Open Thread



The Tarantula Nebula

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The Virtual Pub Is Open



TFIF, Shakers!

Belly up to the bar,
and name your poison!

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In The News

[Content note for violence, racism]

Ten people were shot at Empire State Building this morning, at least two people are dead, including the shooter.

Getting less coverage: At least 19 injured in shootings across Chicago last night.

Mitt Romney joked today that no one has asked to see his birth certificate. Just in case you missed it, Romney is white. Hmmmm... Coincidence?

James Franco to star in a not-quite-remake of the gay-themed slasher film Cruising.

In Spain, a 120-year-old fresco of Jesus was updated by a novice painter. Art historians and religious types are not pleased. The internet, on the other hand, is giggling itself to pieces.

Lance Armstrong has been banned for life from racing. All that pedalling for nothing!

It's odd how much effort we, as a culture, put into investigating steroid abuse among athletes, especially when compared to how little we're doing about the epidemic of gun violence in the US.

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Two-Minute Nostalgia Sublime



Men Without Hats: "Safety Dance"

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Random Nerd Nostalgia: Ace the Bat-Hound

Photobucket

[Image Description: an old cover of Detective comics. Batman and Robin are racing across the deck of a boat. One white man in a natty green suit and white fedora flees over the side, while another white man in a brown suit and fedora aims a harpoon gun at the dynamic duo. Fortunately Ace the Bat-hound, a brown, German shepherd-type dog wearing a black face mask (I AM NOT MAKING THIS UP) leaps forward to catch the harpoon in his teeth...like you do. Text: "Featuring BATMAN and ROBIN and ACE the BAT-HOUND in 'ONE OUNCE OF DOOM'!"]

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Open Thread



Veil Nebula

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Question of the Day


I tried, once, to get into comic books, but it really didn't take. I tended to gravitate toward the unusual, and didn't really enjoy the superhero genre very much (i.e. at all), and I seem to recall there was a lot of stuff featuring elves in my collection.

After a year (maybe) of trying to live up to my nerd potential I eventually gave up trying to like comic books.

Which isn't to say there was nothing I enjoyed about the experience. I loved The Elvis Mandible, which had only one issue. But my favourite was Dave Louapre and Dan Sweetman's Beautiful Stories for Ugly Children.

It was unusual in that each issue was essentially just a short story with illustrations. Needless to say, it didn't last very long

What's your favourite comic book series?

(See also.)

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Daily Dose of Cute

Zoƫ's commentary on the week.

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Two-Minute Nostalgia Sublime



Breakfast Club: "Right On Track"

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Blog Note

I'm having a health issue which will hopefully and probably turn out to be nothing serious, but I'm feeling super shitty and have to get some tests done, so I'll be taking the next couple of days off. I apologize for being cryptic, but the only thing I hate more than being sick is writing about being sick.

Instead, I will just briefly note how nothing reminds you of how garbage the US healthcare system is than having to use it. Sitting in urgent care on Tuesday night, I was the only person with health insurance, and, even with health insurance, I was at urgent care, essentially an after-hours walk-in clinic, instead of emergency because our insurance covers more at urgent care than emergency.

Everyone sitting in the waiting room was talking about how they debated whether to go to urgent care or emergency, trying to balance the urgency of their distress against the potential costs of emergency care.

The people without insurance were having to provide proof of income, in order to qualify for the sliding scale subsidized healthcare offered by this clinic. Which is an amazing service, that nonetheless creates an administrative burden at a most inopportune moment.

Yesterday morning, I spent hours on the phone with my insurer, trying to figure out where I could go for tests that were in-network. They're not the places that the urgent care physician wanted me to go, because he's in a different network, so I don't know what will happen with the follow-up. It's a maze of bureaucratic bullshit, which we are required to navigate during illness in order to to try to maximize corporate profits while simultaneously minimizing our financial exposure, so we don't go bankrupt just trying to access the care we've ostensibly paid them to provide.

And that's if we're fortunate enough to have health insurance in the first place.

This is not the best healthcare system in the world. And as long as patients, healthcare providers, and insurers are primarily preoccupied with cost, by necessity or design, it never will be.

(Although I am always appreciative of well-wishing, there is no need at all to feel obliged; I just wanted to post something informational for the Shakers who tend to worry when I deviate from my routine.)

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Open Thread



The Orion Nebula

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Question of the Day

What's the best biography or autobiography you've ever read?

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Photo of the Day

an image of a diverse crowd of people reaching for President Obama and taking pictures of him, as he hugs a woman at a campaign event, while Secret Security stands by

I just love everything about this photo.

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Tuna Time

In yesterday's OMG TUNA WATER! thread, Shaker itchbay casually noted that her tuna salad recipe includes relish, which made me think: "Relish?! In tuna salad?!" and then think, "Hmm. I bet a lot of people put relish in tuna salad." and then think, "I bet there's a lot of variation in tuna salad recipes by region and class and family tradition." and then think, "The diversity of tuna salad recipes is a weirdly fascinating sociological subject," and then think, naturally, "I should totes do a thread on tuna salad recipes," because: A. Interesting! and B. Yum!

So, Shakers Who Eat and/or Make Tuna Salad: What's your recipe?

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Let Me Tell You A Story

[Content Note: sexual assault]

About an hour ago (from when I'm writing this) Todd Akin tweeted:

The media is against us. The Washington elites are against us. The party bosses are against us.
It is kinda bizarro world for Akin, isn't it? He said something completely within his party lines and the party turns on him with blatant disingenuous horseshit all wrapped up in a craven PR move. I could never remotely feel pity for him but I can bet he thinks it's nothing short of surreal.

A lot feels surreal these days. How we have this media circus over terms like "legitimate rape" coming seriously out of the faces of major political people. I'd like to say we're having a serious national discussion (versus a media circus) but I really don't think that's the case. Perhaps I'm just cynical.

Here is a very short story. It took place a very long time ago, so long the years start being measured in big chunks of time and not individual years. It could be longer and more detailed. Cruel details that make it even more incomprehensible. They're important, personally, but not in this telling necessarily.

