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Has America Lost Its Mind? The New State-Sanctioned Misogyny

Discussion in 'Tilted Philosophy, Politics, and Economics' started by Baraka_Guru, Mar 18, 2012.

  1. redux

    redux Very Tilted

    Location:
    Foggy Bottom
    Or maybe the old horndogs in state legislatures think a war on women will be like the war on drugs and women will become cheaper and more readily available.
     
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  2. Hektore

    Hektore Slightly Tilted

  3. Charlatan

    Charlatan sous les pavés, la plage

    Location:
    Temasek
    How, in this day and age, can *anyone* in the public sphere say some of these things or put forward laws of this sort and not get completely removed from said sphere?

    In a democracy of ideas, these ideas are so antiquated they are practically fossils. Interestingly, they are also the views shared by whom many of the supporters of these ideals would consider their biggest enemies (i.e. Taliban and other non-Christian fundamentalists).
     
  4. Joniemack

    Joniemack Beta brainwaves in session

    Location:
    Reading, UK
    I'm saddened that our daughters are having to fight this fight all over again - but that video makes me want to stand up and cheer.
     
  5. roachboy

    roachboy Very Tilted

    the strategy seems clear enough...mobilize the ultra-right base with a legislative offensive that seems to me parallel to slap suits and in the process frame debate away from the many things that the right has nothing coherent to say about, in significant measure because they cannot stand on their record. so wedge issues, stupid paleolithic wedge issues advanced in cookie cutter legislation that forces these wedge issues to the fore.

    the entry requirement for participation in american pseudo-democracy is money. not message, not argument, not coherence. money. there are no arguments that can rid the political arena of this retrograde bullshit any more than there is any way to argue away a particular season's options for fashion or a particular range of consumer choices of peanut butter. because american politics is understood--especially on the right---as an extension of consumption. the right sells identity politics. that's all their rapidly imploding brand has left.
     
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  6. Actually, this is less about women than about people who dont have power and allegiance to a tribe. According to Huffington Post (read the numbers, first column), more women than men have voted for Santorum from Jan through March 6th.

    Margie Omero: Super Tuesday Surprise! Santorum Now Has a Woman Problem

    We get similar information from the Washington Post; Santorum is rated favorably among 66% of republican women and unfavorably by 18%.

    Rick Santorum doesn't have a (Republican) woman problem - The Washington Post

    If this were a male vs female gender conflict, we would expect women not to vote for or support the anti reproductive rights standardbearer. Instead, it is a continuation of the divide-and-destroy politics of the past 30 years.

    In previous election cycles, politicians have targeted blacks (dangerous!), Hispanics (illegals!), arabs and Muslims (terrorist!) and gays (theyre gonna destroy marriage and get your kids!). Since people did not stand up and say "this is wrong", they're moving on to women who (say that they) have sex for purposes other than having babies.

    The race based attacks are obvious tribalism; a certain racial and socioeconomic sector blaming a variety of others for their problems. Key to this is that members of the attacking tribe believe that they will never be future targets because they will never be another race. The situation is similar for the antigay campaigning of 2004. The current situation is slightly different in that it encourages women to segregate themselves into categories that are acceptable to the tribe which they supported when the attacks on racial and sexual minorities were taking place. I suspect this is why so many women support Santorum.

    In the end, if we want stable reproductive rights, we have to approach them as human rights, not gender rights. Ditto all of the other folks who are being visited by injustice. Women need to stand up when blacks are attacked (for example, the shooting of (Treyvon Martin), blacks need to stand up when Hispanics are being attacked, Hispanics need to stand up when gays are demonized and gays needs to stand up when womens' rights are being disparaged. And yes, we all need to stand up those times when old white men are being put down unfairly.

