What's with the escalating War on Women recently?

[FormerRepublican]

I'm getting tired of the BS attempts to put women in their place, which usually involves suggestions that women should have no power over their lives or bodies at all. Since I'm a woman, I have ABSOLUTELY NO desire to live in that kind of world. And I'm getting freaking tired of the escalation in the War on Women.

DU Women - stand up and be counted. Are you going to listen to this escalating BS, or are you going to speak out and tell them to go to h*ll and take their woman-hating ideas with them?

Lordy, we need a new women's movement!

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

1. Channel 1672 A.D.

It's all coming back to me now.

[kestrel91316]

7. Try 1072 AD.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

11. That's a tough year!

:scared:

[rodeodance]

2. and SD is a good reason why we need a new women's movement.

[havocmom]

5. All those fundy pharmacists practicing medicine without license

too.

Amazing that the people trying to put women back under male thumbs are generally the same ones bashing countries in the Middle East where they keep women under male thumbs.

[Lars39]

6. Not just SD, looks like LA is heating up, too:

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/L/LA_XGR_ABORTION_LAOL-?SITE=LABAT&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

Strict abortion ban moves through Senate committee

By DOUG SIMPSON
Associated Press Writer

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) -- A proposal to ban nearly all abortions in Louisiana moved forward on Wednesday, despite doubts from one lawmaker that it wasn't strict enough and doubts from another that it was too strict to get through the Legislature.

Sen. Ben Nevers is sponsor of the bill that would allow abortions only to save the life of the mother. Doctors found guilty of performing abortions would face up to 10 years in prison and fines of $100,000.

...more @ http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/L/LA_XGR_ABORTION_LAOL-?SITE=LABAT&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

[Gloria]

10. Ohio is going this way, too .....and about 1/3 of the Democrats

are helping!!

USA Today had an article about all this a few days ago, with a great graphic.
It should be here at DU somewhere....

[Erika]

20. Even in conservative Idaho, our Dem reps are staying true

to women's rights. I'd be getting ahold of those Dems who are willing to treat women as less than educated and informed adults.

[salin]

43. Ohio bill would prevent someone from leaving Ohio

and having an abortion in another state.

[flashdebadge]

3. What the hell are you talking about? What war on women?

Granted your talking to some extent about the abortion debate but what else?

[FormerRepublican]

9. Abortion, birth control, women's rights, escalating rhetoric from the...

...right regarding the role of women.

Lord, the list is endless. Maybe I just hear and see the crap more because I'm a woman. And tired of it.

[pnwmom]

25. Religious fundamentalism always seems to be about controlling

women.

[Der Blaue Engel]

32. Wow

There's no sarcasm emoticon, but you can't be serious.

[gatorboy]

74. Oh yeah, he's serious.

:eyes:

[LostinVA]

91. What war on women??? Funny dude!

It's even right here on DU. Go read some threads about rape, child support, abortion, etc.

[RagingInMiami]

4. Just one of many division tactics

That are being released on the public lately.

[stillcool]

14. sometimes it's hard not to bite.. ...

another day another button pushed to rile us up...

"I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country. As the result of the War, corporations have been enthroned. ... An era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people... until wealth is aggregated in a few hands... and the Republic is destroyed."
– Abraham Lincoln, 1864

[Cleita]

8. I've been fighting this since I grew boobs.

Most of us do know how to prevail. The worst of our enemies are us (other women) who feel they need their men to take care of them. This is a very bad idea. We should be taking care of each other.

[Quantess]

88. ........

Yes. I agree that women can be horrible to each other, in insidious ways. Women verbally and emotionally attack each other, and back-stab, for what?! Whatever their own goal, is it worth it?:grouphug:

[cynatnite]

12. You said it, sister!

22 states are planning to ban abortion, women are still sluts and whores, pharmacists don't want to give us birth control, women still make less than men, women are raped at an alarming rate, women are beaten, and they're killed.

Women are still considered the weaker sex.

Men have waged the wars and made the laws. Considering the state of our world, women sure as hell couldn't do any worse. I bet my bra on it.

[The Traveler]

13. Men who pine for the days

when women were "in their place" embarrass me. I do not enjoy being surrounded by weaklings and wimps.