This is the conversation that happened. After.

Me: "Didn't you hear me say no?" (multiple times, I add in my head)


Him: "Yeah. But I thought I could change your mind." Shrug. Indifference.


Shrug.

Indifference.


That's rather what all this, this rape culture, feels like sometimes. That moment of seeing, of hearing...nothing. Of Shrug. Indifference. Politicians blathering on about "legitimate", "honest", "forcible" rape--and the people who vote and support them. Comedians saying audience members who heckle should be gang raped--and the people come out of the woodwork to defend them. Comic writers who exploit rape. People who use rape threats as a weapon to silence those they don't like. And so on.


Shrug.

Indifference.


Fuck you.

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So Many Perfect Dogs

Would you like to read a nice story about a greyhound? Here is a nice story about a greyhound.

Which is a really a story about perfect dogs.

Which is really a story about loving guardians.

[H/T to Shaker Sharon.]

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Today in Mitt Romney Makes Promises

image of Mitt Romney speaking at a campaign event and looking angry, to which I have added a dialogue bubble reading: 'I can promise you this: A vote for me is a whoops for America!'

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Quote of the Day

"What do women want? The conventional biological wisdom is that men select mates for fertility, while women select for status—thus the commonness of younger women's pairing with well-established older men but the rarity of the converse. ... From an evolutionary point of view, Mitt Romney should get 100 percent of the female vote. All of it."—Kevin D. Williamson, who is not writing for The Onion, but instead one of the premiere outlets of conservative thought [sic], The National Review.

The entire piece, "Like a Boss," is truly a thing to behold. In the way that, say, the Montauk Monster was a thing to behold—curiously, skeptically, and from a distance, so as not to get a whiff of rot.

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Daily Dose of Cute

It is well documented that Dudley Q. McEwan is the Commandant of Contortionism, but even given his reputation, this pretzely position into which he twisted himself next to me Monday night was a rather magnificent display of whatthefawkward:

Dudley the Greyhound laying on his back lengthwise along the couch, with his neck twisted alongside my leg at a 90-degree angle to his body

Immediately after I took this picture, he lifted his head and laid it on my leg, looking up at me with the goofiest smile I have ever seen. I did not take a picture of it, though, because I needed to immediately put my phone aside and snorgle him for one million years.

He is soooooo awkward and goofy and hilarious, and, then, moments later (or, the following evening, as the case may be), he will be the most graceful and regal thing on earth.

image of Dudley sitting on the ottoman, upright, looking regal
Dudley

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Number of the Day

Zero: The percentage of support for Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney among African-American potential voters, according to a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll.

"The numbers came from a statistically significant sample of more than 100 African-American voters out of 1,000 total voters in the poll," NBC News senior political editor Mark Murray told Lean Forward. "Given the sample size of these African-American respondents, the margin of error is well within the 95 percent-5 percent split with which Obama won this group in 2008. "

In other words, none of the roughly 110 black respondents to this poll said they would support Romney. The poll should not be taken to mean that Romney has no African American supporters at all. However, at the very most, he has far fewer than Obama.
Two things:

1. As this has come up in comments before, that is not an unusually small sample size for national polling. The size of the poll beyond a minimum threshold matters less than the diversity of the poll. Meaning: If the poll did not reach a reasonable cross-section of potential voters, that would be problematic even if 100,000 people were polled. And, weirdly, it's often easier to get random diversity in a small-scale poll than a large-scale one.

2. It may be tempting for white progressives to laugh at the fact that Romney is polling at 0% among a significant US demographic, but, for real, that shit isn't funny. It's tragic. The Republican Party has made disenfranchising African-American voters, failing to serve African-American communities via their garbage policies, and using race and class (the latter inextricably tied to the former in the US) as a wedge issue to win elections, for decades.

That virtually all African-Americans feel, and rightly so, that voting Republican is not remotely an option for them means that, in a country already gridlocked and polarized and totally fucked by an entrenched two-party system that increasingly benefits no one but the One Percent and Big Business, African-Americans aren't even left with the shitty choice between two shitty parties, but the option to vote for the one party that is slightly less shitty or not voting at all.

Which, you know, is a similar position to that in which I find myself every election, based on the two parties' respective positions on reproductive rights. And I don't find that amusing.

I can't think of a more terrible result for people who had to fight for their right to vote than to be given no meaningful choice.

That we cannot exercise that hard-won right in ways that truly affirm our lives exposes the US democracy for the farce it really is.

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Wednesday Blogaround

This blogaround brought to you by rage at for-profit health insurance companies.

Recommended Reading:

Deeky: Tweet of the Day [Content Note: Misogyny.]

Finaira: The Gamer Wife, Part 3

Tami: Four Reasons Buzzfeed's '34 Celebrities' Post Missed the Mark [Content Note: Racism; Othering.]

Andy: Paul Ryan Refuses to Revise His Position on Rape, Abortion

Helen: Who's Poor? Women.

Angry Asian Man: Bank of Canada Apologizes for $100 Bill Race Redesign [Content Note: Racism.]

GoddessWithin: Health at Every Size from a Massage Therapist's Perspective [Content Note: Discussion of fat bias.]

Fannie: Wut? [Content Note: Sexism; body policing; fat hatred; gender essentialism.]

Resistance: The Unbearable Whiteness of Being [Content Note: Racism.]

Mustang Bobby: Tropical Storm Isaac

Spooky: Woman Avoids Looking at Herself in Mirrors for a Year to Boost Self-Esteem [Content Note: There are some problems with the way this piece is written, e.g. generalizations about women, but it is a good summary of Kjerstin Gruys' year without mirrors.]

Lucas: Violence Makes It Harder to Sort the Good from the Hateful [Content Note: I'm recommending this because a lot of what Lucas has to say here is interesting, even though I personally wouldn't extend Dana Milbank an ounce of good faith; he used that up for me long ago.]