    Were going to keep going through this until we learn that tribalism is an unacceptable way to run a society.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Mar 22, 2012
  7. Joniemack

    Joniemack Beta brainwaves in session

    Location:
    Reading, UK
    66%? Everyone knows that Republican women think, say, and vote as they are told. Except for Ann Coulter, who isn't really a woman. ;)
     
    Last edited: Mar 21, 2012
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  8. Baraka_Guru

    Baraka_Guru Möderätor Staff Member

    Location:
    Toronto
    This is interesting, and I'm not sure what to make of it. I'm inclined to believe that the women who support Santorum are in the "fetuses are babies" camp. The camp that thinks abortion is irresponsible at best and murder at worst. I see them as people of faith who, like Santorum, view pregnancy as a blessing from God. To carry out that pregnancy is one's responsibility under God.

    That said, this is certainly women's issue, but I can see the tribalism angle as you put it. Perhaps the reason is the tribalism and the outcome is a slew of women's issues.

    Perhaps this is so. What would the demographics of these women be? I can't help but think of them as belonging to the traditionalist tribe as indicated by Michael Adams' Sex in the Snow (if you're familiar). These people are deeply religious and family-oriented but are distinguished by their upholding of historical tradition, respect for institutions (the church, say), sense of duty, and deferred gratification. Their personal values are often in direct conflict with younger, more liberal tribes.

    Agreed.
     
  9. I think that a portion of the women who support Santorum are traditionalist: heavily tied to religious institutions and with a strong tendency to be subservient to the power structure in which they live. (Note: I'm not familiar with Michael Adams' work.) I think that another portion are those who have tied their identity to the "Conservative" brand during previous election cycles: "soccer moms" who are afraid of Hispanics, urban and suburban women who are afraid of black people, etc. Even if they don't specifically support Santorum's anti birth-control message, they have tied their identity to the ideals that he and those like him put forth.

    Keep in mind that identity as a "traditionalist" or "non-traditionalist" person is malleable. A person who does not have a strong sense of identity can have an affair and an abortion and come to church on Sunday to denounce people like themselves as long as nobody else knows (or sometimes even if everybody knows... see Newt Gingrich.)
     
  10. redux

    redux Very Tilted

    Location:
    Foggy Bottom
    Independent women in swing states are running away from Romney.

    I dont expect Obama's 54-36 lead among all women (60+ to 30 for women under 50) to hold and tt is not necessarily the contraception issue, but the broader economic issues, including, I would suggest, Republican budget proposals that disproportionately hurt working families and the health of families on the margin.

    At the state level, the Wisc. governor who is up for recall just repealed a state pay equity law that made it easier for women to fight gender-based pay discrimination in court. An economic issue that cuts right at the heart of women's advances in the workplace.
     
  11. itwasme

    itwasme But you'll never prove it.

    Location:
    In the wind
    It is intrusive, but it is a way to make sure you have not miscarried during your first trimester when they cannot find the heartbeat.
    I do think it's evil to even consider forcing a woman to have one. Talking to your doctor's office shouldn't be like talking to the DA's office.
     
  12. redux

    redux Very Tilted

    Location:
    Foggy Bottom
    I agree that a doctor, in consultation with the patient, should determine if or when it might be necessary, not a mandate imposed by the state legislature on all pregnant women.
    --- merged: Apr 10, 2012 at 6:38 AM ---
    Senate Republican Minority Leader "Ace" McConnell said the other day that the "war on women" is just a "manufactured issue" and that female Republicans in the Senate agree with him.
    MCCONNELL: There is no issue. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison and Kelly Ayotte from New Hampshire and Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe from Maine I think would be the first to say — and Lisa Murkowski from Alaska — ‘we don’t see any evidence of this.’
    Yet:
    Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (in response to a new law in Texas that prohibits Planned Parenthood from participating in the Medicaid program and providing health care services to some 130,000 women: "We cannot afford to lose the Medicaid funding for low income women to have health care services...: I think Planned Parenthood does mammograms, they do so much of the health care — the preventive health care and they’re doing that, we need to provide those services, absolutely."

