The Glade 4.0

So, the age of consent in MN is 16, so to start with it's not statutory rape. Beyond that a quick google search on his name and sex with 17 year old brought up tons of links to mainstream media sources about the issue. So I'm not sure I buy the argument that this wasn't reported on. Further, here are some additional facts:

1. They had met after corresponding via a Craigslist ad
2. No money was exchanged
3. The teen lied about his age and stated he was 18
4. He was called upon to resign by both democrats and republicans

For me, the big difference between these two scenarios, and WHY if there is any difference in the amount of coverage they are getting is that for once case, you have a perfectly legal but admittedly creepy/sleezy act of a representative that only affected him and the teen involved. Both of which were of consenting age. It's unseemly and not the actions that you want your representative to take, but also doesn't impact policy. On the other hand, you have someone spouting ignorant and potentially dangerous misinformation that is fairly apparent is part of their policy agenda which could impact literally 700,000+ people.

Lots of politicians spout all kinds of misinformation all the time that affects a lot more than 700,000 people. How is this misinformation particularly special, especially since rape is a crime regulated primarily by STATE law, not Federal?

The guy is wrong. That fears, however, over his policy agenda, are exploiting the fears of women that have been maintained by rape and women's advocates that insist on pretending its still 1975.

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"Hysterical children shrieking about right-wing anything need to go sit in the corner and be quiet while the adults are talking."

700000? ****, you'd think the 99.9979% would be coming out in favor of Akin.

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It's the War on Women!!!

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"It is true that democracy undermines freedom when voters believe they can live off of others' productivity, when they modify the commandment: 'Thou shalt not steal, except by majority vote.' The politics of plunder is no doubt destructive of both morality and the division of labor."

Exactly what fears are those and explain your pretending it's still 1975 comment please.

I'm not indicating that this misinformation is particularly special. It is, however, far more damaging to the populace at large than a representative giving a guy a blow job.

We're still pretending that stigmatization of rape victims, blaming them, or not believing them is actually a problem, as if no progress has been made in the last 40 years.

Those are no longer problems. "You won't be believed" has become a code word for the fact that your word alone will not instantly get someone locked up and convicted; 40 years ago it meant there was a good chance your complaint wouldn't even get investigated. "You'll be stigmatized" has become a self-fulfilling prophecy, as has the entire thing about women not reporting rape. If you constantly tell women that the normal criminal justice process is "not believing them", that they're going to be "stigmatized" (in what way is mysteriously never explained and when really pressed on the issue, rape advocates will retreat into it's self stigmatization... ), and you'll be blamed has come to mean that we can't even point out steps that can be taken to avoid getting raped in the first place, as though telling people to lock their doors at night were blaming them if they get burglarized.

The stigmatization and "women don't report it" thing is particularly hilarious. When you constantly tell people what a hell they're going to be put through if they report, don't be surprised if they don't report. That isn't evidence that the "hell" really exists. Second, if you constantly tell people they have a stigma once they're raped, they're **** well going to think they have one. Stop telling women what hell they're going to go through reporting a rape. Men, for that matter too. It's even more ridiculous int hat men are far less likely to be believed, and may suffer from homophobic scorn if their attacker was also male (which is most likely) yet it's women who are constantly lied to and told no one will believe them.

Yes, you will be believed. This does not mean insta-conviction. In fact, even a hint of non-belief, stigmatization, scorn, or blame will almost instantly be lept upon by feminists, liberal politicians and a media only too happy to use the "continuing war against women" to their advantage. This effect is particularly noticable in celebrity rape cases. Some idiot invariably complains that it will have a "Chilling effect" or a "discouraging effect" on rape victims if the alleged rapist gets off. Yes, by all means, lets convict people of rape to encourage others to report it, rahter than because.. oh I don't know, there actually was a rape?

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"Hysterical children shrieking about right-wing anything need to go sit in the corner and be quiet while the adults are talking."

Sorry DE, I don't really see any of what your describing there. I really don't see any groups pretending that we still have stigmatization problems or the world not believing them as large scale issues.

Here's a perfect example



The silence that does exist is a product of constantly being told there's a stigma

Here's an example of something else I was talking about:

Protecting yourself is irrelevant


Note that the question neatly dodges the issue. No, the way she's dressed isn't, in itself, the reason a woman gets raped, but rapists don't select victims at random either and if you're drunk and wearing slutty clothing you're more likely to get targeted by some smooth-talking ******* who maneuvers you into a place he can attack you. Drunk is a lot worse than skimpy dress too, but the two are lumped together.

