Source: mobile.twitter.com via Bonnie on Pinterest
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I am a pretty passionate person, and if you know me in my regular personal life (not just as my superhero identity) then you’ll know my political views. Because I say them. Loudly and often. I have made a point to not do that over at SOAM and politics aren’t my main interest here, either. However. I guess the politicians got all jealous and wanted some space here at TIAW devoted to them because they started getting all up in our vaginas.
I’ve already posted an Extra-Slutty Weekly Awesome and a Legitimate Awesome in response to some of the bigger comments that were made this year, and I wanted to do a recap now that we are nearing the election here in the US. I am not suggesting you vote one way or another, but I am asking that you read these links (and more! do your own research!) and very seriously consider your choices and what they might come to mean for you, as a woman. Or for the women in your life, if you happen to be a man reading this.
Here are the reasons why the abortion argument is about more than just abortion:
~Where companies could fire females employees for using birth control to, you know, control birth. In the name of Freedom, y’all.
~Where low-income women lose all preventative health care because it’s provided by – *gasp!* – Planned Parenthood!
~Where banning abortions leads to forced cesareans. Which are, to be very clear, major surgery. And why is it that everyone who wants to ban abortions, also wants to ban or limit birth control? And then to cut low-income programs. Like. Really. How can we win that one? Maybe you didn’t notice, but humans are kind of programmed to want to have lots of the sex. It’s a biological thing. BOOM. Science.
~Where we learn that we aren’t allowed to say parts of the female anatomy in front of men, or children. “Vagina” is totes offensive. So make sure you don’t ever allude to it. Or have one.
Here are the links about rape, and how men get to make all sorts of decisions for women, like whether her rape was real or just a female trickery.
~If you read nothing else here, READ THIS. It’s not just Todd Akin. It’s so many, many conservatives including VP hopeful Paul Ryan.
~Silly women, wives can’t be raped! Maybe you should go home and make sure you were REALLY raped.
~The Official Guide to Legitimate Rape. Need to find out if you were raped or if you are just having “buyers remorse”? This is the link for you!
~Obama’s response to the Akin rape scandal.
~Maybe it would be a better use of time to try ENDING rape rather than judging it?
~Men who rape get to be daddies to the babies they make. Fantastic. Because a sexually violent person should totally get custody of a CHILD.
To sum up, the Conservative view is that birth control is bad. That if you get pregnant because there wasn’t any birth control available, you better have that baby. But that if you have that baby, you better not need any help with services for low-income populations. And if you get raped, well, not only did you probably ask for it and/or are lying about it now, but you’re SOL and, guess what? The father gets rights to that baby. Nice.
The thing here is that, whether Taylor Swift knows it or not, we live in a patriarchy where women are NOT valued, respected, or treated as equals. We are obviously considered to be ignorant, conniving, slutty, sin mobiles that have to be kept in line and protected from ourselves. Not cool. So, my dear readers, learn as much as you can about the candidates you are voting for this year, and vote like your lady parts depend upon it. Because they do.
November 2nd, 2012 at 11:06 am
I love you, Bonnie. I love what you’ve done for mothers and for women in general with SOAM (and TIAW). Obviously I’ve contributed to SOAM a lot. But–and I don’t know if you’ve noticed this while approving comments–I stopped visiting SOAM except sporadically several months ago.
You know why? You may have made a point not to blast your political views on SOAM…but your ads do. I know that you need the ads to make money, but I got so incredibly tired of the pro-Obama, Republicans-hate-women ads every time I visited that I simply…stopped. I’m from Virginia. We are not only a battleground state, we’re likely one of the three states that will determine the election. We have been inundated with TV ads, mailers, and candidate visits for months now. (I haven’t seen a diabetes testing supply commercial during the Price is Right for months now, because more than half the slots are taken up with political ads–and that’s saying something!). I can’t escape the political fervor that grips my area, and having it take over one of my favorite websites was too much for me.
Everybody is entitled to their opinions, and I firmly believe in exploring all the options so I know I stand by what I chose. That being said, I don’t believe that deciding to vote Republican makes me a self-hating woman. It’s not that this stuff isn’t important to me, it is. But there are SO MANY other issues in this election that just birth control and abortion. The economy is more important to me right now than what some dumb-ass white dude said about rape. By no means do I agree with the Republicans on everything; in fact, I think they’re dead wrong on a lot of things. But it’s the things that I think they DO have right that are important to me this time around.
I guess I’m just SO TIRED of being told that I am anti-woman because I dare to support the Republicans. I am not. I have daughters and their future is as important to me as my own. I wish we could vote on issues independently instead of in the Democrat/Republican packages they come wrapped up in, because I don’t agree with either side all of the time. I’m sorry, I had this all planned out in my head but by the time I got to the computer it had turned to mush, it’s not making much sense now.
Anyhow, when you asked for articles the other day, I considered sending you this one (and obviously decided not to). It’s slanted, and I don’t agree with it 100%, but it’s pretty much what I’ve been trying to say here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/obamas-women-problem/2012/04/12/gIQArl5pCT_story.html
November 2nd, 2012 at 6:45 pm
Colleen, I wish you’d said something to me about the ads. I’m fairly oblivious b/c we don’t get a lot of the presidential ads here in California, and I don’t watch enough commercial TV that I get much of anything else. I have some control over what ads air and if this was an issue for many visitors to SOAM I could have opted out.
I also wish you’d have shared that article with me. I may have posted it here along with the others I did. Frankly, I don’t really agree with it. The women I know (and myself, of course) tend to like Obamacare, the way Obama handles the environment, and consider reproductive rights a major issue. But that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t have included it.
I’m glad you shared here. I think you worded yourself very well and I can understand your reasons behind voting Republican.
I hope you’ll come back to SOAM next week!
November 3rd, 2012 at 12:37 am
I have a new submission for you
(Also, I don’t often share which way I’m voting…consider yourself lucky!)
November 3rd, 2012 at 9:15 am
I consider it an honor. 😉
November 7th, 2012 at 5:55 pm
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