    Senator Olympia Snow (on the contraception issue and the Republican position to allow employers to deny coverage for contraceptives): "You know, it really is surprising, because I feel like it's a retro-debate that took place in the 1950s," Snowe said. "It's sort of back to the future, isn't it? And it is surprising in the 21st century we would be revisiting this issue."

    Sen. Lisa Murkowski (on Republican position to restrict access to contraception and other basic women's reproductive health care): “It makes no sense, this attack on women....If you don’t feel this is an attack, you need to go home and talk to your wife and your daughters.”

    Maybe McConnell needs mandated treatment for his confusion and befuddlement.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Apr 17, 2012
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  13. Daniel_

    Daniel_ The devil made me do it...

    Can I just say that yes, the rest of the world (or at least the bit of it that is inside my head) is astonished by You Ess Eh.

    I used to think of you as the country of the space programme, the computer, entertainment industry, hamburgers, odd sports that you prefix "World" on because Canada, Mexico, or the Philippines play them too.

    Now I'm starting to think that Deliverance wasn't so much a movie as a documentary.

    England had the same thing in our history - in the mid 1600's; but we grew out of it, restored the King and Europe got back to inventing the modern world in the Enlightenment - ironically, the losers mainly buggered off to set up a new country somewhere over the Atlantic.
     
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  14. Baraka_Guru

    Baraka_Guru Möderätor Staff Member

    Location:
    Toronto
    This is frickin' awesome! I can't wait to see what the conservative "family values" people will say about this. First it was Girl Scouts, and now the "gay agenda" has infiltrated Miss Universe! This "normalization" will harm the children and continue to cause social decay!!!

    Miss Universe pageant allowing transgender women - Yahoo! News
     
  15. redux

    redux Very Tilted

    Location:
    Foggy Bottom
     
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  16. mixedmedia

    mixedmedia ...

    Location:
    Florida
    I know, I love that. It's fantastic.
     
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  17. Baraka_Guru

    Baraka_Guru Möderätor Staff Member

    Location:
    Toronto
    I ♥ Kate Beckinsale.
     
  18. redux

    redux Very Tilted

    Location:
    Foggy Bottom
    The House Republicans released their Labor, Health and Education appropriations bill yesterday that would allow all employers (not just religious institutions) to deny ACA mandated birth control coverage to women for "moral" reasons, totally defunds Title X family planning programs (not just Planned Parenthood) and increase funding for abstinence only education.

    House Appropriations Chairman Hal Rogers (R-Ky.) touted the bill in a statement on Tuesday.

    "This legislation reflects our strong commitment to reduce over-regulation and unnecessary, ineffective spending that feeds the nation’s deficits and hampers economic growth," he said. "A careful look was given to all programs and agencies in the bill, with the budget knife aimed at excess spending and underperforming programs, but also with the goal of making wise investments in programs that help the American people the most."​

    Abstinence only education that doesnt work evidently is effective and helps the American people. Family planning programs that do work are evidently ineffective and do not help Americans. :eek:
     
    Last edited: Jul 18, 2012
  19. roachboy

    roachboy Very Tilted

    in conservativeland, conflation of "the american people" with "the political right" is wholesale, so "helping americans" is the same as "advancing the reactionary social engineering programs favored by the paleolithic right evangelical base". it follows that understanding this bill as lunacy would therefore be unamerican.

    i thought we all knew the special logic used amongst the special people who inhabit that special place called conservativeland.
     
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  20. Baraka_Guru

    Baraka_Guru Möderätor Staff Member

    Location:
    Toronto
    That's some fine theocratic legislation right there.

    Mind you, the Planned Parenthood funding topped $350 million while the abstinence-only budget allocation is currently around $55 million. (Though under Bush, abstinence-only had as much as $176 million.)

    There is a huge difference between "defund" and "cut." Is Planned Parenthood losing it all?
     
    Last edited: Jul 18, 2012