Second, no, we don't criticize a man who gets mugged for carrying a briefcase or wearing a suit, but we might point out "hey, did you look around before using the ATM? Did you notice who was in the area? Why did you do it at 2 a.m. when no one was around except the 3 young dudes hanging out at the staircase you just came down?" Whatever idiot wrote this apparently doesn't realize that being dressed a certain way and getting drunk make you a target for rapists, and using an ATM in a bad neighborhood makes you a target for muggers, or leaving your house unlocked made you a target for burglars. Different actions are risk factors for different crimes.

If you want to dress skimpy or slutty and get drunk, yes, you have a right to do that, but damn it, take some friends along and don't go running off with some dude to his car if you don't intend to **** him. That's what's on his mind and really, you should be able to figure that out even if you ARE drunk. That does not make it ok for him to rape you, but it DOES mean you were stupid.

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"Hysterical children shrieking about right-wing anything need to go sit in the corner and be quiet while the adults are talking."

Aiz- Minnesota law 609.345 is what I referenced. But you're correct. Doesn't fall under statutory rape in that case.

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A man who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself. ~ John Stuart Mill

So let me clarify my comment. I don't believe that there is social stigma around rape from a standpoint of people thinking that if a women gets raped, she deserved it or was dressed slutty an so had it coming, etc. Obviously I'm speaking from an overall societal standpoint. As Akin showed, there still are some idiots out there that have retarded opinions on rape.

That said, there most certainly is some stigma around having been the victim and the embarrassment of having it happen to you. It's a deeply personal and private violation that no one is going to want to talk about. That is the silence that I believe still exists and that the various rape centers are trying to combat. So I take their comments especially on the splash page of their websites, to be doing everything they can to get women to talk to them and report it, because there are many people who don't report it. Further, I seem to recall a statistic that the majority of rape victims know the rapist, so you have the added issue of them coming forward impacting the women's environment beyond just the rapist.

Akin showed that there are people out there that have poor knowledge of the medical aspects of rape. He did not show that he, or anyone else, has a retarded attitude towards rape. Anything in that regard has been stuff you have read into his comments.



If by that you mean a self-imposed stigma or embarassment, then the rape centers are not trying to combat it, or if they are, then they don't have the least idea how to go about it effectively. They're creating it. What they need to do is stop talking about silence and stigmas. Rape is a crime. If they want women to report it and deal with it like any other crime they need to stop telling them that there's this big silence and embarassment around it.



In that case, they're a bunch of raging incompetents, which isn't surprising. The primary qualification to get involved in anything to do with rape is having been raped, and these are the same people that were constantly told before they got raped that "you're going to ahve all this shame and embarassment and there's going to be silence" and so forth. Then they go right back and put the same nonsense out there. Wanting people to come forward and not be shamed into silence is laudable, but stop **** assuming that right from the get-go in your FAQ.

As to people knowing their attackers, that is a problem, but it needs to be addressed from that standpoint. Talking about generalized "fear" and "embarassment" and "shame" doesn't help deal with the consequences of reporting a family member or significant other. Those fears come from fears of specific consequences, and it's not just a matter of overcoming fear; it's a matter of being able to address those consequences. If a woman is afraid her boyfriend will stab her to death if she reports him, that's not an issue of "rape victims being shamed into silence", that needs to be addressed by looking at that situation and saying "ok, is this ******* at all likely to stab her to death, and if so, how can that be prevented within her life situation?"

Part of the thing with these people is that they still think there's some undercurrent of male privilege out there that they're dealing with which causes rape. That's where the "rape is about power and control" thing comes from and why male victims and female perpetrators are almost entirely ignored. That's why you see cutsey little programs that involve "Educating" men basically on 'no means no'. That isn't the problem; it is not a matter of "all men are potential rapists until they've been educated by the feminists". That's also why "rape is about power and control" is tautological. Duh. If it wasn't, it'd be consensual sex. However that's a silly thing to say. So is robbery. So is murder. Rape is about power and control over sex. Robbery is about power and control over property. Murder is about power and control over whether you live or not. Every time rape counselling and crisis places say "rape is not about sex" they contribute to the problem by making women less likely to properly identify a threat in time.

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"Hysterical children shrieking about right-wing anything need to go sit in the corner and be quiet while the adults are talking."