Also! There is SO MUCH good stuff at Flyover Feminism! And we are seeking submissions, as always. We want to hear from you. Please feel welcome to email me if you've got an idea on which you'd like feedback.

Leave your links and recommendations in comments...

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Two-Minute Nostalgia Sublime



The Members: "Offshore Banking Business"

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This is so the worst thing you're going to read all day.

[Content Note: Racism; misogyny.]

Frank Deford for NPR: Serena Williams Takes Tennis for a Ride.

Jessica (scatx) sent this to me because she hates me. I MEAN LOVES ME! There is seriously so much wrong with it—EVERYTHING! EVERYTHING IS WRONG WITH IT!—that I won't even try to deconstruct it all. I'll leave that to you in comments.

I will only say this: What I hate most about the piece is how Deford literally doesn't care a whit what Serena Williams means to millions and millions of girls and women. The adoration of millions and millions of girls and women is nothing compared to his singular contempt.

The expansive lack of mattering is simultaneously misogyny's greatest tool and most terrible consequence.

[Previous Deford: On the Olympics; On Ben Roethlisberger.]

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Metaphor Watch

Yesterday, Paul Ryan said this:

[My opponents believe t]hat there's only so much money in America, it's fixed and that the job of the government is to redistribute the slices of the pie. That's not true. The job of government is to set the conditions for economic growth so we can grow the pie and everybody can get a bigger slice of the American pie. [Emphasis mine]
That's wonderful. There's just one problem.

YOU CAN'T GROW PIE.

Obama wants to ensure the every American receives a sufficient amount of pie. Team Romney thinks we should pull pie out of our national ass various states' asses and give it to the poor. Ew?

--
Ryan's opponent (at least, according to Ryan) thinks that there's a zero-sum element to the economics of Americans' lives. Apparently, Ryan disagrees with this position. Cool. Except that's not what Ryan implied. The whole "grow the pie" bit suggests that it's possible to increase everyone's share in a zero-sum game. We can't. THAT'S THE WHOLE POINT OF THE PIE METAPHOR.

I understand what Ryan meant, but I also read what Ryan said. He accepted a premise while rejecting its implication. Either he's wrong or he's being dishonest.

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The Latest Akin News

[Content Note: Rape culture.]

image of Rep. Todd Akin waving
"Hi! I'm a d-bag!"

Here's the latest from the ongoing saga of Republican Congressman Todd "Legitimate Rape" Akin and his quest to become Missouri's Senator in spite of being thrown under the bus by his party who want to misrepresent his garbage rape apology as an aberration within the party to mask the grotesque reality of their extremist survivor-hostile anti-abortion agenda:

I dropped this into comments yesterday, but, in case you missed it—Bryan Fischer Says Todd Akin is Like a Victim of Rape: "After likening the backlash to Todd Akin's comments on 'legitimate rape' to the Pharisees' persecution of Jesus, American Family Association spokesman Bryan Fischer is now comparing Akin to a victim of rape. After listing the growing chorus of conservative activists and media personalities who have called on Akin to quit the senate race, Fischer lamented that 'everybody is gang tackling Todd Akin.' 'You talk about a forcible situation, you talk about somebody being a victim of forcible assault, that would be Todd Akin,' Fischer maintained."

Other survivors of actual rape are obviously having a spectrum of responses to this onslaught of reprehensible horseshit, but, as for me, all I can do is laugh contemptuously at this point.

Igor Volsky at Think Progress—Akin Clarifies 'Legitimate Rape' Comments: Women Make 'False Claims' About Being Raped: "Arguing that he misplaced the word 'legitimate,' Akin explained, during a follow up interview with Dana Loesch, that he meant to argue that women sometimes lie about being raped. ... Since he first made the comments over the weekend, Akin claimed that he meant to say 'forcible,' rather than 'legitimate' rape."

Thank you, Rep. Akin, for plainly stating what we all knew anyway—that "forcible rape" was a euphemism for "real rape," i.e. the kind that bitches don't invent in their vindictive little ladybrains to ruin the lives of decent men.

Would that we lived in the fantasy world of men who believe, despite all evidence to the contrary, that rape only exists in the imaginations of horrible women.

Taegan Goddard at Political Wire—Ryan Called Akin to Get Him to Drop Race: "Rep. Todd Akin (R-MO) told NBC News that he received a call from vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan asking him to step down from the Missouri Senate race. Said Akin: 'He advised me that it would be good for me to step down. I told him that I was going to be looking at this very seriously, trying to weigh all the different points on this. It's not about me. It's about doing the right thing and standing on principle.'"

Principles like: Rape is rare, women are lying bitches, and forcing a person with a uterus to use hir body for nonconsensual sexual activity is terrible but forcing a person with a uterus to use hir body for nonconsensual pregnancy and childbirth is a moral imperative.

Meredith Shiner for Roll CallTodd Akin Staying Put, as Top Missouri Republicans Tell Him to Exit: "Rep. Todd Akin said he is staying in the Missouri Senate race despite the national firestorm sparked by his controversial comments about rape and calls from the Republican Party establishment in his own state for him to step aside."

Lisa Mascaro and Kim Geiger for the LA TimesTodd Akin Touts Support from Crusader Who Espoused Theories on Rape: "Missouri Republican Todd Akin's troubled Senate campaign blasted out a letter of support Tuesday from the antiabortion crusader who promoted the theory that victims of rape do not usually become pregnant. Akin's decision to release the letter from Dr. Jack Willke, founder of the International Right to Life Federation, sends a mixed message from the GOP congressman, who has apologized repeatedly for having said 'legitimate rape' rarely leads to pregnancy." A mixed message! LOL! How very polite!

And in related news: The editors of the New York Times opine on What the GOP Platform Represents: "The Republican Party has moved so far to the right that the extreme is now the mainstream. The mean-spirited and intolerant platform represents the face of Republican politics in 2012. And unless he makes changes, it is the current face of the shape-shifting Mitt Romney. The [draft of the Republican platform circulating ahead of the convention in Tampa, Florida] is more aggressive in its opposition to women's reproductive rights and to gay rights than any in memory."

