Legally you cannot rape your wife.

MagentaYenta

Tue, Jul 28 2015, 11:36 am

Michael Cohen, an advisor to Trump made this statement in response to marital rape accusations by one of Trumps former wives. Naturally he's back peddling, but his ignorance of marital rape amazes me. Why oh why do these tools say they made statements they didn't believe. This is a professional communicator, he should have known better.

FWIW I'm not comment on the allegations, the xwife is also backing off them. I'm commenting about a man, who is an advisor to a presidential candidate, who engaged his mouth before his brain was in gear.

From CNN:

Washington (CNN)A top adviser to Donald Trump apologized Tuesday for comments he made in an explosive interview while defending the Republican presidential candidate from a decades-old rape accusation.
Michael Cohen, special counsel to Trump and an executive vice president at The Trump Organization, asserted in an interview published Monday in the Daily Beast that legally "you cannot rape your spouse."
The rape accusation stems from an accusation Trump's then-wife Ivana Trump leveled at her husband during divorce proceedings in the early 1990s, an accusation she walked back in a statement Tuesday.
Marital rape today is illegal in all 50 states and non-consensual relations between spouses does in fact constitute rape.
"As an attorney, husband and father there are many injustices that offend me but nothing more than charges of rape or racism. They hit me at my core. Rarely am I surprised by the press, but the gall of this particular reporter to make such a reprehensible and false allegation against Mr. Trump truly stunned me. In my moment of shock and anger, I made an inarticulate comment - which I do not believe -- and which I apologize for entirely," Cohen said in a statement to CNN.

Sadie

Tue, Jul 28 2015, 1:21 pm

The most shocking thing about this is that spousal rape actually *wasn't* illegal federally until 1993 and it was completely legal everywhere in the U.S. until the 70's. Surprisingly, the first state to criminalize raping a spouse was South Dakota.
There are many many people today who believe that spousal rape is not a crime, or that it shouldn't be one.

singleagain

Tue, Jul 28 2015, 1:39 pm

Amarante wrote:

And not to stray off topic, but some of these nutty Republicans claimed that a woman who was "legitimately" raped (whatever that is) can't become pregnant.

according to the "legitimate rape" theory a woman cannot become pregnant if she is raped, bc her body will go into some kind of shock that will prevent pregnancy or something like that, and if she got pregnant, than it wasn't rape, bc she wanted it on some level. which is total and complete bull.

ahuva06

Tue, Jul 28 2015, 1:43 pm

Amarante wrote:

And not to stray off topic, but some of these nutty Republicans claimed that a woman who was "legitimately" raped (whatever that is) can't become pregnant.

What in the hell does that even mean?! It's very obvious that the smartypants who make such intelligent statements have lots of experience in the field.

Excuse my sarcasm but I get offended when people speak about sensitive topics and have no clue what they are saying.

Amarante

Tue, Jul 28 2015, 1:47 pm

becca wrote:

I assume you don't mean I am clueless but that the Republican politician was the clueless one. LOL

It is very sad because many of these men are completely clueless about science and biology and yet have the power to make laws.

As you probably know, even the most stringent abortion laws, provide an exception for abortion for incest or rape. These politicians were attempting to defend laws which eliminated that exception by claiming that raped women never got pregnant and therefore any woman who wanted an abortion under such an exception was lying. Rolling Eyes

ETA - And not to go even more off topic, they don't even understand that rape is generally not about s*ex but about anger and power and control so that a frumpy 40 year old woman or even a white haired Bubbe can be raped.

Last edited by Amarante on Tue, Jul 28 2015, 1:49 pm; edited 1 time in total

ahuva06

Tue, Jul 28 2015, 1:49 pm

Amarante wrote:

I assume you don't mean I am clueless but that the Republican politician was the clueless one. LOL

I was not saying you're clueless!! I just had to add my two cents because I got upset!

Barbara

Tue, Jul 28 2015, 1:51 pm

singleagain wrote:

I'll do you one better. They claim to have "research" to prove it. It was conducted in the concentration camps during WW2.

