Speaking Truth to Stupid: Rape Ignorance and Voter Suppression

Okay, my “strength and fervor” have been replenished since my last post and I feel strongly motivated to comment on two outrageous trends within the Republican Party – policies and practices which, God, common sense, and civic participation willing – will help defeat them at every level come November.  I’m referring specifically to this week’s outrageous allegations by Missouri senatorial contender Todd Akin that rape victims cannot get pregnant from rape, and so no exception is needed in anti-abortion laws (and efforts) to permit rape (and incest) victims to have abortions.  I’m equally appalled and downright terrified by ongoing nationwide Voter Suppression efforts.  It would appear that real freedom is in real trouble in 2012.

In the rape matter, we have another unfathomable example of how Science Ignorance and Religiously Influenced Science can have a devastating impact on legislative efforts to address urgent matters.  It’s in the same scientific class as “climate change is a hoax” and “wind and solar power can’t work because what happens when the sun goes down and the wind stops blowing?”  This stuff is dangerously dumb.  But the latest attack in the War On Women (which, of course, is just a phony Liberal construct) is a horrendous combination of gross ignorance and stunning insensitivity.

Prior to the 20^th century, Western Medicine actually asserted that when a woman’s uterus was not properly engaged in what it was meant for – incubating a fetus – it literally floated around inside her body, contributing to otherwise unexplainable female melancholia.  Now, Akin and his ilk are reviving a long-held anti-choice belief that in instances of “legitimate” or “forcible” rape (as opposed to fun and welcome rape?), a woman’s body shuts down and prevents pregnancy.  Her “juices don’t flow” and her “tubes tighten,” they say.  Oy, vey! 

Therefore, exceptions to anti-abortion laws must be eliminated, say these cavemen, because willfully fornicating women who get themselves pregnant through pleasure could easily lie about rape or incest.  Anti-abortion proponents aren’t going to let that loophole threaten the Personhood of the Unborn when “science” can “prove” rape doesn’t cause pregnancy.  I guess this will show the approximately 34,000 rape victims annually who get pregnant through rape who’s boss!

Now – instead of science, one of the worst periods in American History – the era of Jim Crow and poll taxes – comes into play in regard to Voter Suppression.  Republicans at both the state and federal levels would have us believe that voter fraud is a huge problem that must be addressed with stringent ID and voting hours laws to ensure that people who are not legitimately entitled to vote cannot be registered and get anywhere near a voting both.

The fact that over the past umpteen years there have been more bungee-jumping accidents than incidents of voter fraud doesn’t enter into this.  Conservatives would have us believe that Voter Fraud is a real and urgent problem – just like seeing the President's college transcripts and a real birth certificate, since the one he provided was obviously a forgery.  Accordingly, Voter Suppression laws are now in effect in 38 states – and they have a direct and purposeful impact on the young, the elderly, Blacks and Hispanics, and the poor of all ages and ethnicities – in other words, people who are more likely to vote for Democrats than Republicans.

It’s not unreasonable to require first-time voters to present some form of identification when they register.  I vaguely recall that when I registered in the early 1970s, I presented a phone bill and my Social Security card – which showed where I lived and that I was on the government grid.  I had no problem then and have had no problem in the 40-odd years since.  Now, many states are asking for birth certificates (which many people no longer have or never had – and getting them, if available, costs time and money) and, more specifically, photo IDs.

In suburban and rural America, most people have a driver’s license.  But in urban areas, that’s often not the case.  Many students have school-issued photo IDs – but in some states, like Texas, a student ID isn’t acceptable; neither are company-issued photo IDs – don’t ask me why.  States are requiring government issued photo IDs – such as passports (most Americans don’t have one), a driver’s license, or a state-issued photo ID that one can get through the Motor Vehicle Bureau whether or not you’re a driver – but this too costs time and money.  Many working and poor people don’t have one or the other or both, nor do they have the means of transportation to get where they need to go for this.

It is sufficiently distressing that half of the country doesn’t even bother to vote, whether or not they have the “appropriate” ID to register.  To make it deliberately difficult, if not impossible, for many people who want to vote to do so is obscene and totally contrary to what this country supposedly stands for.  It is estimated that up to four million Americans could be disenfranchised by these Voter Suppression initiatives.  Democrats, Independents, Liberals and Progressives are up in arms.  Republicans/Conservatives are quietly letting political shenanigans take their course.  After all, if they let everyone vote, there’s a good chance that Batman and Robin will lose to President Obama – and, as they have stated clearly and publicly, beating Obama is their primary objective.