Gross. The Republican Party is just so. fucking. gross.

I am not surprised by their ever more cavernous lack of decency, but I am certainly appalled.

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Top Five

It was the best of Top Fives; it was the worst of Top Fives...

Here is your topic: Top Five Favorite Opening Lines to Novels. Go!

Please feel welcome to share stories about why your Top Five picks are what they are, though a straight-up list is fine, too. Please refrain from negatively auditing other people's lists, because judgment discourages participation.

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Open Thread



N49

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Question of the Day

Who is your least favorite sitting US congressperson?

In case you need some help getting started, I'll remind you that Todd Akin, Paul Ryan, Ron Paul, Steve King, Michele Bachmann, Mike Pence, and John Boehner all currently sit in the US House of Representatives.

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This Is Perfect and That Is Not Sarcasm

[Content Note: Rape culture.]

Rape jokes, which treat rape as a punchline and uphold the rape culture, are not funny. Rape culture jokes, on the other hand, which seek to expose the rape culture for the putrid garbage that it is, are pretty great. (Though they are not every survivor's cup of tea, so please note that the content may still be triggering and assess your capacity for processing carefully before viewing.)

Taylor Ferrera helpfully explains via song what constitutes "legitimate rape" and who are the best people to make such important judgments. "A lot of controversy over Todd Akin's comments on 'Legitimate Rape' and the miracles a woman's uterus can do when it happens. But how does the uterus KNOW when the rape is legitimate? Finally, someone with answers - Me."


[Lyrics here.]

Video Description: A young woman, Taylor Ferrera, sits in what looks like the corner of a bedroom with a guitar. She strums the guitar and sings: "How can you tell if it's legitimate rape? / I'll tell you how to spot legitimate rape. / You're not sure if you got legitimate raped? / Well here's a little lesson for you. / Tell me if the following things are true..."

Cut to Taylor in a different outfit, singing: "I was a little drunk." Cut back to Taylor 1, who sings: "Illegitimate rape!" Cut to Taylor in a different outfit, singing, "I knew the rapist well." Taylor 1: "Illegitimate rape!" Different outfit: "My skirt was kinda short." Taylor 1: "Illegitimate rape!" Different outfit: "I'm married to the man." Taylor 1: "That's a husband's privilege!" The last different outfit variation nods and smiles.

Taylor 1 continues: "How can you tell if it's legitimate rape? / I'll tell you how to spot legitimate rape. / You're not sure if you got legitimate raped? / Well here's a little lesson for you. / Tell me if the following things are true..."

Different outfit: "I let him take me out." Taylor 1: "Illegitimate rape!" Different outfit: "I said I was 18." Taylor 1: "Illegitimate rape!" Different outfit: "He didn't have consent." Taylor 1: "I'm sure your eyes were saying yes." Different outfit: "I'm pregnant from the rape." Taylor 1: "Clearly not legitimate!" The last different outfit variation narrows her eyes suspiciously.

Taylor 1 continues: "So now we all know what's legitimate rape. / We all know who to trust to tell us what's rape. / Republicans who've never experienced rape. / They're the ones I want to decide / That I should keep the baby growing inside. / Because abortion's always wrong. / Glad things are so black and white." She stops abruptly, looks annoyed, then raises a single eyebrow.

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Photo of the Day

an image of a white woman from behind holding up a 'Montgomery County for Romney' sign; she is wearing a t-shirt emblazoned with annoyingly comma-spliced text reading: 'Government is not the solution to our problems, government is the problem. - Ronald Reagan'

Submitted without comment.

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HA HA HA HA HA OMG

[Content Note: Rape culture.]

You know, I was just thinking that what this whole Todd "Legitimate Rape" Akin story needed was for Todd Akin to accuse his critics of overreacting.

"I haven't done anything morally or ethically wrong. It does seem like a little bit of an overreaction."
Spoken like a true rape apologist.

It's funny how the legitimate/forcible/honest rape wing of the Republican Party—by which I mean: the entire party—would swear from here to Mitt's Moon Mansion and back that they aren't rape apologists, and yet they all sound exactly like the the same goddamn shit-stirring defenders of rape jokes and accused rapists who haunt the comments sections of every anti-rape advocate in the blogosphere.

Funny that.

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Today in Mitt Romney Makes Promises

image of Mitt Romney speaking at a campaign event and looking angry, to which I have added a dialogue bubble reading: 'I promise you this, America: If you put the stewardship of this nation into my diabolical clutches, I will destroy it utterly.'

And that, my friends, is one promise that Mitt Romney will actually keep.

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Sign Me Up!


Note: Do not sign me up.


[Image description: Ad pop-up reading: Get Mugged by Ann Coulter FREE with your subscription to Townhall Magazine.]

[Cross-posted.]

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Rep. Steve King Shows His Ass

[Content Note: Rape culture.]

This would be unbelievable, except for how it's totally, hilariously, depressingly, rage-makingly believable:

Rep. Steve King, one of the most staunchly conservative members of the House, was one of the few Republicans who did not strongly condemn Rep. Todd Akin Monday for his remarks regarding pregnancy and rape. King also signaled why — he might agree with parts of Akin's assertion.

King told an Iowa reporter he's never heard of a child getting pregnant from statutory rape or incest.

"Well I just haven't heard of that being a circumstance that's been brought to me in any personal way," King told KMEG-TV Monday, "and I'd be open to discussion about that subject matter."
This was his full statement:
Well I just haven't heard of that being a circumstance that's been brought to me in any personal way and I'd be open to hearing discussion about that subject matter. Generally speaking it's this: That there millions of abortions in this country every year. Millions of them are paid for at least in part by taxpayers. I think it's immoral for us to compel conscientious objecting taxpayers to fund abortion through the federal government, or any other government for that matter. So that's my stand. And if there are exceptions there, then bring me those exceptions let's talk about it. In the meantime it's wrong for us to compel pro-life people to pay taxes to fund abortion.
I cannot state this any more plainly: Someone this comprehensively out of touch with the lived experiences of girls and women is unfit to hold elected office.