I like modern women just fine. Sure, they are confused ... so am I. But from confusion comes wisdom, given time and proper reflection. Feminine empowerment does not require male dis empowerment, or vice versa. We are all human beings, here. Women's rights are simply human rights, and we should always struggle for the dignity of humankind and in opposition to the forces of tyranny.

Ladies, my rights cannot be secure if your rights are in question.

[FormerRepublican]

Bravo!

:yourock:

[The Traveler]

23. Back at ya, bud!

Yours was an excellent post, and we DO need a new women's rights movement. We also need a new men's rights movement. These fuckers are trying to take away our freedom. They deserve to be opposed.

[bobalu]

21. It's good to hear your supportive words, Traveler....I've found a

number of men here on DU to be suprisingly unsympathetic to womens rights and issues.

[The Traveler]

24. I don't understand that.

Why are we so willing to sacrifice women's rights and gay rights around here? As a straight male, I have to say I cannot understand that. How can my freedom be secure when the state seeks control over your medical decisions, for example? These matters are NOT optional.

[Binka]

46. Hey You Are A GOOD GUY! You Are In GOOD Company MLK Said....

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
Martin Luther King Jr. (1929 - 1968), Letter from Birmingham Jail, April 16, 1963

[northofdenali]

27. Traveler, we need to clone you.

Actually, I'm fortunate - in Red Alaska, the men tend to treat the women equally and vice-versa. Everyone's the same at 50 below. We have our fundies, but our state courts tie 'em up so badly the issues hardly ever make it to the federal courts.

I'm scared for my sisters and brothers in the lower 48, though. When a woman's rights are curtailed, everyone's rights are in danger.

[The Traveler]

28. Thanks, bud.

What we really need, though, is for men to own their own testosterone. I am I, warts and all, with and without a woman. I cannot say most of my peers feel the same way.

As a middle aged straight male, I would like to see more of my brothers buy electric guitars and learn how to play them, ride motorcycles, climb rocks, go to dojo twice or more a week ... these kinds of things engender the confidence that results in open minds and open hearts.

Oppression of women is always symptomatic of male insecurity.

[DarkTirade]

60. Unfortunately most men would rather go to the gym

and try to get big muscles and buy big cars to make up for their insecurity, rather than actually going out and DOING something with their lives to get RID of that insecurity.
And get rid of the electric guitar... we have too many guitarists. We need bassists and drummers damn it, can't have a garage band with 20 guitar players and no bassists and drummers... :)

[The Traveler]

77. Hey! I'm a converted guitarist

mayhaps I should get a keyboard and return to my roots?

BTW we got the bass player. My son plays a mean bass. Keep your eyes peeled for "Dirty by Design" ... melting faces in a venue near you, soon. :)

Boy is attending Ga. State next year. His plan is major in political science and take lots of music and production classes on the side.

[DarkTirade]

85. I've played guitar since 9th grade... but I want to learn bass too.

Helps to be versatile. That, and my brother has picked up guitar recently too, we're trying to get my stepbrother a drumset. Still debating on the name. And since we all rent our living spaces, we don't have a garage to practice in. But one step at a time. :)

[sweetheart]

39. skinned up

when you're all skinned up for a smoke,
ready to go out in to the cold,
the rolling paper's color, an incarnational poke,
a womans condition, not equal to gold.

Not equal to a chair or a desk or a cow,
Not roped in a pen, calfing from her fold,
A woman's no different, not at all now,
encased in a prison that sees her as gold.

Mounded up like bricks in a vault,
women get better with age underground,
Bury them deeper, lecherous assault,
on all that is civil, love's heart profound.

Pen in your owned woman, at your own risk,
Go try to pet her, she'll bite off your fist.

:-)

[The Traveler]

79. I **like** that

Did you compose that?

[sweetheart]

84. Yes...

It was inspired by your honourable and truthful post.

[Nicole]

40. If only all men felt this way:

Ladies, my rights cannot be secure if your rights are in question.

Sadly, I think you are in the minority.

[Mad_Dem_X]

57. It's nice to know that some men GET IT

Thank you!

[LeftyMom]

15. Because the men in power are afraid

When the economy is good and the political situation is secure, women make gains, often quietly. In bad times women and minorities are scapegoated so that the power structure may deflect blame.

