I have to say, I approached this show with a bit of trepidation, since ‘rape’ is such a potent word and I thought people would be angry about whatever I said. But you have to tackle the tough ones sometimes. And some people do throw the word around, so I wanted to address it. One politician referred to ‘raping companies‘, which does seem trivial. And then Fox’s Catholic priest referred to the government ‘raping their rights’. Don’t you think that of all people, a Catholic priest would want to divert attention away from that word? I’ve never noticed him being so concerned about actual rape.

Yes, we do discuss the word ‘rape’ and its history, but we’re really talking about how to navigate language change. Is it okay to use the word ‘rape’ metaphorically, like “raping the wilderness”? Or does that trivialise real rape? On the other hand, the word ‘rape’ has been stricken from actual trials where sexual assault is the real issue! I was a juror in a sexual assault trial years ago, and I don’t recall the word ‘rape’ being used.

Hang out ’til the end — there’s a little bit of post-show chatter.

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Show notes: Here