All rape is "forcible rape."

[yellowcanine]

Rape is sex without consent. Without consent means force has to be used - either actual or threat of. Either way, it is force. Just as the threat of assault is assault, the threat of force makes it rape. Underage girls cannot give consent so by definition, it is forcible rape with them also. Why is this so hard to understand?

[hollysmom]

1. DUH!

apparently repubs have no idea what rape is. Please give them a brain transplant.

[polly7]

2. It makes you wonder how Republican womens' brains work.

At least those of the women who support these dolts.

[hamsterjill]

9. +1

n/t

[HopeHoops]

3. As Obama just said, "Rape is rape."

[nc4bo]

4. I remember when I was 12 or 13

and extremely naive, know nothing, timid kid and found myself in a situation where a bunch of older guys (15-18) talked my sister and I into an old dilapidated house and ganged banged us. One in one room, the other in another.

There was no violence. I remember someone grabbing my arms. I do remember saying STOP. NO. WANT TO GO HOME NOW. but it didn't matter. I don't even want to get into the rest of it that I do remember, most of it I do not. Never told my parents in fact, my sister and I never even mentioned it between us ever again. Thankfully neither of us got pregnant nor caught any diseases but we lost our virginity before I or her even knew how precious that was and how it shouldn't have been taken from us but given to someone special that she or I really cared deeply about.

It wasn't until after my sister died and memories flood with the things we used to do together - really good, fun times, loving times and then that.

No violence but it was rape. I know this now but it was something to be hidden, ashamed of and feelings of guilt that both of us "allowed" it to happen. Honestly I still carry those feelings and my thoughts my wander into that dark corner of my life every once in a while. It's done. Over. I've moved on for the most part but that corner is still there and I can feel bile rise and my heart race a little faster.....

I never told my husband. I can't believe I'm telling any of you.

These motherfuckers want to make women feel bad, dirty, guilty, AT FAULT and this can not be allowed. They want to control us, suppress us, have us raise our girl children to believe that bullshit and I'm not having it.

The GOP can take their backwards shit and eat it. I'll even pass them a spoon and pray they choke on all of it.

[gollygee]

6. Love to you

<3

[seabeyond]

15. These motherfuckers want to make women feel bad, dirty, guilty, AT FAULT

yes. they want to shut women up. we already feel all that. they are pushing the geenie back in before it got all the way out of the bottle.

[Blue Meany]

5. I think part of the problem is that rape is both under-reported and over-reported.

By over-reported, I mean that there are false accusations of rape, for a variety of reasons. I think this occurs more often in working class settings, where women have fewer options for asserting power (just as working class men are more likely to resort to violence, because they have fewer other options...). When I worked in blue-collar jobs, I often heard stories about false-rape allegations, and from both men and women. Twice, men I knew were falsely accused of rape; I know they were innocent, because they were with me at the time when the rapes were said to occur and in locations far away from the places they said to have taken place.

This is rarely talked about, but I think this is one of the under-pinnings of skeptical male and conservative attitudes towards rape: if there isn't evidence of force, maybe she wasn't really raped.

[TBF]

12. That doesn't mean you change the meaning of the word -

if someone lies about murdering someone we do not call it "forcible murder". Rape is a crime like any other and we do not dilute it's meaning by using terms like "forcible".

[Blue Meany]

16. Agreed. What I think they are really doing is going back to a standard from

a generation ago where the woman had show evidence that she resisted and evidence of violence. They just want to say this in a coded way, so that they don't offend those with different attitudes.

[Bandit]

7. Statutory Rape is not "forcible rape"

A girl fifteen years and three hundred days old enjoys sex with her seventeen year old boyfriend and someone finds out about it and that boy could spend a lot of time behind bars...If the girl was sixteen it would not matter but fifteen and three hundred days and it matters..

[Brickbat]

10. "Forcible rape" is a non-legal term that is meant to muddy the waters. Rape is rape.

Statutory rape is also legally defined as rape. "Forcible rape" is a made up term that simply makes people focus on drawing stupid lines between "different kinds of rape" and putting them in a hierarchy of awfulness instead of trying to, you know, talking about getting men to stop raping.

[Jim Lane]

17. There's more involved than "talking about getting men to stop raping"

I agree with Bandit and disagree with the OP. Not all rape is "forcible rape" as Ryan and Akin were using the term (a term that, as you say, they made up).

Rape is sex without legally effective consent. Consent is not legally effective if it's procured by force or threat of force, e.g., "Lie down and suffer while I rape you or I'll use this knife on you." BUT consent is also not legally effective if given by an underage girl, even if no force or threat of force is involved.

The point of the Ryan-Akin bill was that, if a teenage girl consents to have sex and then finds herself with an unwanted pregnancy, she wouldn't be able to get Medicaid assistance for an abortion, even if her family otherwise qualifies for Medicaid.

I have no problem with campaigning against rape. Nevertheless, there's no reason why that objective should interfere with another important objective, that of highlighting the consequences of a Republican victory. For the foreseeable future, some teenage girls will become pregnant after consensual sex. The issue is whether they should therefore be compelled to bear a child and incur all the obligations of parenthood, even though they're still essentially children themselves. That's the practical impact of the Ryan-Akin position.

[William769]

8. No argument form me.

[TBF]

11. Thank you -

that has been the most infuriating part of this ... reading these terms over and over. They are using qualifiers in an attempt to water down the meaning of rape, and thus control women even more. It is astounding and disgusting.

[leftstreet]

13. Rape is not 'sex' - rape is assault

Sex without consent is not possible. It's called rape.

You would never say you were robbed against your consent.

[redqueen]

14. K&R

Enough of the minimizing. Rape is rape.