MAKING LEMONADE OUT OF BIGOTED SEXIST IDEOLOGUES

If you’ve been breathing, you’ve probably heard that the issues of birth control and mandatory, state-sanctioned vaginal probes are prominent in the Federal and State governments lately. Yes, that’s right, in the year 2012 we are discussing a woman’s right to have access to and fair funding for birth control and our right to not be subject to state-sanctioned rape. It’s fascinating really in a political sense because Republicans, in the case of birth control, are framing the argument of requiring employers to cover birth control (and I do mean employers and NOT religiously affiliated employers because, if you’ve paid attention, this is no longer about religious institutions but ALL employers) as a government intrusion into personal lives. However, in the case of mandatory trans-vaginal ultrasounds (now whittled down to abdominal ultrasounds because Republicans seem to think another medical procedure forced by the government upon women is somehow more appropriate), they’re making the argument that government is far more equipped to make medical decisions than a woman and her doctor. Do I really need to elucidate the hypocrisy? No? Okay then, let’s move on.

Recently, the House of Representatives held a hearing in which they discussed birth control. They held a hearing on contraception without one single female who was pro-birth control. No women. The one woman that Democrats tried to put on the panel was nixed by Darrell Issa. That’s right. Our House of Representatives convened a hearing about women’s rights, but one thing was conspicuously absent from this hearing—WOMEN!!

What you might not have heard yet is that the woman who Democrats wanted to place on the panel was recently called a slut and insinuated to be a prostitute by the one and only Rush Limbaugh. That’s right, if you’re a woman and you believe that your reproductive health should be covered by your insurance, which by the way you pay for via decreased wages (you don’t honestly think your employer really foots the bill, do you?), then you’re a slut and a prostitute. Hmm…nobody seems to have a problem with the fact that insurance covers Viagra. Let’s see—boners good, contraception bad. I get it now. Rush is a bloviating fool who says things like this purely for ratings and really isn’t worth a response, but in this case I’ll make an exception. I have five words for you Rush, lick me you fat fuck.

Now, that being said, I’m going to try and make some lemonade here out of the fact that women’s rights are being trampled on and we’re being treating like we’re too irresponsible and fatuous to make our own medical decisions without the guiding hand of the government. I’m a feminist, flamboyant and proud of it. I was born late enough to benefit from all the work of the women before me that allowed me to do things like vote (if you’re a woman and you don’t vote, shame on you), work, control when and if I become pregnant, make my own medical decisions, have equal access to education, be able to benefit from athletic competition…shall I go on? I didn’t have to fight for these things because other women cared enough about the future to fight for me. And for that, the least I owe to them is to educate myself about their fight.  

Why now, if we’ve already fought for these things, are we finding ourselves in a position of having to fight for them again? Because we, in so many facets of our lives, refuse to accept the fact that past is prologue. We’ve been complacent. There are young female athletes out there who don’t know what Title IX is. There are women who have never heard of Alice Paul or Elizabeth Cady Stanton. There are women out there who probably think that Griswold v. Connecticut is part of the National Lampoon’s Vacation series. Betty Friedan, Gloria Steinem, Bella Abzug—never heard of ‘em. When we don’t educate ourselves and others about what it took to get to the point we’re at, we’re doomed to repeat the past. And that’s exactly what we’re experiencing now with our government trying ferociously to retract our reproductive health rights.

Here’s the lemonade. I hope the anger we feel toward what Republicans are trying to impose on us, as women and men who support women, incites us to rekindle feminisms fire. We got so far and then got lazy. Women are still locked out of upper management positions in corporations. We still make only about 80% on the dollar of what men make. Medical studies are still largely done on men, so when you’re prescribed that medication it’s pretty much pissing in the wind as to how it’s going to affect you. Athletic programs are trying to undermine Title IX by using it as a scapegoat for problems with men’s sports like wrestling and track and if we get lazy on this, one of the most beneficial pieces of legislation—something I definitely benefitted from—will be gone.

I hope what’s happening today reminds women that there are people out there who believe that you are not equal to them, that you are too dumb to make your own decisions, that you don’t deserve the same opportunities as them, and that you shouldn’t be paid as much as them. I hope this incites women to stand back up and flip the collective middle finger to these sexist bastards with our voices and with our votes. For all of you out there who thought that it was an exaggeration to say that these people exist, I hope what’s happening scares you enough to start caring because if we don’t then we’re going to have to fight all over again for things that were earned long ago.

And for your amusement….