Friday, February 17, 2012

Transvaginal Ultrasound: Rape?

Virginia is on the verge of passing a bill that would require a woman seeking an abortion to undergo a state-required transvaginal ultrasound. For some reason I do not understand some people want to call this state-sanctioned rape. I think the term “rape” is inapplicable to this situation. We can say the bill is repulsive. We can say it violates a woman’s privacy. But “rape” isn’t a word that applies to the situation, given Virginia’s definition of rape:

§ 18.2-61. Rape.
A. If any person has sexual intercourse with a complaining witness, whether or not his or her spouse, or causes a complaining witness, whether or not his or her spouse, to engage in sexual intercourse with any other person and such act is accomplished (i) against the complaining witness's will, by force, threat or intimidation of or against the complaining witness or another person; or (ii) through the use of the complaining witness's mental incapacity or physical helplessness; or (iii) with a child under age 13 as the victim, he or she shall be guilty of rape.

Here’s my argument: Rape is non-consensual sexual intercourse. The insertion of an ultrasound probe into a vagina is not sexual intercourse. Therefore, etc.

Some people take issue with my argument. They want to insist the bill would result in women being raped by the state. To explain why I think their position is foolish, I shall utilize this handy-dandy chart:

Object:ProbeProbe
Action:InsertionInsertion
Sex Organ:VaginaVagina
Consent?NoYes
Label:State-Sanctioned RapeTransvaginal ultrasound
Sex Act?--


My argument lives in that last row. Either:

1) All transvaginal ultrasounds are sex acts.
2) The lack of consent renders an act to be sex.

Both of these options are fucked up.

My guess is that most of my interlocutors would go with option two. But if the insertion of a probe for a medical procedure is not sex, then how does that change when the medical procedure is not consensual? They would have to say that force causes the act to be sex; the label “sex” applies when an act is forced on an individual. But there are plenty of actions imposed upon individuals that are not considered to be sex despite the presence of force. If the state forces you to pay a speeding fine that is not “rape”.

Maybe the issue is that genitals are involved. It’s not the force; it’s the insertion of a probe into a vagina. But that would seem to favor option one: All transvaginal ultrasounds are sex acts. Yet I doubt that a woman would think her partner reasonable if he accused her of infidelity after visiting her gynecologist. I’m pretty sure that we don’t want to consider any insertion of anything into a vagina to be sex.

So why are some calling this "rape"? Fuck if I know.

I understand that we’re against this bill. I understand that it abuses women, that it violates their privacy. But we don’t gain anything by calling this “rape”; the invocation of the term is not beneficial to our cause. We can find fault with the bill and fight against it without calling it “rape”.

Why do we need to invoke that term?

34 comments:

Unknown said...

While it may not be rape, I would think you could at least categorize it as sexual assault. The person in question is being coerced into undergoing the procedure.

_J_ said...

The problem with calling it a sexual assault is that a state-mandated transvaginal ultrasound is neither assault nor sexual. It is a state-mandated medical procedure. In order to call it a sexual assault, we have to maintain these two equivocations:

State-mandate = Assault

Transvaginal Ultrasound = Sexual

Neither of those are sensible translations. Not all state mandates are assault. Not all transvaginal ultrasounds are sexual.

Yet when we combine a medical procedure with a state mandate, some people maintain that the sexual assault fairy has descended from on high and granted her label to the act.

Furthermore, equating a forced medical procedure to sexual assault seems tremendously insulting to those persons who have experienced actual sexual assault.


I understand the rhetorical impact “sexual assault” or “rape” have in debate. But when we apply those terms to a state-mandated medical procedure, goofy conclusions result from the reasoning involved.


I think the bill is atrocious. But I don’t have to equate what they’re doing to sexual assault in order to communicate my position.

Calling state mandated transvaginal ultrasounds “rape” or “sexual assault” seems to be the same as calling Obama “Hitler”.

Unknown said...

If you were required to have a spinal tap in order to remove your tonsils merely for the purpose of causing pain and humiliating you into not undergoing the procedure, would you not consider that an assault?