[cynatnite]

17. Sometimes I think it's out of fear...

Women would more likely do ten times better and some men know it. Rather than get shown up, they work harder to keep women as second class citizens.

[Triana]

49. Bingo (n/t)

[Erika]

16. Women are being treated as children who need "governed"

for their own protection. Just like the Taliban treat their women.

The ultra conservatives are fighting our rights to easy access to birth control and morning-after pills and the abortion pill. Evidently, they don't think we are educated or informed enough to make our own health decisions, and that pharmacist's personal beliefs take priority to our rights.

The same goes for our rights to a safe and legal abortion.

I will not pay taxes if reproductive rights are limited or restricted and have notified my reps.

[mykpart]

18. I think the Women's Movement need reviving.

We don't seem to be a political force anymore because so many of us have been brainwashed to believe that women in charge of their own lives is somehow contrary to God's plan for the world. And I think the brainwashing began because we were becoming a political force. But I think we started going downhill after failing to pass the equal rights amendment. My sister still believes that ERA would make unisex bathrooms mandatory. What a shame, since she has three daughters.

I'd burn my bra, but I'm so old now that nobody would care, and my boobs would be hanging down around my navel! I think Gloria Steinhem said during the 70s that men had good reason not to want to change what was the status quo at the time. 'Cause they (men) had it real good.

[pthalomarie]

68. it's all about P.R.

conservatives are great at it, feminists aren't.

witness the essay posted by NOW on one of the other threads. feminists are labeled as being divisive, and they keep giving the public reasons to suspect that they are.

part of the problem is that feminism has accomplished a lot. the current generation of women don't know what it was like back in the 50's and 60's...and from their view, why should they care?

the boomers didn't focus on what was going on in the 1910's and 20's; they focused on the here and now. people tend to long for that which eludes them; back then, it was liberation. nowadays, so many women come from broken homes, they long for a traditional family.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

73. Maybe feminists wouldn't be so "divisive"...

if "christians", white men, and enabling women weren't STILL trying to take us back to the halcyon days of the "traditional family", you know, the days when women were second class citizens meant only to cook, clean, pop out a brood, service her husband, and make nice with the other wives. When they had little or no access to birth control, reproductive options, and had to ask the hubbie for every dollar they spent.

FYI, I am a woman who came from one of those oh so sad broken homes. Having Dad gone from the scene was the best thing that ever happened to me. And I thank the GODS I live in a time when I'm not stuck with having a "traditional family" as my only option.

[cynatnite]

19. Rec'd n/t

[Selteri]

22. The religious 'fundies' are the kind who like to oppress

they have, will and continue to want to, it is our duty to stand firmly against them by not allowing their kind of hate to be given no competing voice.

[Selteri]

26. It is men like those scumsters rgar give men a bad name.

I don't understand the need to put people into any kind of position where they are under the control of another. Rather I have to state simply that women and men are equal people who happen to have a few biological differences needed for the species to continue. Viva la difference. The people who want to control a woman's body should learn first to control thier own. There is one simple question we must ask of them.

WHY DO YOU WANT TO IMPOSE YOUR VIEWS UPON OTHERS?

These people seem to think that somehow they have the moral stnading to be able to decide what is right and wrong for everyone unilaterally. I was able ot be 'wishy washy' over the idea of a 48 hour waiting period before getting an abortion. I have no problem with that kind of idea that someone can't have an impulse abortion. I have no problem with the idea of RU486 or whatever the name of the morning after drug is since it only really works up to a point where any larger would require that an abortion be performed due to the amount of built up tissue. I'll admit I don't like the idea that Abortions need to be done in this world, I wish that there were no circumstances or needs at all for women to perform an abortion. Maybe some day we will live in such a fantastic society where women can have abortions but never have one because they don't need to. I figure that will be about the same time that we take Venus and pull it into a nearer to Earth area Orbit then alter it to make a new planet just because we can. AKA when we are so advanced that we are doing things we can barely imagine without sounding like using godlike powers - Not now.

