Some Girls Are Just So Rapey
Todd Akin isn’t a bug in the Republican Party, he’s a feature.
Freshman Rep. Roger Rivard (R-Rice Lake) in December discussed a case with the Chetek Alert newspaper in which a 17-year-old high school senior was charged with sexual assault for having sex with an underage girl in the school’s band room.
He told the Journal Sentinel that his father had advised him not to have premarital sex, and he took that seriously.
“He also told me one thing, ‘If you do (have premarital sex), just remember, consensual sex can turn into rape in an awful hurry,’ ” Rivard said. “Because all of a sudden a young lady gets pregnant and the parents are madder than a wet hen and she’s not going to say, ‘Oh, yeah, I was part of the program.’ All that she has to say or the parents have to say is it was rape because she’s underage. And he just said, ‘Remember, Roger, if you go down that road, some girls,’ he said, ‘they rape so easy.’
“What the whole genesis of it was, it was advice to me, telling me, ‘If you’re going to go down that road, you may have consensual sex that night and then the next morning it may be rape.’ So the way he said it was, ‘Just remember, Roger, some girls, they rape so easy. It may be rape the next morning.’
They rape so easy? Words fail.
Rep. Roger Rivard now says his words were taken out of context. Hmm… wonder how you put “they rape so easy” into context.
Oh yeah, and Paul Ryan endorsed this guy.
Roger Rivard with Paul Ryan
Tags: "Forcible Rape", feminism, Rape, sexism
The Republicans are working very hard to put The Onion out of business.
I’m a resident of Mr. Rivard’s state rep district in Wisconsin but am working in Delaware (long story…). I know Roger and I’m not surprised by his comments here. He’s an embarrassment to the whole state. He got elected in the ‘tea party’ wave that hit the Midwest but fortunately, he’s going to be swept out in less than four weeks. The damage he and the Walker regime (and the rest of their tea guzzlin’ bunch) have done to that state will take years to overcome. Steve Smith, Roger’s opponent, is a great guy, small business owner who saved 50 jobs in the area when he bought a business that was closing due to the economy, and does not have an ego the size of Mount Rushmore as Roger does. These tea party guys (like Todd Akin and Roger Rivard) just don’t know when to shut up! I’m glad the truth is coming out.
At some point, the press at-large has to decide that enough is enough and they’re going to stop being Republicans’ scapegoats. They need to stand up to the “my words were taken out of context” crap and defend themselves, whether it’s in the form of an editorial, a statement or posting audio of the full interview online.
Mr. Rivard may be a douche but his father’s advice is perfectly sound, and I will give it to my own son (minus the over-the-top but memorable “rape so easy” phrase of course).
I don’t think enough young men get the “cannot give consent” part. I also don’t think they get that parents may drive the decision to involve authorities over their daughter’s objections.
So somebody needs to tell young men how the law really works, and how draconian and disproportionate the punishments can be. I don’t see why anybody would try to denigrate this advice or keep it away from young men.
I also wanted to point out all the acts mentioned in the linked news articles are legal in Delaware, just not in Wisconsin.
First, welcome Toby!
Second, Straight Scoop is correct, but if the press did this then they’d lose their coveted “Horse Race” narrative, which would then lead to the press actually covering issues.
Exactly how are Rivard’s words – some girls, they rape so easy – taken out of context? In what universe can you spin this?
Pandora, I have the answer!
Apparently he has since stated he meant to say “some girls, they CRY rape so easy” and jumbled the words. Because that’s TOTALLY BETTER RIGHT? TOTALLY NOT JUST AS HORRIBLE? YEAH, LETS GO WITH THAT.
as to Puck’s comment, he’s right. Lots of states (including DE) have an age range requirement in their statutory laws (ie. a person 4 years younger etc.) to avoid this kinds of situation.
THAT BEING SAID puck is insane, because the “sound” advice of “don’t have underage unprotected sex because then she’ll get pregnant and accuse you of rape” is probably the worst thing I’ve ever heard.
Be safe and use protection, don’t have sex until you (and your partner – ie the crazy gals that will cry rape) are ready are both much more acceptable variations on this theme.
False accusations of rape are NOT common. This sort of discussion just furthers that myth and denigrates women who are strong enough to come forward.
Sorry, Puck, but I don’t have blue and pink sexual advice for my kids. I tell my son and daughter the same thing when it comes to sex. That’s what I consider sound advice – mainly because it makes my son and daughter own their sexuality. That’s a big theme in our house.
It floors me that you would give this advice to your son. What advice would you give your daughter? And when you give this advice to your son do you think it will effect how he views women or your daughter?
Do you have a daughter, because I’m thinking you don’t. Not a slam, but given what you’ve written here over the years I hear a lot of boys are persecuted talk coming from you. My husband became a strong feminist once we had a daughter and he saw first hand the hurdles facing her – hurdles our son didn’t have to jump. And I’m saying my son “had it made.” He had his own hurdles, but not one of those hurdles had to do with his being a white male.
I think some people tell their kids stuff like this not because it’s true but because they’re looking for a way to scare them into chastity.
One more thing… when a parent gives this “some girls cry rape” advice to their son, what they are really saying is don’t get “trapped” by a girl from the wrong side of the tracks. I doubt parents would be issuing the same advice if their son was dating an heiress.
