# Todd Akin \[rape does not result in pregnancy\] **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 25, 2012, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/todd-akin-rape-does-not-result-in-pregnancy/632655 "2012-08-25T23:08:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2012, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/todd-akin-rape-does-not-result-in-pregnancy/632655/61 "2012-08-28T01:46:27Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > Obviously true. > > But let’s take the medical claim (which is utterly false, of course) at face value: a consensual, loving, good-emotion filled sexual encounter causes a woman’s body to manufacture the soup of hormones necessary to create and sustain pregnancy; a violent, non-consensual, bad-emotion-filled sexual encounter fails to produce the magic hormones and pregnancy is either impossible or much less likely, depending on which version of the fairy tale you believe… And that’s the clincher. Much less likely versus impossible. It’s much less likely that a person will be mugged in broad daylight at the harbor of a Maine fishing village in a large group than they are alone at night in South Central LA. But is it _impossible_ to be mugged in a Maine fishing village under those circumstances? Certainly not! ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2012, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/todd-akin-rape-does-not-result-in-pregnancy/632655/62 "2012-08-28T02:11:22Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > A. Women sometimes orgasm during rape. Yes, even “legitimate rape”. Yes, even if her face is getting bashed in with a hammer while she’s being raped. > > B. Just because something \*promotes \*conception does not mean it’s \*required \*for conception. See also: tequila. Please re-read my post, starting with “Am I defending ..”, with particular attention to “incapable of consent” (see also: ouzo). Please provide clinical studies supporting claims of hammer-induced orgasm. Include definition of orgasm. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2012, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/todd-akin-rape-does-not-result-in-pregnancy/632655/63 "2012-08-28T06:04:38Z")
The female orgasm has never been necessary for human conception. It’s pretty much irrelevant. Any connection between a female orgasm and the fertility of a given act of coitus is wishful thinking. ---
**Author:** ![Hallucinex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ba9def/32.png) [@Hallucinex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hallucinex)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2012, 9:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/todd-akin-rape-does-not-result-in-pregnancy/632655/64 "2012-08-28T09:46:28Z")
He might have been remotely close to the truth…[had he been talking about ducks](http://www.mediaite.com/online/rep-akin-was-right-about-rape-and-pregnancy-if-hed-been-talking-about-ducks/) ---
**Author:** ![Bam\_Boo\_Gut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8c91f0/32.png) [@Bam\_Boo\_Gut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bam_Boo_Gut)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2012, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/todd-akin-rape-does-not-result-in-pregnancy/632655/65 "2012-08-28T12:35:46Z")
> [@Nzinga\_Seated](#): > > No matter how you slice it, he was still wrong. Because even when a woman is forcibly raped, she can still become aroused. That puts an end to his whole wack ass theory. Or rather her body can. ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2012, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/todd-akin-rape-does-not-result-in-pregnancy/632655/66 "2012-08-28T13:02:15Z")
As a non-woman type, I am guessing this fact is the source of a lifetime of torture and guilt for those rape victims who orgasm while being raped. ---
**Author:** ![caligulathegod](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/caligulathegod/32/9685_2.png) [@caligulathegod](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/caligulathegod)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2012, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/todd-akin-rape-does-not-result-in-pregnancy/632655/67 "2012-08-28T13:11:25Z")
I took it as implying that women who DID get pregnant after a rape must have “enjoyed” it. Goes along with the mentality of blaming the victim because she was dressed provocatively and was “asking for it” (“Grandpa always said, don’t advertize if you aren’t open for business.” ~Kent Hovind). ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2012, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/todd-akin-rape-does-not-result-in-pregnancy/632655/68 "2012-08-28T13:28:28Z")
> [@Cartooniverse](#): > > As a non-woman type, I am guessing this fact is the source of a lifetime of torture and guilt for those rape victims who orgasm while being raped. Pretty much. Unless it isn’t. Unless it sometimes is and sometimes isn’t. We have lots of feelings, some of them contradictory, sometimes at the same time. There’s no right way to feel after being raped. ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2012, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/todd-akin-rape-does-not-result-in-pregnancy/632655/69 "2012-08-28T13:41:19Z")
> [@Cartooniverse](#): > > As a non-woman type, I am guessing this fact is the source of a lifetime of torture and guilt for those rape victims who orgasm while being raped. It’s not gender specific. Men can orgasm from rape, too. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2012, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/todd-akin-rape-does-not-result-in-pregnancy/632655/70 "2012-08-28T14:11:44Z")
> [@foolsguinea](#): > > The female orgasm has never been necessary for human conception. It’s pretty much irrelevant. Any connection between a female orgasm and the fertility of a given act of coitus is wishful thinking. I suppose female orgasm is an example of “appropriate technology”. It’s good enough that women are willing to participate (if not being raped) but not so frequent or overwhelming that _most_ women will neglect other duties (child rearing) to seek them out continually. I also recall reading there was some function where spasms of the cervix during orgasm helped move the sperm from the vagina into the uterus? Helpful for conception but not absolutely necessary. > [@Si\_Amigo](#): > > Lot’s daughters choose to have sex with him because they believed that they were the last people on earth and needed to repopulate the earth; that is, they saw themselves as Adam and Eve and Eve. They got there father drunk and had sex with him; if anyone was the rapist it was the two girls. Still no matter how you look at it it was an incestual relationship and not forced, legitimate or statutory rape. I suspect the issue is more the desire, the need, for children as a means to provide for someone in their old age. They lost everything, they were living in a cave, no marriage prospects (not, “last man in the world”) Plus, it seems those old testament folks got into some kinky stuff, when they weren’t tying up their child and trying to kill him because the voice in their head told them to… I also wonder whether the Nazi Experiment thing actually happened, or if it is one of those urban legends that grew through misinterpretation because it was a convenient emphasis to the point someone was trying to make. (“They did all this other horrible medical stuff, maybe they did this too.”) As others point out, I see difficulty in testing ovulation; what, did the Nazi doctors have ultrasound machines? Ovulation test sticks? Seriously, what could they use to tell? And, as also pointed out, if the women were chronically malnourished, how likely is it they were ovulating at all? Would the whole concentration camp environment, with people dying around them, _ **NOT** _ qualify as stressful? ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Hedonia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ann_hedonia/32/319_2.png) [@Ann\_Hedonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Hedonia)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2012, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/todd-akin-rape-does-not-result-in-pregnancy/632655/71 "2012-08-28T15:31:31Z")
> [@foolsguinea](#): > > The female orgasm has never been necessary for human conception. It’s pretty much irrelevant. Any connection between a female orgasm and the fertility of a given act of coitus is wishful thinking. At the risk of TMI, I can personallyl attest to the fact that it is possible for a woman to get pregnant during sex without reaching orgasm, it was really quite easy. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/todd-akin-rape-does-not-result-in-pregnancy/632655.md?page=3)