Louise Mensch

Louise Daphne Mensch (née Bagshawe; born 28 June 1971) is a British blogger, novelist, and former Conservative Member of Parliament. In the 1990s, she became known as a writer of chick lit novels under her maiden name Louise Bagshawe. She was elected Conservative MP for Corby at the 2010 UK general election, but resigned from the House of Commons in August 2012 to move to New York City to live with her second husband, American music manager Peter Mensch.

"George Galloway, Todd Akin and other male politicians still getting it wrong on rape" (2012)

 * "George Galloway, Todd Akin and other male politicians still getting it wrong on rape", The Telegraph (21 August 2012)


 * It is [George] Galloway that is bankrupt of meaning: rape is when a woman does not consent. Because she is, for example, asleep and unconscious. Sexual consent is not football; you can’t buy a season ticket.
 * Why do male politicians get this so wrong? Unfortunately, the answer is simple: because they believe what they are saying. Galloway, [Todd] Akin and [Craig] Murray represent the tip of an iceberg of resentment and base sexism.
 * All too often, the media pretends that feminism’s work is done. This week shows us what so many male politicians really think about consent, and sex, and the rights of a woman to withhold it, or attach conditions to it. There is a long way to go.
 * In a podcast about Julian Assange and the accusations two women had made against him, Galloway said: "It might be really bad manners not to have tapped her on the shoulder and said, 'Do you mind if I do it again?’ It might be really sordid and bad sexual etiquette, but whatever else it is, it is not rape or you bankrupt the term rape of all meaning." At the time, Akin (R), was a candidate for the US Senate]]. Craig Murray, a former British ambassador to Uzbekistan, named one of the two women on Newsnight, an action which would be illegal if the alleged events had occurred in the UK.