Washington, Oct. 11 (ANI): A Wisconsin lawmaker has come under fire from his election challenger over some remarks that he made last year about women who "rape easy."
Roger Rivard, who was talking in reference to a 17-year-old who was charged with assault after having sex with his underage girlfriend on their high school campus, said that his father had warned him that "some girls rape easy."
He explained that meant they'd verbally consent to sex, then later accuse the man of rape.
Rivard, who was endorsed by Republican VP nominee, Paul Ryan, claimed that his father's advice was taken out of context.
"What the whole genesis of it was, it was advice to me, telling me, 'If you're going to go down that road, you may have consensual sex that night and then the next morning it may be rape.' So the way he said it was, 'Just remember, Roger, some girls, they rape so easy. It may be rape the next morning," the Huffington Post quoted Rivard, as saying.
"So it's been kind of taken out of context," he added.
Three hours later, Rivard issued a statement to the newspaper clarifying that "sexual assault is a crime that unfortunately is misunderstood." He also said he realized his comments "have the potential to be misunderstood as well."
Rivard's initial comments were ignored by the media in December. However, as the freshman legislator faces a tight reelection bid against Democrat Stephen Smith, a number of groups of Wisconsin have revisited the comments, criticizing the Republican for appearing to blame the victims of assault, the paper said. (ANI)