[H/T to everyone in the multiverse, and my thanks to each and every one of you.]

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Daily Dose of Cute

Recently, I was telling Spudsy about how all five furry residents of Shakes Manor go completely apeshit when I open a can of tuna. As soon as they hear the can opener and get a whiff of that delectable scent, they all race to the kitchen and scream "TUNA WATER! GIVE US TUNA WATER! PLEEEEEASE!!!! TUUUUUUUUUNAAAAA WAAAAAAAATERRRRRR!!!!"

Each of the cats gets a little plate of tuna water and a bit of tuna, and each of the dogs gets a little tuna water and some tuna flakes mixed in with hir dinner. And it is the GREATEST DAY EVARRRRR when they get TUNA WATER!!!!11!!!1!eleventy!!!1!

It's so awesome that Dudley, who sits for food even when you don't ask him to, can't sit his butt on the ground. It's so awesome that Olivia, who is under normal circumstances a talkative cat, can't stop YELLING FOR TUNA WATER!!! Tuna water! Tuna water! Tuna water! AHHHHHH! Tuna water! GIVE US IT!

It is not, however, so awesome that Matilda won't stay in another room and require me to bring it to her majesty. Just FYI.


Video Description: I pan across the kitchen counter, where I am about to make tuna salad for Iain's and my dinner. I pan past three plates of tuna water with a bit of tuna in the center, then past two dog bowls full of dog food mixed with tuna flakes. In the background, Olivia is yowling impatiently. I pan down to Dudley and Zelda, looking up at me plaintively with tails wagging. I pan across to the kitchen table, where Olivia is pacing frantically, then down to the floor, where Sophie is sitting politely.

"Where's Matilda?" I ask. Dudley yawns. Sophie mews. "Is that right, Sophs?" I ask her. She fixes to jump on the table. Zelda looks up at me expectantly. Wag wag. "All right," I say. "Are the good dogs gonna go out in the living room?" (Which is where they get fed.) "Come on." *kissy noises* Dudley gallops into the living room, but doesn't sit like he usually does. "Sit, Dudley!" I tell him, knowing full well he won't do it when TUNA WATER! is in the offing. "Dudley, sit!" He looks back at me.

Olivia howls and swooshes her tail at me. "Oh," I say. "Oh no, kitties! Kittens! Oh no." I look down at Zelda. Wag wag. Oh no.

The video ends. At which point, they were all given their TUNA WATER OH HAPPY DAY IT'S TUNA WATER FOR EVERYONE! Including Tils' special delivery, natch.

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Bi-Monthly Reminder & Thank-You

This is, for those who have requested it, your bi-monthly reminder* to donate to Shakesville and/or to make sure to renew subscriptions that have lapsed.

It is also an important fundraiser to keep Shakesville going.



Running this strictly-moderated and independent space on donations rather than corporate advertising means that my ability to keep it going depends on your support.

You can donate once by clicking the "Make a Donation" button in the righthand sidebar, or set up a monthly subscription using the "Subscribe" button just below it, which has a dropdown menu of subscription options—or visit the Donation page, for even more options.

If you value the content and/or community in this space, can afford it, and want to see Shakesville continue to be managed** as a safe space, please consider setting up a subscription or making a one-time contribution.

If you have recently appreciated getting distilled news about the election, reproductive rights, and other news items; the Fatsronauts 101 series; being able to discuss aspects of the rape culture in a space interested in dismantling that culture; finding out where to direct your teaspoon in support of social justice or in opposition to inequality; getting election news about candidates who are discussed on the basis on their policies alone, I hope you will, if you are able, contribute to support this space and make sure it continues to flourish.

I hope you will also consider the value of whatever else you appreciate at Shakesville, whether it's the moderation, video transcripts, Film Corner, the community in Open Threads, the blogarounds, Butch Pornstache, the Daily Dose of Cute, your blogmistress' penchant for inventing new words, or anything else you enjoy.

Let me reiterate, once again, that I don't want anyone to feel obliged to contribute financially, especially if money is tight. Aside from valuing feminist work, the other goal of fundraising is so Iain and I don't have to struggle on behalf of the blog, and I don't want anyone else to struggle themselves in exchange. There is a big enough readership that neither should have to happen.

I also want say thank you, so very much, to each of you who donates or has donated, whether monthly or as a one-off. I am profoundly grateful—and I don't take a single cent for granted. I've not the words to express the depth of my appreciation, besides these: This community couldn't exist without that support, truly. Thank you.

My boundless appreciation as well to everyone who contributes to the space in other ways: Thank you to our regular contributors, our moderators, our guest contributors, to anyone who has provided a transcription, to those who have linked to, quoted, Tweeted about, and otherwise supportively recommended this blog, and/or to the people who have taken the time to send me the occasional note of support and encouragement. This community couldn't exist without you, either.

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* I know there are people who resent these reminders, but there are also people who appreciate them, so I've now taken to doing them every other month, in the hopes that will make a good compromise.

** Managing Shakesville as a safe space requires, in addition to the time of our volunteer mods, my full-time commitment, and my salary is drawn exclusively from donations. I do not raise funds by corporate or content-generated advertising, as past attempts have resulted in ads served that violated the safe space, and I do not raise funds by required subscription, i.e. locking content behind a pay wall, as I want Shakesville to be accessible as possible irrespective of one's financial situation.

I cannot afford to do this full-time for free, but, even if I could, fundraising is also one of the most feminist acts I do here. I ask to be paid for my work because progressive feminist advocacy has value.

[Please Note: I am not seeking suggestions on how to raise revenue; I am asking for donations in exchange for the work of providing valued content in as safe and accessible a space as possible.]

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Sure

[Content Note: Rape culture.]

Kirk Cameron defends Todd Akin. Ha ha PERFECT!

"He clearly is a pro-life advocate, and for that, I respect him," said the former 'Growing Pains' star, speaking on CNN's Starting Point. "He said that he misspoke and that he misphrased something and that he apologized."