Here’s another piece of advice I give my kids… if you don’t know if your partner is pro-choice or pro-life then you have no business having sex with them. If you have to warn your son against rapey women then you’d be better off preaching abstinence only.
I’m not down with parents contributing to rape culture because they’re too chickenshit or embarrassed to be honest with their kids.
I don’t mean to criticize, but I don’t like it when conservatives tell me how to raise my kids. What makes you think it goes down smoother when the opinions come from liberals?
It doesn’t, it’s a touchy subject. I just feel like if you’re doing something damaging I can say something about it. Doesn’t mean you have to listen to me.
It floors me that you think I would keep this vital information away from my son or my daughter. That is just irresponsible.
Can’t you see past the “rape so easy” phrase, to see this is actually good parental advice for responsible behavior? The father is basically telling his young son to stay away from underaged girls – what exactly is your objection to that?
The age of consent laws are counter-intuitive to a hormone-crazed young person. You have feelings for the person, you obtain what you think is consent, and then you are a sex criminal for the rest of your life? That doesn’t make sense intuitively – someone has to teach it to you. It’s not natural and it has to be learned.
I hope you realize you are going along with the definition of rape provided by Wisconsin wingnuts. Delaware has the Romeo and Juliet laws that blunt the worst excesses, but Wisconsin is CRAZY. You don’t want to fall in line with the conservative definition of rape, do you?
When the time comes I will have no problem giving my daughter the same information about the law. It’s public information that not enough kids are told about.
Puck there’s NOTHING wrong with educating your child (of either sex) about age of consent and statutory rape laws.
The impression of the original advice (which I’m not sure you reject)seemed to talk about a rape accusation as opposed to an age of consent issue (read it again – even though the case he was talking about was statutory, his comments are related to giving/then denying consent). The implication that it’s normal for a girl to withdraw consent after the fact is what riled me.
An underage girl (or boy for that matter) can neither give nor withdraw consent. The point of the advice was that no matter what the young lady or boy says, the parents can involve the authorities. That is damn fine advice.
Agreed, but he seemd to apply the “rape so easy” mantra to all premarital sex. not just underage. at least in the way i intrepreted the quote.
I feel like we’re both on the same side, but our lady spidey senses just pinged on the withdrawn consent rhetoric and yours didn’t.
“our lady spidey senses just pinged ”
You don’t want to know what us guys call that.
And yes, we are on the same side. Read the father’s advice again quoted right in this post – it’s all about the parents and the inability for the underaged to give consent.
I did. And I still maintain that he thinks it’s normal for girls to not own up to their activities and cry rape.
“Because all of a sudden a young lady gets pregnant and the parents are madder than a wet hen and she’s not going to say, ‘Oh, yeah, I was part of the program.’”
we’re BOTH right! we both get cookies.
I have twins about to turn seventeen: one girl, one boy. Makes you see things differently, or maybe the same, I don’t know.
I know that we are a lot more into discussing situational awareness with our daughter, but that’s also partly because she’s 5’6″ and he’s 6’1″.
But as far as consensual sexuality activity the message is exactly the same: you are the responsible party in any interaction because you cannot ever count on the other person choosing to be. You are responsible for knowing ages and age of consent; you are responsible for birth control; you are responsible for understanding what consent means, and when/where it ends. (Yes, I know the law says they cannot legally give consent, which is why nobody under age eighteen ever has sex.)
I don’t expect them to tell me everything they do, but I do want them to feel like they COULD tell me anything they needed to.
As for the “don’t have sex with underage girls because they will later cry rape,” in our house that would read more like “don’t have sex with people who can’t actually give you consent,” which at age 17 pretty much means anybody younger than you.
I was actually pretty shocked when I looked up Delaware’s ages of consent. I won’t repost it here but let’s just say it’s NOT “at age 17 pretty much means anybody younger than you.”
I’m with V in the way I read the father’s comments. His point was there is legitimate rape and then there’s the other fakey rape.
Also, what Steve said.
It’s kind of like interpreting “if you’ve got a business, you didn’t build that.” Everybody can have their own opinion about the context based on what came immediately before in the comments, or they can just focus on the comment itself.
Why am I not allowed to be right too? Pandora and I had the exact same reaction. He’s in a bunch of hot water and it’s in the news because a lot of people had the exact same reaction as us.
i get where you’re coming form puck, but consider the source of this comment. a teabaggy republican saying this…… you know what he meant.
some sane father saying “ya know son, you have to be very careful with sexual activity. You could get the girl pregnant if you dont use protection, and if she is under age and her parents or the authorities find out, you could get in big trouble and nothing she says to defend you will matter. Even if she is an emotionally mature 16 year old, her word has no bearing if her parents cry rape. It’s best to use protection and maybe date girls your own age while you are in your late teens and early 20s.” or something like that would be more acceptable.
What THAT teabagger said is exactly what V and Pan are accusing him of saying. we can know this because he is a republican and that is how they think.
@socialistic ben: You know how Republicans think? I don’t think you do, lol.
It’s also not a great idea to be videotaped:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilson_v._State_of_Georgia
That case was crazy.
Paul Ryan Fakes Outrage; Withdraws Endorsement of Roger ‘Girls Rape Easy’ Rivard
What a jerk.
Oh my. Paul “forcible rape” Ryan is nervous.