I believe it is pretty safe to say that the majority of us have been left open mouthed on more than one occasion by the staggeringly brazen behaviors and statements made by the GOP ticket and their supporters. Some even leave us speechless.
The desire to keep wimmin barefoot and pregnant and in the kitchen is their wet dream. Relieving us of our right to vote? Ability to obtain contraception? Have any control over our bodies? They practically salivate at the thoughts. One can easily imagine that Project 2025 is as much a masturbatory aid for Simple Jack Vance as is a dogeared copy of Playboy and a couch cushion.
It is no shock to any of us that knew with the advent of Kamala Harris as the top of the ticket, things were going to get ugly. Ugly, rude, raw, racist, and that the misogyny was going to flood forth. We were not wrong.
With every utterance, JD Vance makes it clear he has no use for women who don't do their duty and procreate. "Childless cat ladies." That was mild. He then took it to the level that women without children should not be able to vote, not being invested in the country's future and all. He was then heard to have said that teachers without children "disturb" him.
But then JD asked himself to "Hold my beer" as yet another tape has come out where he completely derides women who choose to not have children as on “a path to misery” because "they have no skin in the game."
Unearthed video: JD Vance said childless elites make the U.S. “dangerous.” It was too much for a Newsmax interviewer. https://t.co/6GmXLpudot pic.twitter.com/T32IBHl5VX
— Media Matters (@mmfa) September 3, 2024
Any adult in this country who lives and breathes has skin in the game. The very act of staying alive, pursuing a career, going to school, even being homeless and trying to find a safe place to sleep - means SKIN IN THE GAME. This whole obsession he has is with women, not men. Men are never derided in his world for being childless, being absent from the lives of children they create, or being lawmakers who are neither married or have children (waving at you, Lindsey Graham).
In his view, our worth stems directly from the productivity of our ovaries and our willingness to spit out some progeny. God help those women who struggle to conceive - no skin in the game, ladies. May as well hang it up. It is the extension of the long running double standard where women are accused of being bad mothers or wanting to have it all should we dare to want to continue pursuing a life outside our children. It is never a thought process weaponized against men. Men can spread their seed, be absentee fathers, climb the corporate ladder, never bake a single cupcake for a class party, and are praised for their accomplishments. Women are neglectful shrews. And now they are barren shrews who hold no meaningful place in their own country.
Trump has always been a festering pile of fecal matter in the misogyny stakes. Women are fodder, they are to be ogled, grabbed without consent, used, raped, cheated on, and laughed about. They are to be paid for their silence, forgotten, pushed aside. In the past week, he has ratcheted up the misogyny in his posts on Truth Social. Reposting things that should be campaign ending, but sadly only endear him further to his rabid base of "real men" and "trad wives".
Last week he reposted a meme of a photo of Hillary and Kamala together. The caption? “Funny how blowjobs impacted both their careers differently…” And earlier in August he reshared a video by the Dilley Meme Team (rightwing content creators) backed by a soundtrack of a parody of the Alanis Morrisette song Ironic that contained the lines, “She spent her whole damn life down on her knees”, as an image of former San Francisco mayor Willie Brown appeared behind a picture of the Kamala and her husband, Doug Emhoff.
It's vile. And while it's predictable, it does not make it forgivable or something that should be given a pass. Misogyny, by definition, is the dislike of, contempt for, or ingrained prejudice against women. We make up a full 51+% of the US population, yet here we are, still faced with sexist attacks on our characters, ugly sexual innuendo, and a political party openly touting an adjudicated rapist as their ideal candidate.
Blatant misogyny from the top is seen as a permission slip by those below. Men, it is why you literally do not know one woman in your orbit who has not been in fear of a man at some point in her life; who has not crossed a street to avoid one; who has not held her keys between her fingers as a weapon; who has not faked a phone call in the back of an Uber or made sure to provide her location to a friend; who has not been told to smile, baby; or who has not been raped. It is why we choose the bear. No one will blame us or ask what we were wearing if we are attacked by a bear.
As I said at the top of this piece, we have found ourselves metaphorically speechless repeatedly because of the MAGA party. Because they do not view us as equals, just as broodmares. As property. But today I ran across a story out of France that literally left my mouth hanging open and me staring into space for a very long period before finding my way to the keyboard.
This is Gisèle Pelicot, 72 years old. On Monday, her husband of forty years began trial for his unimaginable exploitation of her. For a decade, he drugged Gisèle and allowed men to rape her while she lay unconscious. Reports suggest 92 rapes were committed by 83 men, and 51 have been tracked down and are heading to trial as well. So far.