..."I'm the kind of person that believes that I would like to be evaluated by my entire career and my entire life, not two words that I would misspeak and then later apologize for," he said.
Yes, except that Akin "misspoke" only insomuch as he meant to say "forcible rape" instead of "legitimate rape," which is still rape-ranking apologist bullshit.

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Two-Minute Nostalgia Sublime



Phyllis Diller: "You're Different"

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Quote of the Day

"Credibility is a basic survival tool."—Rebecca Solnit, in a must-read essay* entitled "The Problem With Men Explaining Things," which addresses, among other things, how many men's insistence on treating every woman as "an empty vessel to be filled with their wisdom and knowledge" steals women's credibility, silences us by virtue of assuming we have nothing of value or wisdom to say.

Consider, for a moment, what it means to rob of credibility an entire class of people who are victimized by sexual violence at an epidemic rate.

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* Content Note: Rape culture; violence; misogyny disablist language.

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Top Five

Here is your topic: Top Five Favorite Magazines. Go!

Note: They don't have to still be in circulation—folded but lovingly remembered magazines count, too. As do 'zines.

Please feel welcome to share stories about why your Top Five picks are what they are, though a straight-up list is fine, too. Please refrain from negatively auditing other people's lists, because judgment discourages participation.

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Tweet of the Day

[Content Note: Rape culture.]


Republican veep nominee and sitting rep Paul Ryan: Co-sponsor of "forcible rape" bill.

Republican Senate candidate and sitting rep Todd Akin: Legitimate rape.

Republican presidential candidate and sitting rep Ron Paul: Honest rape.

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Akin Update

[Content Note: Rape culture.]

Rep. Todd Akin at a press conference
Whooooooooooooooops for America.

The Republican Party is not happy with Rep. Akin, their Senate candidate in Missouri, who went from leading his Democratic opponent, incumbent Claire McCaskill, to being in a statistical tie in only a matter of days. Funding is being pulled, anonymous sources are saying Akin's going to quit, and Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is telling him to get lost:
"What he said is just flat wrong in addition to being wildly offensive to any victim of sexual abuse," said Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the minority leader. "Although Representative Akin has apologized, I believe he should take time with his family to consider whether this statement will prevent him from effectively representing our party in this critical election."

Under election rules in Missouri, the deadline is 5 p.m. Tuesday for candidates to withdraw from the Senate race without a court order. The state party would have until Sept. 18 to select another candidate.
Meanwhile, GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney says Akin is on his own: "He should understand that his words with regards to rape are not words that I can defend, that we can defend, or that we can defend him."

(Please, US media, I beg you to ask Mitt Romney why he considers "legitimate rape" indefensible but "forcible rape" fine and dandy. Because that is some rank hypocritical bullshit, right there.)

In any case, Akin is still trying to stick it out, releasing a new campaign ad in which he asks for "forgiveness," but smart money says Akin drops out sometime today.

When the only people getting your back are the Family Research Council and Mike Huckabee—who helpfully noted yesterday that, hey, some great people are "the result of a forcible rape" yiiiiikes—your days hours are numbered.

In related news: GOP prepares tough anti-abortion platform. PERFECT.

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LULZ

This is the most honest Mitt Romney campaign advert you will ever see:


Video Description: Over cutesy images of Mitt Romney campaigning nicked from his actual campaign adverts, Romney says in voiceover: I don't really know who I am. I don't know what I believe. I served as governor for four years. Like a mini-skirt it was short and revealing. I was liberal. But I was conservative as well. I'm pro-life, but I had no difficulty supporting abortion. And then I decided to run for national office and don't have an idea why. Everybody I talked to said it's a bad idea, but I love debate and disagreement over issues. And in the case of Obamacare, I disagree with myself. I supported the idea of an individual mandate, but I oppose what the President did. And also with regards to gay marriage, I looked at some of my policies and said "Gosh, I have exactly the opposite view today." One reason of course is that I hope to represent all Americans. And I think the American people have differing views, and I agree with the American people. I believe in America. I'd like to ask you to join with us: Volunteer, donate, or just pass this message along to a friend. Thanks so much. [Text Onscreen: "by Hugh Atkin / Audio has been edited and often does not reflect Mitt Romney's original meaning. The Romney campaign was not involved in the production of this video."]

[Via. If you'd like to see the snippets from which Hugh edited the audio together, and explanations of their context, click here.]

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Open Thread



The Horsehead Nebula

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Question of the Day

What is the very last thing you do before you settle in to fall asleep at night? (Or whenever you take your longest rest of the day.)

Iain and I keep the same schedule, so we go to bed together pretty much every night. We have a pretty standard routine, the order of which might vary slightly, depending on who's carrying out which task that night.

But the very last thing I do every night is tell Iain I love him. I'm not superstitious about it, and we tell each other "I love you" like a zillion times a day, so it's not some special thing we save just for bedtime. To call it a habit seems to suggest it's so axiomatic as to be meaningless, but it's not. It's a nice habit.

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Hey

Ron Swanson's mustache is for sale. Can someone buy me it, please? Thanks.

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The Latest Akin News

[Content Note: Rape culture.]

Despite the fact that Rep. Todd Akin has clarified that he "was talking about forcible rape; I used the wrong word" (HA HA SURE AND THAT IS STILL A PROBLEM, SIR!) and has vowed to fight on, there are reports from unnamed "GOP sources" that Akin is preparing to withdraw from the Senate race in Missouri.

Which means either that Rep. Todd Akin is actually preparing to withdraw, or the GOP Powers That Be are trying to force his ass out of the race by leaking that he's withdrawing.

Either way, Akin's up shit creek financially, because "conservative outside-spending powerhouse Crossroads GPS is pulling its ads from the Missouri Senate race."

Still in Akin's corner: Definitely Not a Hate Group LULZ Family Research Council, whose PAC head Connie Mackey says, "We feel this is a case of gotcha politics."

Yeah, it is. Gotcha, Todd Akin! You're a rape apologist! GOTCHA!