I argue that a medical procedure can be assault when it is unnecessary. The medical necessity of the procedure validates it.

_J_ said...

The legal definition of assault seems to have to do with "harm" and "injury". It's problematic to claim that a recognized medical procedure magically transforms from "medical prodedure" to "harmful injury" when it's required by a state.

But that's not my main concern, so I'd be ok saying that we can call this situation assault.

I'm less willing to agree that this is "sexual" assault. Again, here's the reasoning:

State-mandated: Assault
Transvaginal ultrasound: Sexual.

If a state-mandated transvaginal ultrasound is sexual assault, then when we remove the state-mandate we've removed the assault, but the "sexual" is still there.

This seems problematic, insofar as it means that women are engaged in sexual relationships with their gynecologist.

Either the medical procedure of a transvaginal ultrasound is sexual or non-sexual. Things do not magically become sexual when forced or mandated.

Anonymous said...

it might not be rape under Virginia's statute but it sure seems to meet the FBIs definition:

"Penetration, no matter how slight, of the vagina or anus with any body part or object, or oral penetration by a sex organ of another person, without the consent of the victim."

Anonymous said...

Since you'll stipulate to calling it assault, let me take a shot at explaining why it could be a sexual assualt even though routine doctors visits aren't sexual per se.

Would you agree that it is possible for a gynecologist to abuse his/her role as a doctor and sexually assault a patient through inappropriate conduct during an examination? If so, then I think it's not so great a logical step to observe that this law would require a doctor to do just that--mandate an invasive, unpleasant procedure that is not medically necessary. That seems like the very definition of inappropriate to me.

If you're still hung up on the definition of "sexual," I would say that when the state decides to mandate the use of an unnecessary procedure, it is possible to construe this as an attempt to sexually humiliate women in an effort to dissuade them from seeking an abortion. Therefore the state has indeed turned what would otherwise be a nonsexualized doctors visit into a sexualized act of humiliation.

Just because a doctor's visit per se is not sexual doesn't mean that it can never be sexualized.

Anonymous said...

http://zakon404.pp.ua/content/wwwhermesoutletpariscom1327

http://pgapi.devstaff.org/node/951098

http://forums.northcarolinagenealogy.net/topic/falconsjerseyusacom-atlanta-falcons-jerseys-98748597#post-69842

http://www.paintballguns.me/forums/display_topic/id_3216/

http://pravoslavie.com.ua/bbpress/topic.php?id=1568&replies=1#post-3388

http://dev.lookingglassphoto.com/content/wwwlongchamphandbagsusacom-ab1992

http://www.geer.ro/forum/topic.php?id=5134&replies=1#post-8763

http://ciorcal.com/watergatetheatre.com/node/66939

http://mgdev.info/members/usahldfhq/activity/25540

http://www.twinlakesiowa.com/messageboard/topic.php?id=10773&page&replies#post-11911

http://diarionocturno.com/foros/topic.php?id=28319#post-29998

http://stackerboyz.com/dealers/blog/view/268148/wwwhermesoutletusacom--52132

http://diyvt.org/forum/topic.php?id=116711&replies=1#post-134868

http://mb.asomerset.com/view/post:22261

http://remember-me.es/members/usafwvifl/activity/6008

http://www.drsevinor.com/forum/topic.php?id=332398

http://www.ninersintheminors.com/Forum/topic.php?id=102671&replies=1#post-121093

http://mackhina.com/forum/topic.php?id=19524&replies=1#post-20308

http://subtlemaps.com/forum/topic.php?id=158678&replies=1#post-164478

http://www.hibuddie.com/view/post:21117

http://dbf.design3.coreware.co.uk/bbpress/topic.php?id=3949&replies=1#post-4595

Anonymous said...

