No GOP War On Women?
GOP war on women
Republicans deny waging war on women.
Well, how about the list below, which includes cuts to life-saving programs that mostly affect women.
Too many Republican legislators have:
- Voted against equal pay for women
- Sought to make miscarriage subject to criminal investigation
- Sought to make women’s health insurance cost more than men’s
- Cut funds to women’s clinics that screen for STDs and cancer of the breast and cervix
- Insisted corporations should have more rights than women, when it comes to contraception. Even though it is women’s bodily and financial well-being that are at stake
- Insisted that women seeking abortion undergo a vaginal probe — mirroring sexual assault
- Refused to consider rape or incest, or a women’s health or life, when legislating against abortion
- Said stupid stuff about rape, like insisting that it can’t cause pregnancy
Meanwhile, Paul Ryan’s budget:
- Cuts programs that disproportionately affect women: Medicaid, food stamps, supplementary security income, Pell grants, and more
- Retains benefits that go disproportionately to men: active-duty military and veterans benefits, plus corporate welfare
Where your taxes go.
By the way, if you made $50,000 in 2012 you paid about $7 for welfare, $37 for food stamps, and $4,000 in corporate subsidies.
Meanwhile, the conservative Breitbart News attached the head of House Leader, Nancy Pelosi onto Miley Cyrus’ twerking body. And one conservative super PAC registered with the name, “Boats ‘N Hoes” (before disbanding after criticism).
But, George Will retorts, Republicans have some good female candidates, so there can’t possibly be a GOP war on women.
Others insist it’s Democrats who are waging this war, since a few were caught in sex scandals. Yet Republicans have played that game, too. And the scandals affect the men’s wives, not female citizens, at large.
As Dana Milbank points out, the war-on-women complaints aren’t made in a vacuum. They arise from actual policy proposals.
No war against women, you say? Actions speak louder than words.
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Posted on April 18, 2014, in feminism, politics/class inequality, sexism, women and tagged Boats 'N Hoes, Breitbart, feminism, GOP, Nancy Pelosi, Paul Ryan, politics/class inequality, sexism, War on Women, women. Bookmark the permalink. 19 Comments.
BroadBlogs 
I remember one of the comments on rape that was brought up, the Representative Todd Akin said something along the lines of “if it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to shut that whole thing down or something.” There’s a sarcastic buzzfeed post about that comment and the prevention of contraception and abortion http://www.buzzfeed.com/annanorth/legitimate-rape-meet-legitimate-drowning
Also, it’s ridiculous that they expect women to be able to afford higher health insurance costs than men if they voted against women having equal pay. Personally I feel that more should be covered under our health insurance, it’s expensive just to be a woman, with just the cost of tampons and sanitary napkins every month, though that pales in comparison to all the issues you’ve brought up. It’s scary how close Todd Akin’s was to becoming a U.S. Senator until that comment, and from this post it’s clear to see that he’s certainly not the only Republican politician who holds this type of ignorant, misogynistic, view of women. I agree with you in that I don’t know how there are women out there who still vote for the GOP.
So true:
they expect women to be able to afford higher health insurance costs than men yet they voted against women having equal pay
A lot of people write these articles deriding the GOP figures, but they fail to mention the larger problem: These people were *elected.* Senators and congressmen don’t just appear out of nowhere with outrageous and one-sided opinions, they represent a demographic. That’s not to say they or their opinions are any less loathsome, but it is their job to espouse those opinions on behalf of their constituents. (I’m a little opinionated myself. Hopefully you can see past that at what I’m getting at.)
The point is that we can rage and rant at these people all we want, but unless we can change the minds of the people who elect these figures, our opinions aren’t going to make the slightest difference.
As usual, the best way to get to them is through education. But there is a vicious cycle of bias electing bias, and the elected officials are the ones who influence the education of their demographic, and it is in their best interest to keep them the way they are to be reelected… It’s going to be a hard fight.
That’s why I’m trying to educate people through this article.
And also educate them on gerrymandered districts, preventing minorities from voting, along with the problem of think tanks brainwashing them. Here are a couple posts on that last issue:
No Longer Blinded by the Right
https://broadblogs.com/2012/10/26/no-longer-blinded-by-the-right/
Vote to Help the Rich, Hurt Yourself
https://broadblogs.com/2012/11/02/vote-to-help-the-rich-hurt-yourself/
Some of those are valid, but some are alarmist too. That’s why these issues keep coming up. Both sides are mind-numbingly antagonistic with charges of sexism. Not everything has to do with sexism and men face it too. Who advocates for us given that any men’s right groups gets shut out before ever getting a chance. Feminism cannot monopolize equality.
1. Men pay more for car insurance but I don’t hear the gender police taking that up!
2. 90% of men are homeless
3. Over 95% of non-military work related deaths are men
4. Family court is decidedly against father’s rights and that was started with the Tender Years doctrine as supported by Caroline Norton, a feminist. The Tender years doctrine is no longer law but the bias it created endures.
5. A lot of people think men can’t be raped when in fact a recent study showed that its a much bigger problem than people realize. It’s a real sexist attitude to assume that an erection = consent anymore than lubrication means a woman enjoyed it.
If you were facing these things, I doubt you would call them alarmist. And all of them involve sexism.
I wonder why men’s rights activists insist that women should be fighting for men’s rights, and yet the men’s rights activists never fight for women’s rights?
Your contention inspires me to write a blog post on the topic. Stay tuned. (But this is a “Friday” topic and I’m planning something else for next weekend, so it could be a couple weeks.)
I just don’t get how these Republican legislators can be so inhumane towards women. By cutting these life-saving programs that screen for STD’s and cancer, how are they going to expect women to keep reproducing when they keep dying. That’s like these Republican legislators telling their wives or mothers that they can’t go get tested for these diseases. How cruel! I know for a fact if a woman in my family had any of these diseases I would try to help them out as much as I can, not cut off their resources. Maybe if they took a step back and put themselves in a woman’s perspective they would have a different mind set.
Woah, what struck me the most was the criminal investigations on miscarriages. Like, really? Imagine how the mother feels when she has to go through with that kind of hardship! I’ll be honest, as a man who would someday be a father in the future I would not want my daughter to go through with this and be a victim of this severe discrimination.
Yeah. A lot of conservative women who vote Republican could get caught in this net, making a horrible situation even more horrifying.
Preach! I just don’t get why they can’t see it.
Trying to pass a law that requires a criminal investigation for miscarriages fills me with rage. Actually, most of these fill me with rage. In their insistence of banning abortion and contraception (which makes no sense for a group of people who want to eliminate abortions), these people blindly ignore the myriad of other care and support they deny women.
I’m amazed that there are still women out there who vote for the GOP.
This makes me so mad!! Criminal investigations for miscarriages! Got to be kidding me. I get told,’eh why do you call yourself a feminist, we already got votes and equal pay years ago don’t have to worry about women’s stuff nowdays’
Oh please.
Yeah, so many people aren’t aware of all of the inequality that is still out there.
Happy Easter ! 🙂
Thank you.
I am struck by how the war on women today for many seems the norm, which was probably how women a few centuries ago felt when witch burning, etc. was all the rage. Will people a hundred years from now look back and grimace at how unacceptable everything you list above was?
I do hope they will grimace.
Excellent post. Paradigms shift slowly don’t they!
Thank you. And yes, they do.