Deep breath, BUST.com readers. You might want to have a seat before you read this post.
Following the trend of awful comments about rape that male politicians have been making recently, Rep. Roger Rivard (R, Wisconsin) told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that, “some girls just rape easy” in an interview Wednesday. The comment was made in reference to a case in which a 17-year-old high school student in Rivard’s district was charged with sexual assault after having sex with a 14-year-old girl in the high school’s band room (the legal age of consent in Wisconsin is 16).
Rivard tried to defend himself by saying that the quote was taken “kind of out of context.” Of course, when he was asked to provide the context he gave this lengthy and highly problematic explanation based on his father’s advice:
“He [Rivard’s father] also told me one thing, ‘If you do (have premarital sex), just remember, consensual sex can turn into rape in an awful hurry. Because all of a sudden a young lady gets pregnant and the parents are madder than a wet hen and she’s not going to say, ‘Oh, yeah, I was part of the program.’ All that she has to say or the parents have to say is that it was rape because she’s underage. And he just said, ‘Remember Roger, if you go down that road, some girls,’ he said, ‘they rape so easy.’”
WHAT?! I can’t even try to understand where Rep. Rivard or his father are coming from, but this is one of the most ridiculous comments I’ve heard from a politician in a while (but I’m sure someone will top this soon enough). This shows that we still have a long way to go to get the world to really understand the damage that sexual assault causes.
Though Rivard is continuing to run for re-election, Vice Presidential Candidate Paul Ryan and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker have withdrawn their support of Rivard’s campaign. Others have pulled their financial support. Regardless, it’s going to be a long couple of weeks between now and the election for Rivard. He’s got a lot of ‘splainin to do.
Image via. uppitywis.org.
