In the past, misinformation about the female body has led to not only the oppression of female sexuality, but women in general. Now, men with political motives are attempting to rewrite female anatomy for their own gain, and this will do nothing but harm women.

Last month while discussing abortion policies, Todd Akin, Missouri’s republican senate candidate, made the now-infamous remark, “If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down,” in reference to pregnancies
occurring after rape.

I had never heard of such a theory until Akin said it a month ago. And now there are scores of men and women who are spouting off Akin’s pro-life campaign speech as though it is commonly accepted knowledge rather than an idea presented to the public a month ago.

That these ideas are being presented as truth terrifies me because these ideas about women’s bodies are coming from the mouths of men, not women. To me, this is an attempt to re-write what women know about their own bodies to fit what a particular group of men want them to know.

Most of the recent studies having to deal with the logic that pregnancies from rape are rare have been compiled by pro-life groups rather than medical organizations. And the logic these people are working with isn’t exactly sound. One argument, from John Willke, M.D. (and also former president of National Right to Life, though you won’t see that mentioned in the essay), is based entirely upon unsourced statistics.

He claims that the “physical trauma of rape” makes it so difficult for women to become pregnant that it cuts the number of possible pregnancies via rape by 50 percent. However, he cannot offer an explanation as to why. If you’re looking for a more scientific study, you’ll have to go back to the ’70s and ’80s, and you’ll still have trouble finding one not backed by a pro-life agency or one written by a woman.

Not only are women being misinformed about their how their bodies work, but they are also being told by men what they can and cannot do with them.

Christian organizations resort to fear tactics and blaming to teach young women to wait until marriage to have sex. Do a quick Google search of why you should wait until marriage to have sex. My favorite is from ubdavid.org/youthworld, which offers up a list of why you should wait.

Reason number three discusses how pregnancy can destroy your life. Or, well, let’s get it right: It discusses how when a woman allows herself to become pregnant she ruins her own life and her partner’s life. All of the blame is on her.

In an excerpt from a questionable “letter” the site uses as an example of this, “Wrecked at 17” tells the story of how she ruined everybody’s life by having sex and getting pregnant. “I hate my life and what I’ve done to Ted. The baby cries all the time and gets on Ted’s nerves. He drinks too much and I can’t blame him.” Of course “Wrecked at 17” is the one to blame.

Whether or not this letter is real, the website is still promoting the idea that women are the ones to be blamed for the evils of premarital sex and men like Ted are pretty blameless. Now if you want to wait until marriage to have sex for whatever reason, by all means, wait. It’s your body and you decide when you’re ready. But the fact that religious organizations are using fear and shaming tactics to convince women to stay “pure” terrifies me.

Again, these websites and organizations are overwhelmingly run by men who have a particular goal in mind. The message being sent is that women should be ashamed of their bodies and too fearful of them to act on their sexual desires.

Such tactics are simply a way of shaming women and keeping them ignorant about their own bodies to convince them to behave (or vote) a certain way. And that is something that history has proven to be dangerous.