I'm not going to repost Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa's horrible comments from a few months ago about marrying rapists. Neither am I going to link to the Heritage Foundation's despicable claim that marriage gives women a safe refuge from rape and other forms of domestic violence, because (1) we have real-live survivors here who don't need any more reminders about what they and the legions of other misogynists have said, and (2) plenty of diaries around here have already covered this. But I'm like to point out something here:
This is by no means the first time that anyone has suggested that marriage is a cure for or prevention of rape. In fact, for many, such ideas can be found right there in...
...The Bible. That's right, folks, it's right there in the Good Word:
28 If a man find a damsel that is a virgin, which is not betrothed, and lay hold on her, and lie with her, and they be found;
29 Then the man that lay with her shall give unto the damsel's father fifty shekels of silver, and she shall be his wife; because he hath humbled her, he may not put her away all his days. --Deuteronomy 22:28-29
Don't worry, the New Testament is not immune:
1 Now concerning the things whereof ye wrote unto me: It is good for a man not to touch a woman.
2 Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband.
3 Let the husband render unto the wife due benevolence: and likewise also the wife unto the husband.
4 The wife hath not power of her own body, but the husband: and likewise also the husband hath not power of his own body, but the wife. --1 Corinthians 7:1-4
And there are instances of women and girls being given away as the spoils of war, not to mention a host of misogynistic Old Testament laws.
I know that several of you are going to want to explain this away. "I don't interpret the Bible literally," you might say. Well sure. There are an endless number of ways to interpret the Bible, from the perfectly benevolent to the completely destructive. And one may note that none of these quotes were by Jesus, which I think says a lot. But that does not excuse the fact that these verses exist and condone terrible acts of misogyny, long before Mr. Rajapaksa or the Heritage Foundation gave us the latest example of misogynistic comments.
Just something worth thinking about. Remember this the next time you hear Sarah Palin or Ted Cruz babbling about "Judeo-Christian values."