http://burnthegoo.com/bbpress/topic.php?id=76443&replies=1#post-90308

http://www.hh-heute.de/koalition/topic/falconsjerseyusacom-atlanta-falcons-jerseys-98748726?replies=1#post-938

http://www.publicapologies.com/portal/?q=node/20725

http://www.kornaukhov.ru/forum/topic.php?id=80&replies=1#post-81

http://fanvoiced.com/members/usabcduer/activity/59573

http://thefoodatlas.com/members/rangnai785/activity/19602

http://darylasmith.com/garnet/topic.php?id=82840&replies=1#post-94769

http://inburlingtonontario.com/members/usaedknie/activity/35974

http://mobthink.net/forum/topic/19827?replies=1#post-20758

http://ylsnow.ru/forum/topic/wwwhermesoutletusacom-521240?replies=1#post-10572

http://forum.gamblis.com/topic/wwwlouisvuittonoutletonlineukcom-hun151?replies=1#post-22841

http://www.cdi.coop/blog/node/93#comment-73902

http://croceo0611.altervista.org/wp/members/usafuhgnc/activity/4471

http://ru.forums.wordpress.org/topic/wwwhoustontexansjerseyuscom-491?replies=0#post-96530

http://tributerealestate.com/members/usaabc/activity/1341

http://www.soderhamnrc.se/new/members/usachxngz/activity/4078

http://jennrubin.ascportfolios.org/forum/topic.php?id=127485

http://www.freestylederue.fr/members/usaskbrwa/activity/8717

http://forum.jamaicanrastafarianlove.com/topic.php?id=47427#post-48866

http://www.yarn.org.au/members/usalnluqz/activity/58597

http://www.corinthianissimos.com.br/membros/usazdwsco/activity/2566

Anonymous said...

cwlx longchamp bags SonDyg 5901
longchamp outlet hbjc http://www.longchampbagspurse.com/ longchamp outlet

Fddol tyrnvf longchamp handbags 7332
longchamp outlet uags http://www.longchamphandbagsusa.com/ longchamp outlet

nkee longchamp sale PamMa paris b 8730
longchamp outlet uyqi http://www.longchampsalepurse.com/ longchamp outlet

Wzrpf wifvxh longchamp le pliage lyz9115
longchamp outlet hyuo http://www.longchamplepliageus.com/ longchamp outlet

Scoig longchamp zaqjmu
Ukw longchamp outlet td xub longchamp paris rzu
Zseih longchamp ynra long champ ph longchamp sale jivfzt
Cmr longchamp outlet mk nef longchamp paris vvz
Vco longchamp le pliage iu longchamp ayh longchamp le pliage wcu
Ddk longchamp outlet ze zi longchamp bags p longchamp paris bkd

Anonymous said...

http://victoriaparkgolfcomplex.com/golf/forums/topic.php?id=57101

http://mb.asomerset.com/view/post:25492

http://onebarrio.com/blog/view/226474/wwwlongchamppursepariscom-e94gj

http://winiarenka.pl/content/wwwnewyorkgiantsjerseysusacom-1375

http://bebop-lab.info/node/521934

http://wellesleygbhs58.net/bbpress/topic.php?id=71279&replies=0#post-74587

http://www.owtv.de/humanrights/bbpress/topic.php?id=409999&replies=1#post-444516

http://www.emanschool.org/bbpress/topic/9031?replies=1#post-4740

http://forum.oneswarm.org/topic/8795#post-26515

http://forum.law-office-in-a-box.com/topic/wwwlongchamppursepariscom-e189gj?replies=1#post-83330

http://wpme.sourceforge.jp/forums/topic/27880?replies=1#post-35427

http://mamanetpapa.com/forum/topic/wwwnewyorkgiantsjerseysusacom-1123#post-14391

http://badrockradio.com/forums/announcements/8288

http://www.gotalpha.com/bbp/topic.php?id=182900&replies=1#post-199353

http://saints.yhwhhost.com/members/usazique/activity/269

http://avangardg.ru/members/usawavlun/activity/8680

http://www.thornburypoa.com/wp-content/plugins/bbpress/topic/wwwhoustontexansjerseyuscom-3058#post-22625

http://pinosity.com/forum/topic.php?id=11537&replies=1#post-14636

http://www.ournewoutlook.com/members/usabacujc/activity/19347

http://s352487906.online.de/members/usaxpqzuc/activity/83163

http://oase-lelystad.nl/members/usakikiki/activity/111107

Anonymous said...

