Perry says fossil fuels can help prevent rape in Africa

Energy Secretary Rick Perry attends a news conference, Tuesday, July 18, 2017, at the National Press Club in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin) Energy Secretary Rick Perry attends a news conference, Tuesday, July 18, 2017, at the National Press Club in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin) Photo: Jacquelyn Martin, STF Photo: Jacquelyn Martin, STF Image 1 of / 45 Caption Close Perry says fossil fuels can help prevent rape in Africa 1 / 45 Back to Gallery

Energy Secretary Rick Perry has put his foot in it again.

During a talk in Washington Thursday morning, the former Texas governor claimed that using fossil fuels to expand electricity across Africa could help reduce sexual assaults there.

Perry recounted a conversation with a young girl on a recent trip to South Africa, in which she said her family needed electricity so she could read without a fire and, "those fumes literally killing people. But also from the standpoint of sexual assault."

"When the lights are on, when you have light that shines — the righteousness, if you will — on those types of acts," Perry said at the event, hosted by news website Axios, according to the political news website Politico.

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At a time executives and government officials around the world are being forced to answer to allegations of sexual harassment and assault, the comment quickly drew a flurry of outrage and jokes on social media platforms - again putting the gaffe-prone former governor in the spotlight over his turns of phrase.

The Sierra Club tweeted, "Perry should resign from his position immediately before he causes any more damage."

But not everyone was so incensed, with some on social media even defending Perry.

"Indoor air pollution kills. Lighted streets prevent crime. Don't get to laugh at Rick Perry and feel better about yourself, though. Sorry," Noah Rothman, an associate editor at the political magazine Commentary, wrote on Twitter.

According to news reports, Perry's comment came in response to a protester yelling that climate change was killing people in poorer nations.

"Let me tell you, where people are dying in Africa is because of the lack of energy they have there, and it's going to take fossil fuels to push power out into those villages in Africa," Perry said.

A spokeswoman for the energy department explained Perry had been moved by the Africa trip and in telling the story about the young girl was trying to express the need for electricity in Africa.

"The secretary was making the important point that while many Americans take electricity for granted there are people in other countries who are impacted by their lack of electricity," she said.