A few words on Todd Akin and Rape Apologia

I hate when outright misogyny and rape apologia is portrayed as "controversy," let alone gaffes and misspeak, and as a Missouri resident, and one who is frequently outvoted, I have a quite a lot to say about Republican nominee, Todd Akin's comments that "legitimate" rape victims have some sort of magical vagina powers that prevent pregnancy (where have I heard this lie before? Oh yeah,  in jr. high sex-ed class -- in Missouri!). If you've tuned into any news outlet in the past couple days, you probably know the story. If not, here's a refresher via NPR: 

During a Sunday TV interview, Akin said by way of explaining his opposition to abortion, even in instances of rape: 

"If it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down." Not surprisingly, that unscientific comment resulted in outrage at the Missouri congressman.

He then said "“Let’s assume that maybe that didn’t work, or something [...] “I think there should be some punishment, but the punishment ought to be on the rapist and not attacking the child.” (source)

But what really bothers me is that this being treated as an isolated incident when in fact it's part of a bigger culture of, as President Obama said when asked at a press conference yesterday, "parsing and slicing" rape: who is a "proper" rape victim, and who is not. And part of a bigger culture of Republican politics controlling what women do with their own bodies.