On a related note, I am very glad to see everyone caring so much about a lawmaker's hostility toward bodily autonomy and consent! It's so great how even the President got in on the action!

And while I am GENUINELY THRILLED that there has been such an outpouring of condemnation for such an ignorant, heinous comment about rape and reproductive rights, I would love it even more if this same level of outrage could be offered on behalf and in support of women and other people with uteri, as well as survivors and anti-rape advocates, when it was not politically expedient.

Because Rep. Todd Akin's comments aren't super gross because he's a Republican in a hotly contested Senate race and it's an election year. His comments are super gross because they are SUPER GROSS. I'm just saying.

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Photos of the Day

There are so many ridiculously adorbz pictures of President and First Lady Obama from a joint appearance in Davenport, Iowa, last week that I hardly know what to do with myself! I hope, for them, that they are as deeply in love and as deeply in respect for one another as they appear to be. And I love, selfishly, all these amazing pictures of what seems to be as close to a straight egalitarian partnership as can be achieved in a culture that discourages straight egalitarian partnerships in virtually every conceivable way.

image of President Obama standing to one side, grinning proudly, while First Lady Obama speaks at a podium

image of President and First Lady Obama making cute faces at each other onstage

image of President Obama kissing First Lady Obama on the cheek

image of the President's and First Lady's hands, held as the First Lady speaks

image of First Lady Michelle Obama at a podium, triumphantly lifting her arms, while President Barack Obama gazes on proudly

image of the President and First Lady hugging onstage in front of a huge crowd

image of President Obama laughing with First Lady Obama making a funny expression beside him

image of First Lady Obama looking at President Obama, who has his head tossed back, laughing

image of the President and First Lady hugging; the President's face is visible over the First Lady's shoulder, and he just looks incandescently happy

image of the President and First Lady holding each other loosely, looking at each other, and smiling

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Quote of the Day

[Content Note: Rape culture.]

"The views expressed were offensive. Rape is rape. And the idea that we should be parsing and qualifying and slicing what types of rape we're talking about doesn't make sense to the American people."President Barack Obama, in response to Rep. Todd Akin's gross and scientifically inaccurate rape apologia.

I pretty much love this—although, the truth is, Akin's horseshit does, in fact, "make sense" to lots of American people. What I wish the President would have said is that it doesn't make sense to decent American people.

[H/T to Shaker melody1228, in comments.]

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Breaking Bad Open Thread

image of Jesse sitting at Walt's dining room table eating dinner and looking super anxious
^^^ That's pretty much the exact look on my face the whole time I'm watching this show.

Last night's episode will be discussed in spoileriffic detail, so if you don't want any spoilers, please take your green beans almondine into another room.

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Daily Dose of Cute

Weekend Puppehs:

Zelda the Black-and-Tan Mutt sits on the couch looking at me, her tail a blur as it wags excitedly
Zelly, her tail a blur of wagging as I approach her for a snuggle.

Dudley the Greyhound lying on his side on the loveseat, his head tucked underneath a pillow
Dudz, his head tucked under a pillow because the living room was too bright for his nap.

Dudley really needs his own sleeping mask, because he is constantly on the search for Things to Stick His Head Under when he's ready for a hard sleep and we have the unmitigated temerity to have lights on and/or shades undrawn. When he can't find anything, he will give long-suffering sighs, then look at us meaningfully, as if to say, "Can you please do something about the light in here?" He's such a divo.

Zelda, on the other hand, will sleep anytime, anywhere. Just like me.

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Monday Blogaround

This blogaround brought to you by science.

Recommended Reading:

[Content Note for rape culture on this entire section] On Akin's "legitimate rape" comments and how they fit into larger anti-choice and rape apologist narratives, and other things:

Garance: A Canard That Will Not Die: 'Legitimate Rape' Doesn't Cause Pregnancy

Pam: Congressman Todd Akin Has Opinions

Kate: Rep. Todd Akin: Wrong, But Not Alone

David: Akin's Comments about Rape and Pregnancy Common Among Anti-Choice Movement

Scott: Defending Akin

Chloe: A Thank You Note for Todd Akin

Ben: Fox Lets Rove Discuss Akin Rape Comments Without Disclosing His Conflict of Interest

And other recommended stuff...

Margaret: Congressional Republicans Called Out for Skinny-dipping in Holy Land

moyazb: America breeds terrorists. And they are white not brown. [Content Note: Racism; terrorism.]

Resistance: Update: Valley Swim Club [Content Note: Racism.]

Atrios: Oh Lordy The Conventions Are Almost Here

Leave your links and recommendations in comments...

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Two-Minute Nostalgia Sublime



Kenny Loggins: "Playing With The Boys"

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Cool Ticket You've Got There, Republicans

[Content Note: Rape culture.]

image of Mitt Romney with his arm around Paul Ryan's shoulders at a campaign event, smiling, to which I have added a dialogue bubble reading: 'One of the great things about this guy is how he was one of the original co-sponsors of the 'No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act,' a bill which, among other swell things, introduced the country to the term 'forcible rape'.'

Team Ro-Ry quickly distanced itself from Rep. Akin's gross comments about "legitimate rape," and, this morning, candidate Romney himself called Akin's comments "insulting, inexcusable, and, frankly, wrong. Like millions of other Americans, we found them to be offensive," but, as Ian Millhiser notes at Think Progress:
Last year, Akin joined with GOP vice presidential candidate Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) as two of the original co-sponsors of the "No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act," a bill which, among other things, introduced the country to the bizarre term "forcible rape."

...Although a version of this bill passed the GOP-controlled House, the "forcible rape" language was eventually removed due to widespread public outcry. Paul Ryan, however, believes that the "forcible rape" language does not actually go far enough to force women to carry their rapist's baby. Ryan believes that abortion should be illegal in all cases except for "cases in which a doctor deems an abortion necessary to save the mother's life." So rape survivors are out of luck.
[NB: Not only women get pregnant via rape.]