While these moronic pronouncements are getting more press today, the far right has been spouting this nonsense since at least the mid-80s, which is when I first encountered it, along with the supporting "research." (Yes, I am old.)

ahuva06

Tue, Jul 28 2015, 1:57 pm

Barbara wrote:

Right - the most accurate time to do an experiment - on starving bodies that couldn't conceive a child even if they wanted to!

MagentaYenta

Tue, Jul 28 2015, 2:07 pm

Amarante wrote:

And not to stray off topic, but some of these nutty Republicans claimed that a woman who was "legitimately" raped (whatever that is) can't become pregnant.

I dont' feel you are straying. Sadie aptly pointed out how behind our country was on this issue and the same holds true with the anecdote you presented. Xtian fundamentalist evangelicals hold the same way. I think that Billy Graham and Pat Robertson claimed the same thing. Their company includes at least 7 republicans who have been elected to national and state offices. (Two of whom have MDs, one of which is an OB.)http://mic.com/articles/48691/the-7-most-outrageous-gop-explanations-for-why-rape-victims-can-t-get-pregnant

ora_43

Tue, Jul 28 2015, 2:07 pm

There's also this:
Trump says Clinton 'can't satisfy her husband'

MagentaYenta wrote:

Why oh why do these tools say they made statements they didn't believe. This is a professional communicator, he should have known better.

I think he's communicating very well. He's accurately communicating his beliefs.

Then, when he realizes what the response is, he's taking the only option left - deny deny deny. Which is the smart choice, at that point. After all, no explanation no matter how stupid is going to sound stupider than what was already said.

youngishbear

Tue, Jul 28 2015, 2:32 pm

becca wrote:

Right - the most accurate time to do an experiment - on starving bodies that couldn't conceive a child even if they wanted to!

Putting aside the issue of the effectiveness of the research methods, I can't believe anyone would dare quote the results of the horrific scientific experiments done on Holocaust victims, in defense of "life"!!!

I don't have the right word for the stupidity of the situation.

Amarante

Tue, Jul 28 2015, 2:39 pm

youngishbear wrote:

Putting aside the issue of the effectiveness of the research methods, I can't believe anyone would dare quote the results of the horrific scientific experiments done on Holocaust victims in defense of "life"!!!

I don't have the right word for the stupidity of the situation.

Because these people are moral and mental midgets. They don't have any well founded "facts" and have never learned to exercise critical reasoning. It's one of the reasons I am extremely suspicious of any kind of "friendship" these fundies extend to Jews because I think it lacks any kind of true moral underpinning and would be discarded in a nanosecond if expedient to their ends.

How anyone with a brain and a conscience could possibly use this experiment - or anything associated with Nazi "medical" research to support their claims - my mind just can't wrap around it.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_......html

... the Nazis tested the hypothesis that stress inhibits ovulation by selecting women who were about to ovulate and sending them to the gas chambers, only to bring them back after their realistic mock killing, to see what effects this had on their ovulatory patterns. An extremely high percentage of these women did not ovulate.

youngishbear

Tue, Jul 28 2015, 2:43 pm

Amarante wrote:

I am seriously nauseated by this research. How many unborn fetuses did the Nazis destroy in the name of science and sadism? How can a human being who claims to care about the sanctity of life use that kind of research... okay I am repeating myself here.

This is so seriously mind-boggling it is scrambling my thoughts .

Laiya

Tue, Jul 28 2015, 11:21 pm

These comments are not mainstream party views.

marina wrote:

So what's the halacha on raping your wife?

I know that it is assur, but what is the consequence halachically if he does rape her? I mean, the halachic way in dealing with regular rape is difficult to accept as is, but I've not heard of any particular responsa on what happens when a man rapes his wife.

What is the halachic way of dealing with rape?

DrMom

Wed, Jul 29 2015, 12:20 am

Frumdoc wrote:

These people think they can run one of the most powerful countries in the world?

Oy vey, apparently they can't even distinguish whose pants their little man "legitimately" belongs in.

It seems to be a problem on both sides of the aisle.

Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders thinks women fantasize about gang rape. And this guy draws audiences of ten thousand Democratic followers.

http://jezebel.com/1972-bernie.....43130