Those Crazy Women

There are standard methods that are used to try to undermine women in public life.

#1 - Attack her sexuality. She slept her way to the top. She's promiscuous. Or she's a lesbian. Or she's frigid (no wonder her husband cheated - see #4). And, more recently: she's really a man.

#2 - Attack her appearance. She's old, she's fat, she dresses badly, she's horse-faced (no wonder her husband cheated - see #4), she looks masculine, she laughs too much, her voice is annoying, her hairstyle is awful. Or she's trying too hard, spends too much time and money on vanity.

#3 - Attack her health. She's an alcoholic. She has a degenerative disease or fatal illness. (If she ever trips or bumps into something, that's proof.) She's mentally ill.

#4 - Attack her husband. He's gay. He cheated. He's a crook. He actually hates her. He's a perv. Or she's wickedly single (See #1).

#5 - Attack her children. They're gay, they're ugly, they got bad grades - she's a bad mother. Or she has no children because there's something wrong with her.

Sometimes some of these are used against men. But it's very predictable that #1, #2 and #4 will be revived for female candidates.

 

Bad Jokes

When I want to make fun of a politician like donold trump, I usually do what most people do – I post a clip from one of his speeches or I upload a transcript of something he has actually said. I might simply mention a well-known quote. For example, referring to Hannibal Lecter or whale-killing windmills is an obvious reference to trump.

It's pretty normal to use a politician's own words and behavior to make fun of them. However, when JD Vance wanted to mock Kamala Harris, he didn't use any clips or quotes from her interview or speeches. Instead, he dug up an old clip from a Miss USA pageant, featuring a young lady who looks nothing like Kamala, has nothing to do with Kamala's campaign, and probably has never even met Kamala.

The clip was extremely embarrassing to the young woman, not to Kamala Harris. Somehow, JD thought it would be funny to publicly humiliate a stranger and that doing so would strike a blow against the Harris campaign. That’s a weird idea.

When it was pointed out to him that the incident in the clip was so distressing to the young woman that it had led her to contemplate suicide, did he say, "Oh no, I didn't know that, that's very concerning and I'll delete the post immediately"? He did not. Did he say, "I'm terribly sorry for having added to her pain, and I'll delete the post immediately"? He did not. Did he say, "It was a mistake to use that clip and I'll delete it immediately"? He did not. Did he just quietly delete the post? He did not. When given an opportunity to apologize, Vance refused to do so.

The young woman in the video has since deleted her Xtwitter account, even though she did nothing wrong. In the meantime, Vance's nasty little post is still visible.

 

Why Have Policies When You Can Make Dirty Jokes?

After Bill Clinton went through months (it seemed like decades) of having his sexual exploits investigated and publicly described in excruciating detail, many commentators were surprised to find that he still had the support of many (perhaps most) women voters. At the time, there was speculation that women identified with him, because it is so common for women to be scrutinized, judged, and stigmatized for their sexuality.

Women don't like being slut-shamed, and they especially don't appreciate the idea that having a sex life somehow makes them ineligible for dignity in the workplace.

Republicans haven't learned that lesson. Despite their own collection of sleazy characters, both male and female, they still think it's a good strategy to snigger about a woman.

 

Is Miscarriage a Crime?

We know that many pregnancies end naturally in spontaneous abortion, aka miscarriage, before the pregnancy is known or even suspected. A typical scenario: Your period is a week or two late (if you are normally irregular, you probably won't notice). Then when it finally comes, it may seem a little heavier than usual. The blood that is discharged will be disposed of on a tampon or pad. Even if you suspect this was a miscarriage (most women don't), you will likely not consider having a funeral for your tampon.

In another common scenario, you realize you are pregnant, and may have already received prenatal care. Then one day, you experience cramps, bleeding, and an urge to push (similar in feeling to a difficult bowel movement). Most women go into the bathroom at this point, where they are likely to bleed onto the floor, in the bathtub, or into the toilet. A few will save the bloody mess to be analyzed by a medical lab, but most will just clean it up, washing everything down the drain or flushing it down the toilet. In some cases, it may be necessary to have a "D&C" procedure to remove tissue that was not expelled. The flushed or removed material is not perceived as a "body" or a "corpse".

Many Republicans now want to arrest women for doing the normal thing during and after a miscarriage. Simply seeking medical help during a miscarriage is often viewed with suspicion, or treated as a potential crime. Medical providers report being afraid to treat women undergoing miscarriage, because state laws will lead to accusations of performing an illegal abortion.

• This woman is being prosecuted because she flushed blood and tissue: https://theblackwallsttimes.com/2023/12/08/miscarriage/

• In Alabama, women risk bleeding to death because doctors will not help them when they miscarry: https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2022/05/roe-dobbs-abortion-ban-reproductive-medicine-alabama.html

• This woman spent 19 days having a miscarriage because doctors refused to help her: https://abcnews.go.com/Health/idaho-woman-shares-19-day-miscarriage-tiktok-states/story?id=96363578

• A woman with a cancerous condition was told to go sit in the parking lot and wait for a heart attack: https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2023/04/25/1171851775/oklahoma-woman-abortion-ban-study-shows-confusion-at-hospitals