they sure as hell don't care about abortion, since they place almost no value on human life. But these issues are used to cover for the sh*t that they really do. And meanwhile, they don't really want to fully get rid of abortion because that would be a loss of emotional capital for them.
The new federal regulations making it easier for combat veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder to receive compensation is great news for the more than 250,000 women who have served and sacrificed in Iraq or Afghanistan. Adding to the challenges of readjusting to society after combat, many of these women face additional trauma, by having to prove their combat status to V.A. medical staff and claims officers who don’t know or believe that women are being exposed to the same horrors of war as their male counterparts.
ReplyDeletePart of this ignorance results from male bias, but the rest is due to the Combat Exclusion Rule that precludes women from direct ground combat — even though commanders are knowingly violating this policy overseas. It’s a policy that needs to be revised immediately, in part because it’s too easy for a claims officer from Veterans Affairs to assume a woman is presenting a fraudulent claim for a combat-related wound or injury.
Unfortunately, despite the improvements, the new regulations fail to address the majority of P.T.S.D. claims filed by women veterans: military sexual trauma (including sexual harassment and sexual assault).
Military sexual trauma is the primary causal factor of P.T.S.D. for women. Before we mistake the epidemic as a woman’s issue, it is useful to know that last year, 40 percent of the patients seeking treatment for military sexual trauma at V.A. hospitals were men. These claims are consistently denied for the same reason that combat-related P.T.S.D. claims have been denied: the failure to prove an “initial stressor” — in this case, an initial incident of sexual harassment, assault or rape, despite a diagnosis of P.T.S.D. from the V.A.’s own psychiatrists, psychologists and counselors.
The V.A.’s double standard when it comes to survivors of sexual trauma is shameful. We’ve got nothing to celebrate until all sources of P.T.S.D. are considered equal.
Having been date-raped at age 20 I can tell you that force does define rape. I was scared...petrified..and no one was there...he never hit me or threatened me...but I knew in every fiber of my being that if I started to fight him off, I was going to get badly hurt, or worse. At 5'2" and 115lbs, I was no match for him. I just took control and did what he wanted to do, I protested with a push at first and he then 'forcibly' physically overpowered me with his weight and more importantly with an implied control that said "don't even try to get away from me."
ReplyDeleteTotal and absolute fear, heart pounding primal fear for my life took over. I submitted and lie their as limp as a rag doll until it was over and fell asleep. Then I ran.
It's hard to explain how this man could take control in a physical, but mostly psychological without ever striking me or verbally threatening me- but he did. It was not consensual and he knew it.
WRITE THAT INTO YOUR LAW YOU GOP MORONS.
Back when I went out with men, before I became a lesbian, I was always very modest, very shy, and dated only through friends, not bar pickups. You would think this would prevent date rape, you know? Anyway I was never raped, but most women go through some kind of stressful sexual experience in their lifetime. Meaning, at some point they've had to fend off someone who was going too far. My last boyfriend, a nice guy, told me he was thinking about raping me, while we calmly talked at his house, after breaking up. It was the last time we were alone together and he knew it. He told me he could just do it. Why he thought about it I'll never know. Maybe because he had previously had sex with me and felt that one more time wouldn't matter. The point is, unless you're a woman you have no idea what we go through, and how dangerous it is for us, just to walk around on a day to day basis. So to say, you're going to redefine rape, and blur the line of what's consensual, it just sends a bad message to everyone all around.
ReplyDeleteAnd gryp, one other thing. This post really puts the Levi/Bristol custody situation in a new light for me, when recalling the posts you've written on the subject, (which previously, I thought you were being objective on). Now I think I may realize why you've been so adamant on Levi pushing for custody and visitation, and frustrated that he is not doing what you want. Maybe you can clarify...do you believe fathers should have full custody, no matter the age of the child? Do you believe when a baby is involved, the age of Tripp for example, that the mother should have only visitation rights? I know this is a personal question, and Levi's situation is not yours, but you've blurred the lines here, and made it personal. I think some clarification would be best. Speaking as a woman, for maybe other women readers here, I'd like to know what your position is. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteThank you Gryphen, for writing this post. You educated people, allowed people to vent and educate and call each other to action on this issue, and provided a forum for several people to provide personal testimony as to what they went through.
ReplyDeleteThat is a powerful gift.
Thanks to everyone who got outraged, who shared personal stories and supported one another.
Because Gryphen allows us to post anonymously, many intimate traumas finally found release and support. I know many have voiced opinions that no one should be allowed to use anonymous, but sometimes, it's the only way to allow us to give voice to secret pain and memories that need to be shared.
Thanks to everyone for a resoundingly successful airing of a difficult subject and support against an outrageous bill and the horrendously stupid people sponsoring it.
Why do Republicans hate women?
ReplyDeleteWhy do Republicans hate children?
Why do Republicans hate old people?
Why do Republicans hate sick people?
Why do Republicans hate poor people?
And how can any of these people vote Republican? Children will eventually grow up and vote. Shouldn't Republicans fear that? (Well, no. Not if they can gut schools and keep children ignorant enough to be indoctrinated by Faux Noise.)
I don't understand how any GLBT could vote Republican. I don't understand how any minority can vote Republican.
Do Republicans not consider these people to be true Americans?
Or are Patriotic Americans only rich, white men?
Whatever happened to public servants? I guess the only true public servants left are teachers, policemen, firemen, nurses, social workers. Politicians haven't been public servants for decades.
so if a fifty-year-old rapes a 12-year-old girl and she gets pregnant... He goes to jail and she's forced to have his child?? Giving birth can be very taumatic, even if you want to have a child. Why are we punishing the victim just as much as we're punishing the rapist?
ReplyDelete