Abstract Republican candidates made headlines during the 2012 election season for their offensive statements regarding rape when defending a comprehensive ban on abortion. Using Lacan’s theory of psychosis, this article exposes unconscious rhetorical structures that may have contributed to the repetition of those gaffes even after the Republican Party advised all candidates to stop talking about rape. I argue that the repetition of controversial comments, during and after candidates’ attempts to retract their inaccurate statements, was the result of a foreclosure in the minds of some candidates. The discursive structure of their comments provides evidence that some candidates were unable to reconcile White patriarchal subjectivity with the inability to protect against rape.

中文翻译：

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“强奸是一个四个字母的词”：2012 年美国大选中的精神病、性侵犯和堕胎

摘要 共和党候选人在 2012 年选举季因在捍卫全面禁止堕胎时关于强奸的冒犯性言论而成为头条新闻。这篇文章使用拉康的精神病理论，揭示了无意识的修辞结构，即使在共和党建议所有候选人停止谈论强奸之后，这些结构也可能导致这些失言的重复。我认为，在候选人试图收回他们不准确的陈述期间和之后，反复出现有争议的评论是一些候选人头脑中止赎的结果。他们评论的话语结构提供了证据，表明一些候选人无法调和白人父权制主观性与无法防止强奸的问题。