The headlines on Friday all referred to Trumps’“lewd” or “vulgar” comments. It wasn’t until I checked in here at dkos that I saw references to Trump bragging about sexual assault. Even Republicans are condemning him — but for being “lewd,” not for being Exhibit A for rape culture. In a stunning series of tweets, Leah McElrath broke down exactly how Trump’s “apology” matched the rationalizations of domestic abusers. Also, why is that every condemnation from a Republican has to say something about “as the father of a daughter...”? You don’t have to be a parent to view women as human.
When the Republican Party elects a nominee, they're not sending their best. They're criminals, they're rapists…
-Robin Thede
To update a meme that was floating around a week or so ago: imagine if Hillary Clinton had five children with three different men, one of her kids was born out of wedlock, she cheated on all her husbands, she talked about wanting to “date” her son, and she was caught on tape bragging that she would go up to men and grab their crotches without asking. What do you think are the chances that she’d be a major party nominee?
Here’s this week’s good, bad, and ugly from the war on women. Thanks as always to Besame, ramara, cinnamon68, elenacarlena, officebss, and the rest of the WOW crew!
Reproductive Rights:
In Poland, lawmakers proposed a total ban on abortion. In response, 7 million Polish women went on strike, and tens of thousands hit the streets in massive protests. Lawmakers backed off, saying the protests had “taught us humility.” Note, however, that this merely restores the status quo in Poland: abortion is only allowed in cases of rape, incest, fetal deformity, or danger to the woman’s life. Feminists are now pushing for a law to allow abortion for any reason up until the 12th week of pregnancy, and later for the reasons currently allowed.
An anti-choice Christian makes a surprising argument that the best way to reduce abortions is to vote for Hillary Clinton:
It's no coincidence that abortions go up when Republicans are in charge and down when Democrats are. The two biggest indicators a woman will have an abortion are that she is poor (75% of women who have abortions make less than $23,000 and half make less than $11,000), and had an unintended pregnancy (half of U.S. pregnancies are unintended, and 43% end in abortion).
Want to guess which political party is more effective at reducing poverty and unwanted pregnancies? I'll give you a hint. It's not the "pro-life" Party that in this last Congressional session alone fought to cut medical care for poor mothers and children, food programs for kids, and contraception coverage and access for women.
Welfare funding that’s supposed to fight poverty is being diverted to face “crisis pregnancy centers.”
Florida ballot initiative proposes the death penalty for abortion, and could include some forms of contraception since it defines pregnancy as starting at the moment of fertilization. I doubt it has any chance of passing — but if you’re in Florida, for heaven’s sake, GOTV.
The first Presidential debate didn’t mention abortion, and the VP one (that seems so long ago now) glossed over it. Here’s one abortion clinic employee’s thoughts on what needs to be said.
Workplace Issues:
No surprise: reports that Trump reportedly harassed women on the set of The Apprentice.
Women postdocs are 10% less likely to get “excellent” letters of reference.
Violence:
Carl Ferrer, chief executive of Backpage.com, was arrested for charges that include pimping minors. Sex worker rights activists argue that sites like Backpage make life safer for them, as they can do some screening of customers rather than taking their chances on the street. The flip side is that it’s also a handy way for traffickers to pimp their victims, including children, using coded language that’s easy for the customers to spot.
“The Birth of a Nation,” the film by Nate Parker and Jean Celestin, includes a fictional scene of Nat Turner’s wife being raped to motivate his rebellion — an overused fictional trope that didn’t need to be tacked onto Nat Turner’s story. Some reflections on this by the sister of the woman that Parker and Celestin were accused of raping in 1999. (Celestin was convicted, Parker was acquitted, apparently on the argument that the woman had consensual sex with him on a previous occasion, as if consent had a permanent “no backsies” clause.)
Wesleyan recently fired Scott Backer, the person whose job for 10 years included adjudicating sexual assault cases. The firing came after they learned — from the Boston Globe— that he’d been fired from a previous job for sexting an underage girl.
It’s one thing to mock a Kardashian for some vapid tweet. But Kim Kardashian is being mocked and victim-blamed after being robbed at gunpoint, tied up and terrorized. This shouldn’t happen to a human being, period.
Art & Science:
The Christa Project displays a sculpture of Christ as a crucified woman. (I remember when this first came out in 1984, it was very controversial.)
Wonder Woman came out as bisexual.
Uncategorizable:
In Zurich, tampon tax protesters turn a fountain red.
A short history of men talking over women.
An Italian study claims that penises are 10% smaller than they were 50 years ago. Rush Limbaugh blames feminism. If we had that kind of power, wouldn’t we do something more useful with it? Cure the common cold, or get radios to automatically switch from his show to soothing music?
Action Items:
An easy way to help get out the women's vote: Moms Rising will send 5 pre-stamped and pre-addressed postcards for voters who don't always vote. Then all you have to do is write by hand a brief message urging them to vote.
Here’s you National Pro-Choice Voter’s Guide.