Left to their devious, self-serving devices, Republicans stand a real chance of throwing Roe v Wade, the 1965 Voters Rights Act, Social Security, Medicare & Medicaid, environmental protection, any attempts at gun control, the existence and strength of unions, gay rights & marriage, and all support for education, the arts & humanities, and public broadcasting, under the bus.  They say Obama has robbed Americans of their freedom – how and what, they don’t say.  But it’s clear that the Republicans can and will do some serious freedom robbing if we don’t stop them.  Make sure you register and vote – and speak up.  Nothing less than functional Democracy is at stake.

Another Week in Wonderland

What is one to make of the fact that Marshall Matt Dillon (James Arness) and Dr. Death (Jack Kevorkian) died in the same week? Probably nothing – except to note that both old heroes and more contemporary ones are leaving us in droves. That’s because so many of them are old. I don’t get too distressed when noting the deaths of very old people; what else can they do (they can’t live forever, no matter who or how rich they are)? But symbolically, it was sad to see that two men – one who portrayed a heroic character, another who was an heroic character – died in a week when we could have used a few heroes.

For example, I’d like to think that Marshall Dillon would have run the likes of Sarah Palin out of town, had she and her Magical Twistery Tour bus arrived in Dodge, because he didn’t cotton to con men, even if they were pretty women. This post represents the last time I will mention Sarah Palin, because that dingbat shouldn’t be getting any attention except to point out her unceasing stupidity.

To wit, here’s what she said when she visited Ellis Island: "The immigrants of the past, they had to literally and figuratively stand in line and follow rules to become U.S. citizens. I’d like to see that continue. And unfortunately, the DREAM Act kind of usurps that – the system that is a legal system to make sure that immigrants who want to be here legally, working hard, producing and supplying revenue and resources for their families, that they’re able to do that right and legally. Unfortunately, the DREAM Act doesn’t accomplish that."

I’ll ignore both her deplorable speech and the fact that immigrants didn’t stand on line “figuratively,” and just point out that the DREAM Act only applies to persons who were brought to this country when they were young children. Their parents came here illegally and, since they were kids, they had no choice but to come along for the ride. So, our problem with illegal immigrants has nothing to do with them.

Here’s what Palin said about Paul Revere when she was in Boston: "He who warned, uh, the ... the British that they weren’t gonna be taking away our arms, uh, by ringing those bells and, um, by making sure that as he’s riding his horse through town to send those warning shots and bells that, uh, we were gonna be secure and we were gonna be free…and we were gonna be armed." I’ll just let that speak for itself.

In general, I have no interest in the Republican fracas to find a candidate, because I don’t really care who they select. I won’t be voting for him or her, and I refuse to pay attention to this frigging campaign until after the Conventions, when there’s something tangible to pay attention to. And in any case, I’m reserving my concern for what Obama will say to win again (and he plans to have $1 billion to say it with) and what he will do after he wins again.

I find it amusing (because if I don’t laugh, I’ll cry) that Republicans and Conservatives [still] talk about Obama as if he were The Great Socialist Hope that one might concede he seemed to be when he was running for President the last time, since he almost immediately made a mad dash for Center Court (as it were) and has been doing an unsettling version of Republican Lite from Day One. The fact that he’s not right-wing enough for the right-wingers doesn’t mean anything; if Barry Goldwater were alive today, he wouldn’t be right-wing enough for the right-wingers. That’s how far right the right-wingers have flown.

I also no longer have any interest in (or much compassion for) politicians who let their dicks take the lead, thereby rendering them useless for viable public service. Way back then, John Edwards was the only Democratic contender who was seriously talking about poverty and its dangerous leading role in everything from bad education to inadequate health care to poor economic growth on several levels. Now he can’t say…well, “dick” about anything.

Similarly, Rep. Anthony Weiner’s “that depends on what the definition of is is” response to the appearance of supposedly-him-but-he’s-not-sure pictures of him in his undies on Twitter (who knew you could upload photos on Twitter; I thought it was just for 140-character statements). We needed his balls in Congress, not his dick. What is it with these guys and their juvenile obsession with their wee-wees? We are such a sexually immature, Puritan country, it turns me red with embarrassment and white with fear of what will become of us.