According to police investigators, her husband, Dominique, has admitted to putting ground sleeping pills into Gisèle's food and drink, before inviting the men to rape her after looking for them online. Dominique would sometimes film the assaults - police found more than 20,000 videos and photographs amid their investigation, with the timeline dating back to 2011.
Even while I type this, I am nauseous.
Per the UK publication, The Times: Prior to realizing the abuse had taken place, Gisèle had been suffering from memory loss and physical symptoms, but she only became aware of the assaults once police told her, the outlet reported. Officers had raided the family's Mazan home amid accusations that Dominique had been filming up three women's skirts in a supermarket.
Firefighters, masons, gardeners, prison guards, soldiers and journalists, now between the ages of 26 and 73 years old - all raped this woman at the invitation and behest of her husband who she once called "caring and considerate."
I am deeply sad for this woman. I am flabbergasted at the vileness of the acts. Not just the rapes. And every single one of these "men" should have their dicks removed with a rusty blade. But the abuse of trust, the violation of love, the complete and relentless use of his wife as some sort of sex toy. What should be done to him - I am afraid to type out loud. But it would not be over quickly. And he would not be given the benefit of being drugged and unconscious.
THIS. This is what misogyny is. It is brutal. It disregards the humanity of a woman. It ignores our right to choose, to feel safe, to be safe. It reduces us to property, something to be used, shared, discarded, destroyed if that is what the man desires. It devours our self esteem. It digests our free will. It enslaves. It endangers. And it ruins life after life after life after life after life.
Yes, I feel this deeply because I have been raped. Once. And once is enough to know that someone viewed me as theirs for the taking, as a thing, a toy. Not a human being with feelings who deserved respect, not violation. And now I will never escape that day. It is chained to me. So no, I cannot fathom finding out I had been violated nearly 100 times.
For her part, Gisèle is simply astonishing in her bravery, her fortitude. She is not hiding. According to one of her lawyers, "She wants to raise awareness, as widely as possible, of what happened to her so that events like these never happen again."
Men - think about this. Look at your wife or daughter or sister or mother or friend and think about this. Think about even ONE rape. Now let your mind wander up to 92. Can you stomach the thought of your daughter being so brutally violated FOR A DECADE? For your mother to be repeatedly drugged by your father and passed around like a blowup doll? No? Well, this is where the slippery slope comes in.
Every time you participate in resharing a meme that demeans a woman - you are part of the problem. Every time you sit at a bar with friends and laugh as one of your buddies makes vile and crass remarks as women walk past - you are part of the problem. Every time you catcall, wolf whistle, tell us to smile more, or get angry when we refuse your advances - you are part of the problem. Everytime you give any attention to Andrew Tate or Tim Poole or Elon Musk or <insert any heinous misogynist prick with a platform> - you are part of the problem. And every time you laugh off the rhetoric of Trump and Vance and the entire MAGA party - you are part of the problem.
The problem of making it acceptable, not so bad to do. The problem of your sons seeing what you and your friends do and thinking "this is the way." The problem of making your wife, your girlfriend, your sister, your mother, your female friends feel small, in danger, lesser than. The problem of normalizing it.
And do not do the "But, Linda, not all men..." crap. If it's not YOU, I guarantee you know or have known someone through the years that you have covered for, laughed off, or not taken seriously in their treatment and view of women. My own husband has, and while he has cut off contact with the guy, it was not until I shared with him something his longtime friend had done to me, despite knowing for years he was a philandering, misogynistic piece of shit.
The creep of misogyny is pervasive. And it only ratchets up each time it is not called out, struck down. Like the frog in the pot of water, women are slowly being boiled to death in a brew of disdain, flat out hatred, and odious chauvinism. And those who support that repugnant party? You are helping turn up the heat. They are saying the quiet parts out loud. And you are laughing along with them. While your daughters are listening. While your wives are watching. While your mothers and sisters are recoiling at what you support.
You all owe women so much better. The MAGA party owes women so much better. The world owes women so much better. Decency. Respect. Safety. Women should be able to walk down a street with you keeping your thoughts firmly behind your teeth. We should be able to go out, refuse your advances and not angrily be called "a c*nt". We should not be subject to your unwillingness to police yourself and your pals. And we should never have to entertain a scenario like Gisele's in which you view us as a commodity to be used as you wish.
Too much to ask? Well, try this. Turn it around in your mind and see how you feel. How about we drug you for a decade and sit back while we invite a string of strangers to assrape you into oblivion. Not so funny, huh?
No. No it's not. And it never was.
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