CommentsMY TURN-This topic is a mixed bag of complicated pieces that begins with the sexually suppressed conservatives and extends from the men that preach it to the women that buy into it.
With each step that the women’s movement has taken to free the oppression, conservatives have undertaken specific methods to undermine the removal of the shackles. Painting an entire party with such a broad paintbrush may sound unfair, but when you view the fact that members are promoting sexual abuse and oppression, participating in it or turning a blind eye, it indeed incorporates every one of them. It isn’t unfair to make this kind of statement, because if you examine the type of bills and legislation that the GOP institutes and supports, you will see that it is anti-women at every step of the way.
The most blatant example of the sexual abuse approval process occurred on Sept. 27, 2018 during the testimony process of both Dr. Christine Blasey Ford and Brett Kavanaugh. We watched as a woman accommodated what was expected of her in presentation: credibility based on even tone responses, logic, educational information, and the touch of emotion that accompanies a traumatic experience. On the other hand, we saw Kavanaugh as a belligerent, angry, disrespectful, entitled white male who refused to answer direct questions and was specifically contemptuous towards the female Democrats. All the while, the Republican members of the committee said nothing regarding Kavanaugh’s behavior, while often interrupting female Democrats. Silence, as they say, is an open approval.
Women in our society aren’t “allowed” to react in the manner that Kavanaugh has done. We know that the moment we raise our voices, begin to cry, or express any kind of anger, we are immediately accused of being hormonally affected. If Dr. Ford had reacted like Kavanaugh in the testimony process, she would have been removed. However, the conservatives saw nothing wrong with Kavanagh’s response, in fact, they repeatedly supported it.
This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the subject of sexual abuse, because as much as the GOP didn’t want to admit it, Dr. Ford came across as credible, knowledgeable and helpful. Not something that the Republicans expected because they are used to being able to rip apart the stories that women present. In this case, Dr. Ford had a lie detector test and multiple requests for an FBI investigation on her side and Kavanaugh had…a scribbled hand-written calendar from the 1980’s, a rich kid response of “I didn’t do it”, and an absolutely obvious lack of ability to state that he would institute a request for an FBI investigation.
At each step we witnessed the type of sexual abuse approval that has been occurring over the last decades. Males are allowed to physically and verbally abuse women and are forgiven, as long as they make an emotional plea. In the case of Kavanaugh, he was raised within the Roman Catholic religion which endorses that you can do and say anything that you want, as long as you go to confession. Each variation of the Christian religion has its form of reprieve and in the GOP world they are known for being pseudo-Christians that cherry-pick what they want to include as religious doctrine.
Republicans Dismiss Claims of Rape and Sexual Assault
The Ford/Kavanaugh testimonies carried weight in some important areas, with the primary focus on the believability of Dr. Ford and the idiocy of Kavanaugh. This was not something that the GOP expected. They had more than likely preplanned to put on a face view of offering respect to Dr. Ford and then ripping her testimony apart. However, the world saw Dr. Ford’s presentation as genuine and credible, so Republicans had to move to their “Plan B: discredit the Democrats for exposing this whole thing and do what sexual abuse supporters always do: turn Kavanaugh into the victim.
We watched as Senator Grassley repeatedly interrupted and finally as Lindsey Graham jumped into his obviously Trump-inspired tirade, blaming and finger pointing to the Democrats because the sexual assault situation was not presented in their preferred timeline. We heard Kavanaugh, who is being considered for one of the highest positions in the nation and who is supposed to be nonpartisan for the decision making process, explode into angry accusations towards the Democrats and to Dr. Ford herself, accusing everyone of retribution against his own rather distasteful desire to get every dirty little detail during the interrogation of President Bill Clinton as well as accusing everyone of being involved in a conspiracy to fight back against the 2016 election.
In the world of sexual abusers, this form of response is common. Blame everyone else and act as if you are the victim.
Republicans were quite pleased with themselves for creating this redirect; after all, they are being pushed along by Trump and he encourages the lies and outrage. It works for him. What they didn’t expect was the response from the court of public opinion. No one believed their charade and a large majority not only saw through Kavanaugh’s deliberate bait and switch tactics but were demanding an FBI investigation.
However, behind the scenes, many of the Republicans are making statements that they simply don’t care about the sexual assault accusations and that they will vote for Kavanaugh no matter what.
Republicans Have a Sick and Misogynistic View of Rape
Let’s look at how conservatives actually see rape and the victim:
“In the emergency room they have what’s called rape kits where a woman can get cleaned out” — Texas state Rep. Jodie Laubenberg, on why there shouldn’t be a rape or incest exception in Texas’ sweeping anti-choice bills.
“Before…my friends on the left side of the aisle here tried to make rape and incest the subject — because, you know, the incidence of rape resulting in pregnancy are very low” -- Republican Rep. Trent Franks.
“I would hope that when a woman goes into a physician with a rape issue, that that physician will indeed ask her about perhaps her marriage, was this pregnancy caused by normal relations in a marriage, or was it truly caused by a rape.” — Republican Idaho state senator Chuck Winder
“If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.” — Rep. Todd Akin (R-Missouri). His lost his Senate bid in 2012.
“The facts show that people who are raped — who are truly raped — the juices don’t flow, the body functions don’t work and they don’t get pregnant. Medical authorities agree that this is a rarity, if ever.” — former Rep. Henry Aldridge (R-N.C.)
“As long as it’s inevitable, you might as well lie back and enjoy it.” — Former Texas Republican gubernatorial contender Clayton Williams on rape.
There are NO words for some of these comments and frankly, they leave the rest of us dumbfounded. They cover the gamut from lack of medical knowledge to a kind of “Handmaid’s Tale” version of perspective.
Those of us that were lucky enough to be raised in a liberal environment, receive a good public school education and even travel nationally and internationally are appalled when we hear these kinds of third world country statements. It is particularly disturbing when they come out of the mouths of women! If they didn’t have such a sway over government practices, we would all simply pity them, but these are cult religious views that seep into the legislation of our country. People think nothing of the fact that we are living in a misogynistic age where men make decisions about a woman’s body and her choices of care.
A particularly poignant incident occurred involving the initial interview of Kavanaugh and was covered by many media sources. This ThinkProgress article is just one of them:
“In a telling moment during Wednesday’s confirmation hearings, Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh appeared dumbfounded when he was asked by Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) whether he knows of any laws that give the government the power to control male bodies.
‘Can you think of any laws that give government the power to make decisions about the male body?’ Harris asked.
After a long pause and a bizarre back-and-forth in which Kavanaugh asked for a more specific question and then claimed he thought Harris was ‘asking about medical procedures that are unique to men,’ the judge eventually admitted that he could not think of any laws governing the male body.”
Conservative men and women remain in the dark ages, seeing women as second-class citizens who aren’t smart enough to make their own medical decisions and rape and sexual assault as something women just have to live with and accept. This is a tribal culture and has been raised to the surface by the likes of Trump, Kavanaugh, Marco Rubio, Lindsey Graham, and all of the other Neanderthal men. As far as the conservative women, they suffer from low self-esteem and possibly Stockholm Syndrome. They act like they are independent, but instead simply “obey” what their husbands and families tell them to.
But they underestimated the liberal women of the country….and we won’t stand for their idiocy any longer.
(S. Novi is a journalist that worked in the media and continues to seek out truth and integrity. A liberal and one that is suspicious of cults and empty promises. Her posts originate at Medium.com.) Prepped for CityWatch by Linda Abrams.