So, I spent the week trying not to think about current events: not think about another banker who tried to play footsie with a hotel maid who didn’t want to play; not think about the e-coli outbreak in Germany that is demonizing vegetables, once again; not think about the Republicans playing “symbolic” footsie with the debt ceiling because they’re clueless about how the economy they created actually works; and not thinking about Syria or Yemen or Libya, because I just don’t have the strength (I wish they’d all just self-destruct).

Instead, I’ve been thinking about food prices, because I went shopping and every week it’s a greater shock than the week before, and I’ve been thinking about the chicken curry I’m going to make tonight, and the jicama (which I haven’t had in years) that I’ll be putting in my salad, and what kind of bread and muffins I want to bake, because I do bake, since it’s cheaper and I try to keep it cheerful.

I’ll let you know next week if anything more substantive comes to mind.

The End of Oprah As We Knew Her

Today was the official end of Oprah!, the daytime talk show that has been a personal Mecca for millions of women in 150 countries. Oprah Winfrey was on the air for 25 consecutive years. She interviewed literally thousands of people. She gave away millions of dollars worth of merchandise to her live audiences (from her own money). She was unique in television – and because of her, the lives and relationships and professional achievements of her viewers were vastly improved.

In some circles, making fun of Oprah Winfrey is s.o.p., but I would guess that those people hardly watched Oprah!, if at all. People make fun of her as an institution, with her daily show and her magazine and her production company and her Everything Oprah – but I think they’re just jealous. People make fun of her fluctuating size, her ever-changing hair, her (often) odd choice of outfits, her interviews with celebrities, the fact that she gave Dr. Phil a platform (the one thing for which I perhaps don’t forgive her), her relationship with her best girlfriend Gayle King, her relationship with her longtime man Stedman Graham. But I think they’re just nitpicking, and in any case, I don’t care.

I was never a daily Oprah! watcher, but I was a frequent Oprah! watcher and I have enormous respect for what she has achieved in her own life, and what she’s helped others achieve in theirs. Whatever Oprah Winfrey was, is and will be – in her next incarnation as the brains behind the new Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN), those who have watched her frequently/regularly know that she is genuine, if nothing else. Her faith, gratitude, sympathy, empathy, and sense of purpose have been totally real.

And in the course of her 25 years, she has helped women (and men) cope with and heal, where necessary, the damage wrought by childhood sexual abuse; adult domestic abuse; drug/alcohol and other forms of addiction; the difficulties of intimate relationships, parenting, and just being a member of a family; care giving; handling finances; and, perhaps most important, achieving one’s best self through advanced education and/or taking personal and professional risks. She has also helped educate her global audiences about critical social issues, from the environment to poverty to the persecution of women worldwide. She provided a platform for broadening the world, and she gave her viewers concrete avenues by which they could help others – and not a lot of people can say that.

Oprah has, in many ways, been the mainstream embodiment of the modern women’s movement. She was never overtly political; she transcended politics. She also transcended race, and as a result gave millions of white American women something they’d never had before: a black friend.

She encouraged people to read through her book club. She encouraged people to be grateful for the good things in their lives, and to express it to others and to themselves in gratitude journals. She encouraged people to be health(ier) through exercise, and through forming better relationships with food. Oprah has always been very self-conscious about her own weight and she certainly cheered on womankind in their efforts to diet successfully. I would have been happier if she had accepted herself at any/every size and encouraged others to do the same – but Oprah isn’t perfect, never claimed to be, and weight was/is her Achilles Heel. I don’t begrudge or judge her for that.

Watching Oprah today on her last show – one on which there were no guests, no gifts, no “gimmicks” of any kind, just Oprah talking straight and sweet about what the show has meant to her – I couldn’t help but think of the many times I’d watched her and felt I’d learned something new and useful, even important. I thought of how she made me laugh and cry and feel with utter openness. I thought about how brave she is, how giving, how wise – yes, wise. I’m going to miss Oprah! – but I know that for a long time to come, I’ll have Oprah, and when she’s gone, the whole world will have her legacy. That’s not chopped liver. That’s TV put to its best use. Congratulations, Oprah. Thank you. And good luck.

