Originally published on the CGS blog on October 25, 2012.
“I struggled with it myself for a long time, but I came to realize life is that gift from God. I think that even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that it is something that God intended to happen.”
—Indiana GOP U.S. Senate candidate Richard Mourdock in Tuesday’s televised debate, in response to a question regarding the candidates’ position on abortion.
In a society that is plagued with rape culture, this is a dangerous and horrifying statement, to say the least. Sure, we have seen backlash from the media, but just as in Todd Akin’s case, this man will continue to run for Senate under the guise of “family values.”
I hope I do not have to explain to anyone why forcing a woman to carry her rapist’s baby is a grotesque violation of her rights as a human being. Sure, Mourdock will “apologize” about his statement being worded wrong, or he didn’t mean how it sounded, and rape is bad! Rape is bad, bad, bad.
But this statement and this attitude that we see is more deeply embedded into our culture than we even realize. Statements like these minimize and trivialize the impact of rape. In a culture where the rape survivors, and not the perpetrators are questioned and harassed, in a culture where rape jokes are tolerated, in a culture where 12 year old girls are called “sluts,” this statement is a clear embodiment of the more pervasive problem-which is that rape is not treated as the criminal act that it is, and that is because the notion of women’s rights as human rights is yet to be fully realized.
The United Nations declared rape as a weapon of war. All over the world, rape is a weapon to systematically dishonor women and destroy communities-and very rarely do the perpetrators face justice. Reports of mass rape are found all over the world, like the Democratic Republic of Congo, where attacks are frequent, and the legal system for punishing rape is less than reliable. The frightening global statistic that 1 in 3 women are raped or attacked in her lifetime lives with all women, no matter where you are born.
Now, the Democratic Republic of Congo may feel like worlds away. But the sickening reality is that there is a global apathy for the rape culture that we all share-which should make it everyone’s priority to end.
Last week, I asked men and boys to help fight for the human rights of women. Clearly, if men like Mourdock continue to perpetuate our national discourse, women have a long fight ahead for their human dignity and rights. My hope is that the rest of you will prove me wrong.
