Poor
Rush Limbaugh. Can’t a guy even call a
girl a slut on the radio these days without people getting all mad? It’s not
like he called a private citizen a prostitute, and then said she should post
videos online of all the sex she’s having in order to "pay" for her birth
control pills.
Oh,
wait. That’s exactly what he did. And it is apparently a very big deal.
Advertisers are fleeing from Limbaugh’s show faster than you can say "birth
control pills are basically Skittles for whores."
And
good for those companies for speaking out against blatant misogyny in the only
speech that is actually free in America: money.
Still,
I can’t help but think, "What the hell took so long?" Because the fact is, this
guy has had a hate spout in his mouth for decades. His long history of
misogyny, racism, homophobia and classism is well documented.
So
what happened? Is it all some kind of Muslim Femi-Nazi plot unleashed by the
Obama Administration? Is it that he crossed a line by targeting a private
citizen? Or could it be that by assailing women’s access to birth control,
Limbaugh has finally pissed off enough straight women that they’re actually
paying attention and they don’t like what they’re hearing?
Rush
is a megaphone for all of the rabid anti-choice, anti-women politicians and
voters in America. It’s no fluke that his anti-Fluke ranting coincides with the
shit ton of bills and proposals flying out of mostly male pie holes nationwide.
Bills
that would mandate forced vaginal ultrasounds, allow employers to fire women who
use birth control, mandating that a woman must carry a dead fetus to term,
exempting employers from having to cover birth control if it bothers their
delicate moral or religious beliefs, allowing a doctor to with hold any
negative results from prenatal tests that may tip the scales toward abortion,
refusing funding for women’s health if any of it is to go toward birth control.
The list goes on. Margaret Sanger would be so pissed.
These
are actual proposals being seriously suggested. In America. In 2012. Limbaugh’s
merely providing the soundtrack.
So
I have to say that I wasn’t surprised by Limbaugh’s "slut" comments. Nor am I
surprised by the assault on birth control and the women who use it or want
access to it. Is this trend alarming? Sure. While these debates aren’t new, it
certainly is remarkable that today a Republican candidate for the presidential
nomination can say on national TV that a woman should look at a rape-induced
pregnancy as a gift from God and then still go on to win primaries.
For
years I have been inundated with creeps trying to take away and restrict access
to rights for myself and for my family. I, along with all LGBT people, have
been characterized as a sex-pervert undeserving of equal protection under the
law. I’ve listened to countless elected officials debate the most intimate
details of my life – love, sex, family – and declare that I don’t have a right
to any of them because I’ve "chosen" the "gay lifestyle."
So
all of this "slut shaming" that folks like Limbaugh are doing, all of this
anti-woman legislation, it’s been coming down the pike all along. For years gay
and lesbian activists, myself included, have been saying to straight folks,
"Look out. These guys are coming after you next." And part of me, I
have to say, feels a tinge of "I told you so" directed at all of the
hetero folks who never really felt they had a stake in this fight.
Welcome
to the club. Better late than never.