You know who they are…all those wanton women, those shameful creatures, the ones who actually have a sexual identity and dare to live the same kind of normal lives as men. Yes, you know who they are, the women who hear themselves called "sluts" and "whores" and "prostitutes" if they dare to differ, to speak out, to argue, to protest, or to even dare to think for themselves. Let’s hear it for them.
Let’s hear it for all the women who are vilified because they dare to want to control their own reproductive systems, - and who consider pregnancy prevention a vital part of their basic health. Who would guess that this is the 21st century, and that this is the United States of America? Who would guess that a powerful group of politically extreme, narrow minded, mean-spirited, insecure and backward-looking little men would use the ‘s’ word to describe any woman, anywhere in this day and age? Who would guess? So let’s really hear it for them.
And while we’re at it, let’s hear it for the Limbaugh feminazis among us as well. You know, those ugly, unappealing, man-hating women defiled by mindless ditto-heads for years. Yes, you got it, those miserable females who want equal pay for equal work, or equal rights under the law, or – OMG - access to safe and affordable abortions. Let’s hear it for these women who have heard the whole gamut of ugly names hurled at them, and who have managed to shrug them off with grace and dignity. Please, let’s hear it.
Let’s also understand that women’s sexual freedom has long terrified men in many countries of the world. A woman’s ability to control her own body and to free herself from the consequences of unprotected sex has resulted in the widespread oppression of women in much of the world, primarily in those countries governed by religious doctrine.
Let’s also understand that women who stray from the rigid sexual limitations imposed by their societies are regularly defiled and reviled for their deviant behavior. They suffer this degradation for daring to exercise the same sexual freedom as their male counterparts. Surely that’s as undemocratic as it is primitive, but we know that it goes on all over the world.
So let’s understand that to a great degree, this is exactly what is happening here.
Rush Limbaugh aside, the assault on the rights of women is alive and well all over this country. Every single GOP controlled legislature in the United States has passed laws to limit the rights of women to control their own bodies. This latest outrage, - the attempt to limit women’s access to contraception is only one skirmish in a war that promises to put American women back in the kitchen where they belong, barefoot and pregnant.
And, it promises to attack those women who dare to fight back by labeling them "sluts" and "prostitutes." It promises to insult and demean all women who dare to continue a fight that started decades ago, and that brought women the many rights they rightfully won.
And now, we see a new low in that war. It comes from that bloated, ignorant, former disk jockey-turned radio talk show loudmouth, to whom the Republican right wing bows and scrapes in nauseating unison, Yes, it comes from Rush Limbaugh, who has no clue that he has empowered and united American women in three days as few others could have done in three years. And for the moment, as women who will fight against this calculated oppression, we must all be sluts and prostitutes together.
Understand that in the end, we are women who choose to be free, and remain free, regardless of the names people like Limbaugh and his minions use to define us. We will, in the end, fully control our bodies and our choices - whether they call us names or not..
So, let’s hear it for us all.
