"What does it say about the college co-ed Sandra Fluke, who goes before a congressional committee and essentially says that she must be paid to have sex, what does that make her? It makes her a slut, right? It makes her a prostitute. She wants to be paid to have sex. She's having so much sex she can't afford the contraception. She wants you and me and the taxpayers to pay her to have sex. What does that make us? We're the pimps."
If we are going to pay for your contraceptives, and thus pay for you to have sex. We want something for it. We want you to post the videos online so we can all watch," he said.Sigh. The War on Uteri™ continues unabated, from state legislatures churning out bill after bill to restrict, undermine and intimidate women from exercising control of their reproductive faculties to conservative front-liners like Rush Limbaugh and Foster Friess letting loose with ultimately misogynistic rhetoric such as the above.
Here we have financially well-off men with their own personal demons and presumed difficulty in maintaining their sexual vigor declaring women who wish to NOT be punished with pregnancy or STDs whenever they have sex on their own terms and with partners they choose, "prostitutes," "sluts" and "whores." You have to wonder if these men and others like them are just angry they can't get any unless they hold out the carrots of power and wealth and then hope some unsuspecting intern takes a bite. Sexual deprivation and frustration tends to manifest in strange ways.
“I get such a chuckle when these things come out. Here we have millions of our fellow Americans unemployed. We have jihadist camps being set up in central – in Latin America, which Rick has been warning about, and people seem to be so preoccupied with sex. I think it says something about our culture. We maybe need a massive therapy session so we can concentrate on what the real issues are. And this contraceptive thing, my gosh, it’s so — such inexpensive. Back in my days, they used Bayer aspirin for contraceptives. The gals put it between their knees and it wasn’t that costly.”
But it's not just them. It's several segments of the national populace who enjoy hearing men like Limbaugh and Friess say the things they're too polite or afraid to openly proclaim themselves. These people have a low opinion of women who won't follow the narrow sexual path set down by a combination of religious doctrine and a pathological fear of sex itself. They can't enjoy sexual freedom for fear of being ostracized as a whore or a slut, hence appearances must be kept and "whores" must be shamed. Ta-Nehisi Coates calls it the "normalization of cruelty." I call it "unleashing your inner asshole."
Let's face it -- people, if left to their own devices without the various restraining bolts offered by civilized society, will default to two basic modes of behavior: assholes and cowards. There's something pleasurable to the primal corners of our brain to behave like assholes whenever we can get away with it, to feel like the big man or woman by treating someone else like complete shit, unless there's a damned good reason to keep that inner asshole in a box. The vast majority of the time, it's the threat of being knocked out/seriously injured/killed by someone who decides they can be an even bigger asshole. That's where the "coward" part comes in, known by that much nicer term "self preservation." This explains why bullies seldom target people who are either bigger and meaner than they are or those capable of fighting back. "Self preservation" dictates unleashing your inner asshole on targets perceived to be weaker or incapable of hitting back: waitstaff, the homeless and impoverished, lower-tier employees, temp workers, minorities and sadly, women and children.
As an example, a man engaged in domestic violence will unleash his inner asshole on his wife behind closed doors. He won't do that while the wife's male relatives are around, lest they decide to unleash their inner assholes collectively. Teachers can be assholes to their students, but not in front of the parents or representatives of the school administration. Assholes being assholes to one another usually results in assholes getting injured or killed. Being an asshole to the wrong people will definitely get you killed.
Being an asshole to women who are only looking out for their own reproductive health is fair game to certain ideological and political corners. You have those who do it for political gain (see just about any GOP candidate or elected politician) and others who are compelled to by their own personal views, religious doctrine, deep-seated jealousy and malice, or any combination of the aforementioned. Casting women who want to keep their right to purchase birth control, have safe and legal abortions and generally maintain control of their own reproductive destiny as "prostitutes," "sluts" and "whores" comes easy for these people. Except, of course, when they have to manage their own reproductive faculties. Then the rules go out the window. Sympathy is even expected, just not for those sluts.
By the way, there are a few ways to neutralize an asshole. Here's one way:
The others involve constant awareness and information about womens' reproductive rights. Constantly enlighten those around you, push laws that benefit women and protect their rights and of course, never be cowed into silence by the assholes around you. Your voice is perhaps the most powerful tool you have.
