You know, I usually consider myself a reasonable fellow averse to inflamatory terms like 'War on Women.' But I am absolutely flabbergasted at the efforts of GOP institutions across the country to systematically rob women of the rights they are entitled to; the CHOICE of how they want to manage their reproductive health and have families ( see Kansas and Arizona enabling doctors to mislead female patients to prevent an abortion, requiring a woman to be vaginally penetrated by a probe in order to get an abortion, requiring women to carry an non-viable fetus to term), the right to proper healthcare from a trained OB/GYN at a price they can afford to pay(see GOP institutions systematically stripping funding for low-cost women's health services), and the right to earn the same pay that a man does for the same work that he does (see Wisconsin repealing a bill which prohibits discrimination in pay based on gender). I can see nothing else to call this other than a widespread attack on women's rights. Calling this a 'war on women' is not mere disingenuous namecalling. It's a remarkably accurate representation of the attitudes which Republican Party organisations across our land are expressing towards women.
Let me put this in a way that us danglers can understand:
Gentlemen, do you want some old white dude in your state or national capital telling the woman you have sex with what she must do with her body? Do you want a government or employer taking measures to deliberately restrict her ability to have safe, enjoyable sex with you? Do you want your future girlfriends, daughters, and wives to be unable to contribute to their families and their communities in the way that they could if their reproductive organs were located on the outside?
You know what, this is America, and there is a place in our society for people who want to raise their families in a way that teaches that abortion is never permitted, that a woman's duty is to be more of a homemaker than a breadwinner, and that a woman should have only procreative sex within the context of marriage. But because this is America, each woman gets to decide FOR HERSELF whether she wishes to follow this manner of sexual conduct or whether to teach it to her sons and daughters. You're allowed to call a woman who enjoys recreational sex a slut, because this is America (just like I can call you a misogynistic pig who's probably never made a woman's nether-bits tingle in his whole goddamned life). You're allowed to condemn a woman who has lots of sex with many men a whore, because this is America. You're allowed to tell her that God wants her to save herself for marriage, because this is America. But you can only express those things in your speech and how you raise your family. You aren't allowed to impose it on anyone else.
The legal tradition of this country says that a fetus is not a life, that a person should be entitled to pay and employment commensurate with their work, education, and utility as an employee, not based on their gender, colour, creed, or with whom they want to have mature, adult relations. The GOP must quit trying to circumvent the spirit of our nation's legal tradition with these under-handed jabs at the rights our society decided women were entitled to decades ago.
What grounds do we have to complain that Egypt and Tunisia have elected Islamist governments when this is what we do in our own country?
