Oh dear, Mr Akin...

OK so this is an American story, but it seems it has its origins over here.  The said Mr Akin, a senatorial candidate, suggested that a woman who is raped is unlikely to conceive.  He used the rather strange phrase "legitimate rape" which is an obvious oxymoron, but the idea behind what he was saying goes back to the English common law in the 13th century or thereabouts.  The theory back then was that, in order to conceive, a woman must experience orgasm, and therefore if she does conceive, the sex must have been consensual. In English law, this idea had more or less been discredited by the 17th century, but  surprisingly is apparently still alive and well in at least some parts of the US!