http://www.ted.com.tw/?q=node/521

http://www.morbin.it/forum/topic.php?id=457555&replies=1#post-528519

http://www.alshuaib.net/elgg/pg/blog/read/750379/wwwlongchampbagspursecom-dl6558

http://www.fallcom.net/member/blog_post_view.php?postId=52719

http://controlfreaksrc.com/bbpress/topic.php?id=468226&replies=1#post-514900

http://vortixcommunity.com/

http://rli.sas.ac.uk/networks-2/members/usabcdues/activity/

http://sanctuary.strategiksf.com/forum/topic.php?id=120191&replies=1#post-127860

http://ordnancemarine.com/activity/

http://rumahbekamalkautsar.com/activity/

http://www.jsktv.net/read_blog/288157/www.louisvuittonwalletusauk.com-1917

http://austinmatzko.com/forum/topic/wwwlongchampbagspursecom-dl6260#post-95586

http://www.mymonda.de/bbpress/topic.php?id=14867&replies=1#post-21998

http://mstuca.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=3603&replies=1#post-4284

http://forum.nbc-cs.de/topic/59039?replies=1#post-59101

http://pluralism.in/forum/topic.php?id=63876&replies=1#post-65577

http://streethypnotism.com/members/usawokaxmarybiblllmarybiblll/

http://www.gamearcade.co.in/members/usawokax/

http://www.localonlinesingles.com/bb-post.php

http://www.tnmultisports.com/bbpress/bb-post.php

http://computing.altervista.org/members/usapophip/activity/

Anonymous said...

buy tramadol online tramadol for dogs and humans - 100mg of tramadol side effects

Anonymous said...

buy tramadol online tramadol for dogs 50mg dosage - order tramadol online mastercard

Anonymous said...

buy tramadol online tramadol 50mg weight loss - tramadol 50 mg injection

Anonymous said...

generic xanax xanax overdose pathophysiology - alprazolam gp 0 5mg

Anonymous said...

cheap tramadol online generic tramadol 50 mg - tramadol restless legs

Anonymous said...

buy carisoprodol carisoprodol 350 mg directions - carisoprodol 350 mg bluelight

Anonymous said...

tramadol online pharmacy where to buy tramadol for dogs - tramadol 50mg how many to take

Anonymous said...

tramadol online ordertramadolonline.org - buy tramadol paypal

Anonymous said...

buy tramadol online tramadol 50 mg half life - tramadol for dogs 100mg

Anonymous said...

buy tramadol online buy tramadol online 100mg - buy tramadol cheap no prescription

Anonymous said...

tramadol online que es tramadol 50 mg - generic form of tramadol

Anonymous said...

buy tramadol online tramadol 50 mg much take - order tramadol online check

Anonymous said...

buy tramadol without prescriptions buy-cheap-tramadol.org - tramadol for dogs for arthritis

Anonymous said...

learn how to buy tramdadol buy tramadol no prescription overnight - how to order tramadol cod

Anonymous said...

buy tramadol mastercard cheap tramadol online cod - kind drug tramadol 50mg

Anonymous said...

buy tramadol online tramadol dosage extended release - buy tramadol online with visa

Anonymous said...

buy tramadol tramadol overdose many tramadol does take - order tramadol overnight cod

Anonymous said...

buy tramadol tramadol 50mg seizures - purchase tramadol online cheap

Anonymous said...

buy ativan online ativan overdose effects - ativan recreational uses

Anonymous said...

buy ativan online drug interactions ativan and alcohol - ativan side effects 1 mg

Anonymous said...

http://ranchodelastortugas.com/#30416 effects of .25mg xanax - xanax 2mg photos

Unknown said...

www1126

soccer shoes
canada goose outlet
nike huarache
ralph lauren polo
nhl jersey
true religion jeans
coach outlet
jordan shoes
christian louboutin outlet
fitflops clearance


yanmaneee said...

yeezy boost
christian louboutin shoes
christian louboutin
christian louboutin outlet
goyard bags
kevin durant shoes
offwhite
supreme hoodie
yeezy boost
michael kors outlet online