Hey, lay off the rape comments

Just when the Internet had quieted down over the Daniel Tosh “rape-is-funny” controversy, the camp of men who claim to know how rape is for women launched another salvo of stupidity.

This time the gaffe came from Todd Akin, Republican Senate nominee for Missouri. On Aug. 19, Akin said, women subjected to “legitimate rape” rarely became pregnant, because their bodies had “ways to try to shut that whole thing down.” Akin later said he had misspoke but that he felt his critics were overreacting.

The uproar over Akin hasn’t even begun to quiet down. Most Republicans have tried to distract from the firestorm or put distance between themselves and Akin. And while many have called for Akin to drop out of the Senate race, one of his fellow Republican Senate candidates fumbled the situation further.

On Monday, Tom Smith, Republican Senate candidate for Pennsylvania, dragged the conversation further beyond the pale. When a reporter asked Smith to clarify what kind of situation was similar to becoming pregnant from rape, he responded, “Having a baby out of wedlock.”

Women bloggers and journalists quickly responded. Rape pregnancy is nothing like having a baby out of wedlock. A spokesman for Smith later said, despite appearances, he was not making this comparison.

What has gotten into these men’s heads? If we dismiss their insensitivity, pseudo-scientific political-posturing, and their unbelievable ignorance, there still remains one ineluctable fact that ought to have shut them all up before any of them opened his mouth: They are men.

Men do not know one thing about being raped. Men are the rapists, not the ones who are raped. Certainly none of these men has claimed to have had such an experience. Not all men rape women, but it still happens every day to women everywhere.

According to activist and rape survivor Eve Ensler, “half a billion women on the planet are raped in their lifetime.” We as a society need to stop demonizing the victims of rape. All rape is forcible and “legitimate.” Many cases result in pregnancy. These are facts.

Men need to stop acting like they know better than women, especially where it is clearly impossible and insensitive to claim they do. That goes double for men who would lead our nation as senators.