Rape: A Tool of War and Terror

I must take a break from our nation’s bullshit budget battle and comment on the horrific epidemic of gang-rape as a war and terror tactic around the world – ever increasing in viciousness and frequency.

The issue was brought to the fore of U.S. consciousness, sort of, when CBS correspondent Lara Logan was attacked on February 11^th in Tahrir Square during the Egyptian uprising. Media reports repeatedly described her experience as “a brutal and sustained sexual assault,” a term so sanitized that it doesn’t begin to conjure the image of a group of frenzied men repeatedly raping a woman for reasons only they can justify. And in this case as in thousands of others, it isn’t “just” a matter of rape, but of beating, torture and the deliberate inflicting of often irreparable physical, as well as emotional, harm. Logan was hospitalized for a while and is now recuperating in her Washington DC home. It will be interesting to see what she has to say next, especially since news of her attack was met by some folks back home with derision and a distinct lack of sympathy.

A number of journalists have noted that Lara Logan’s going public about her attack is breaking through a long-established wall of silence on such matters on the part of women journalists, particularly those working in conflict arenas. The women have been afraid that they will stop getting such assignments if they make an issue of their experiences – which is ironic, because one of the things they’re trying to inject in news reports is the high incidence of violence against women in these war-torn, terror-prone areas.

Since time immemorial, rape has been a constant part of war, whether to terrorize, intimidate and humiliate the enemy, or just for fun. Now, in the 21^st century, it is also being used to remind women of their proper place, to get them to conform to social norms, to punish them for their appearance, behavior (and very existence). War Rape is inflicted on women of all ages, all health conditions, all strata of society – in a social context that blames the women for their own attacks (the old “she asked for it” routine), then results in their being shunned by family, former friends, and society as a whole. Girls as young as two are subject to the same violent treatment and social response. In those instances where women are not killed by their attackers, they are horrifically wounded, traumatized, and often left with one or more sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV.

In Congo, rape has been an especially horrific epidemic as a part of tribal and civil warfare. In South Africa, gang-rape of lesbians is on the rise in order to “turn them into normal African women,” the twisted logic goes. In Haiti, where rape has always been a huge problem, it has become even more massive in the 1,300 “tent cities” scattered throughout Port-au-Prince and the surrounding countryside. The police and government claim to be helpless in doing anything about it, which can’t be proven since they don’t even try.

Lara Logan, who was working on a report for 60 Minutes, planned to talk about the gang-rape of women by corrupt police and other pro-government thugs as a way of diluting the spirit of the Egyptian revolutionaries; very little has been said about this in the media. And if you don’t recall the use of rape as a tactic of war in Bangladesh, Bosnia, Rwanda, Sri Lanka and Darfur, among other 20^th-21^st century locales, it may be because it was only minimally reported – even though “rape and sexual slavery are now recognized under the Geneva Convention as crimes against humanity and war crimes,” explains Wikipedia.

Violence against women – particularly sexual violence – occurs in different cultures for somewhat different reasons. Women in America are not immune; every two minutes, somewhere in America a woman is raped [U.S. Department of Justice], although it’s not always gang-rape and here we’re not talking about rape as a tactic of war. But given the uptick in sexual/domestic violence in recent years, particularly against teenage girls in relationships with teenage boys, I can’t help but wonder if this isn’t part of a backlash against feminism, a reaction that’s been brewing over the past 30 years.

The subject of rape is a hot button for most women, me included. Last night, after reading a lengthy article about rape in post-earthquake Haiti, I was terribly unnerved. Not even ice cream and Britcoms on PBS could calm me down, and I felt both guilty about my own general comfort and safety, and furious at my feelings of helplessness about this issue. I went to sleep early; I couldn’t bear being awake.

There are non-profits and NGOs around the world trying to deal with War Rape and rape in general, but they’re not getting very far. Rape is an historically under-reported crime and even when it is reported, a victim’s nightmare is often dismissed, ignored, or turned on her as the cause. I feel like a voice yelling into the dark – and as a horror movie trailer once admonished, “In space, no one can hear you scream.” I don’t know what any of us can do, even collectively, about this terrible problem – but at least being mindful of it is surely a beginning.

(Note: the photo above is of a Haitian tent city at night – the witching hour for roving rape gangs.)