Team Ry-Ro can distance itself from Akin from here to the Romney Moon Compound and back, but the fact is that one-half of that team has engaged in precisely the same sort of survivor-hostile rape-ranking as Akin's, and he didn't do it in an interview: He did it as an official co-sponsor of legislation that sought to codify rape apologia into federal law.

How is that not "insulting, inexcusable, wrong, and offensive," one wonders?

* * *

In other news today...

The Republican convention will be as terrible as ever. Donald Trump will be given a key role at the convention, just to keep it classy. Paul Ryan is an unserious man. And Team Obama plays hardball on the economy.

Legitimate rape. Birthers at the GOP convention. Nothing but a constant stream of bullshit and lies. Every presidential election, I say it's the worst one I've ever seen. And every time, that's accurate.

Worst election ever.

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Top Five

Here is your topic: Top Five Favorite Tracks of the 1990s. Go!

Note: They can be covers and they don't have to have been released as singles, but they have do have been tracks released during the '90s.

Please feel welcome to share stories about why your Top Five picks are what they are, though a straight-up list is fine, too. Please refrain from negatively auditing other people's lists, because judgment discourages participation.

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Cool Party You've Got There, Republicans

[Content Note: Rape culture; reproductive rights.]

So, over the weekend, Republican Senate candidate and current Congressional representative from Missouri Todd Akin, who is running against Democratic incumbent Senator Claire McCaskill, defended during an interview his anti-choice position even in cases of rape by saying:

"First of all, from what I understand from doctors [pregnancy from rape] is really rare," Akin told KTVI-TV in an interview posted Sunday. "If it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down."

Akin said that even in the worst-case scenario — when the supposed natural protections against unwanted pregnancy fail — abortion should still not be a legal option for the rape victim.

"Let's assume that maybe that didn't work, or something," Akin said. "I think there should be some punishment, but the punishment ought to be on the rapist and not attacking the child."
In response to the resulting firestorm, Akin claims that he "misspoke," of course: "In reviewing my off-the-cuff remarks, it's clear that I misspoke in this interview and it does not reflect the deep empathy I hold for the thousands of women who are raped and abused every year."

Listen, buster: You don't get to claim that you've got empathy for women who are raped while also denying them the right to terminate a pregnancy resulting from rape. You're a woman-hating nightmare who uses inflammatory language like "attacking the child" to describe terminating an unwanted pregnancy, and you clearly have about as much empathy for survivors as the fuckheads who raped us in the first place.

And if Representative Akin doesn't enjoy being compared to a rapist, then perhaps he shouldn't be publicly and repeatedly defending his desire to force women to use our bodies the way he wants us to use them, irrespective of our consent.

In his statement explaining that he "misspoke," Akin calls rapists "the lowest of the low in our society," without a trace of irony. Personally, I'm really hard-pressed to see why I should be any less contemptuous of a man who sits at a big mahogany desk in Washington making decisions about my body without my consent than I should be of a man who used physical force to make decisions about my body without my consent.

Undoubtedly, the good Congressman would be outraged and horrified to be compared, even obliquely, to sexual predators.

As well he should be. I am horrified to have to make it. But anyone who holds the position that zie should be able to legislate away my bodily autonomy and supersede my consent about what happens to my body shouldn't be too goddamned surprised by the comparison.

Lowest of the low indeed.

* * *

Last night, when we were talking about this guy and his shitty comments, Iain snarled, "What century is this guy from?" To which I replied, "Considering that throughout history, conquering men would rape women with the specific intent of impregnating them, I would say it's a very modern convention to indulge the pretense that violent rape cannot result in pregnancy."

The Republican Party: Willfully less enlightened than raping marauders, in order to defend their anti-choice position.

* * *

So, yeah. Akin's a d-bag and his "science," such as it is, is demonstrable garbage. (Good thing he sits on the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology. Congress obviously has the best men on the case!) He's promoting faulty theories by doctors who should lose their licenses if they're not wholly constructed fantasies who practice medicine exclusively in Akin's terrible brainpan.

He's also a rape apologist.

Setting apart some category of "legitimate rape," as opposed to all the rest of the rape, which isn't really legitimate, presumably because the victims "asked for it," in some way or another, or because it was only sorta rape, by virtue of the victim being a sex worker or a seductive child or her rapist's wife, is classic rape apologia.

Men like Akin don't define rape by the lack of consent. They define rape by its victims. They have a detailed vision of the perfect rape victim: A traditionally pretty young, virtuous, straight, cis, white Christian woman, who was raped by a stranger in the bushes while she was walking home from her job as a nurse or a teacher or some other caregiving profession in her conservative wardrobe and sensible shoes. She was left suitably bruised to prove her rape, but not so much that it will permanently ruin her luminous beauty. A perfect victim of the most terrible crime.

Women who are coming home from bars a little bit (or a lot) tipsy; woman who are wearing revealing clothing; women who are sluts; women who are unattractive; women of color; trans* women; lesbians; women who are sex workers; wives; girlfriends; coworkers; acquaintances; girls on the brink of womanhood—these are women who are not "legitimately" raped. That is not a comprehensive list.

These women, the ones who deviate from Akin & Co.'s detailed vision of the perfect rape victim, most of us, are not "legitimately" raped. We "cry" rape. We "claim" rape. We are torn to shreds in the public sphere for failing to conform to the model of the perfect, acceptable victim of legitimate rape.

We're the women who try to ruin good men's lives by making vindictive accusations.

Akin claims to have empathy for us. What a terrible fucking joke. No one who has a modicum of empathy for survivors of rape tacitly silences us by setting apart as "legitimate" only the rapes that virtually never happen.

teaspoon icon You can donate to Senator Claire McCaskill here.

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Open Thread



The Crab Nebula

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Sunday Shuffle

Of Monsters and Men; Little Talks

And you?

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Open Thread

A vintage Shure microphone.

Hosted by a vintage Shure Microphone.

This week's open threads have been brought to you by voice amplification equipment. Coincidentally, this week was also the launch of Flyover Feminism (and I swear to Jeebus Melissa didn't tell me about it before it launched!), which is another great way to get your voice heard.

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