Now we have people who think they have the right to control the body of someone beause she happens to have breasts and doesn't have an out of control snake jumping around inside of her pants or under her skirt. I feel pity for those people that fear the rights of women to make their own decisions so much that they feel the need to force this form of modernized theft of rights in an attemp to continually subvert the supreme court under the insane imaginary idea that somehow this will gain thme points with the religious right and not provide a motivator for those who are non-voters to start voicing for their rights.

We need to make sure non-voters know these people are trying to take away their rights. Prove to them how much this will backfire by reenergizing the American Voter.

[BrklynLiberal]

30. The need to control others is a sign of a lack of self confidence and

self assurance. Only people who are afraid and insecure have this compulsion to control others. Usually these are the same people who find that sense of safety in a strict controlling religion or sect that has very black and white rules that do not give them any free choices, so they do not have to worry about making any wrong decisions.

Of course they MUST make sure that everyone else follows these same rules.

It is sort of an Obsessive/Compulsive disorder of the worst kind because it not only involves themselves, but everyone else around them.

[BrklynLiberal]

29. Bushites and Christian Taliban are working together to put women back

where they were in the 1800's; Voteless and propertyless, with no rights over their own bodies.

If you have read what the Dominionists and Christian Reconstructionists have in mind for women, the hair on the back of your neck will stand on end.

[Erika]

33. I have read it

Women will be required to be submissive to the will of their husbands or male family members. The Taliban and the fundies both want total physical and religious control of women.

Very scary stuff. Kind of Twilight Zone Time or living within the mind of W/Falwell/Robertson.

[BrklynLiberal]

50. Most people have no true idea how horrifying it is. This is NOT to be

taken lightly. The movement to limit women's right to choice and access to birth control and other health services is only the beginning. The inroads that have been made are giant steps backward for the rights of women, not only in the area of health, but in the general political world as well.

Everyone who cares needs to read the Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood.

Atwood presents here a fable of the near future. In the Republic of Gilead, formerly the United States, far-right Schlafly/Falwell-type ideals have been carried to extremes in the monotheocratic government. The resulting society is a feminist's nightmare: women are strictly controlled, unable to have jobs or money and assigned to various classes: the chaste, childless Wives; the housekeeping Marthas; and the reproductive Handmaids, who turn their offspring over to the "morally fit" Wives. The tale is told by Offred (read: "of Fred"), a Handmaid who recalls the past and tells how the chilling society came to be. This powerful, memorable novel is highly recommended for most libraries.

[sarcasmo]

63. Exactly, Christian Taliban= Islamic Taliban.

[niyad]

31. because these fundies--of whatever persuasion--HATE women, and

want to keep them infantalized and under THEIR control.

have been fighting this battle all of my life, and it is, indeed, escalating again. I have just been rereading sonia johnson's book, "going out of our minds: the metaphysics of liberation" and highly recommend it.

as she says, it is a WAR AGAINST WOMEN and nothing less.

[BrklynLiberal]

51. To see the fundies' ideal version of the US read The Handmaid's Tale

by Margaret Atwood

Atwood presents here a fable of the near future. In the Republic of Gilead, formerly the United States, far-right Schlafly/Falwell-type ideals have been carried to extremes in the monotheocratic government. The resulting society is a feminist's nightmare: women are strictly controlled, unable to have jobs or money and assigned to various classes: the chaste, childless Wives; the housekeeping Marthas; and the reproductive Handmaids, who turn their offspring over to the "morally fit" Wives. The tale is told by Offred (read: "of Fred"), a Handmaid who recalls the past and tells how the chilling society came to be. This powerful, memorable novel is highly recommended for most libraries.

[Jemmons]

34. I think you might enjoy the writings of Marsha Linehan

She writes on abuse of women and how to deal with the long term stress of surviving abusive environments. Lots of stuff about why and how women get affected by abuse and even more on how to deal with it.

[bloom]

76. "Partners in the Fight Against Sexual Violence" @ Femivist

"Interested in reading more from bloggers who speak out against sexual violence? " See:

http://lelyons.wordpress.com/blog-to-raise-awarenes-about-sexual-violence-april-18th/

[Hekate]

35. Another sister checking in!

Hekate

[fleabert]

36. read Backlash, by Susan Faludi- no shock this is happening, again.

history repeats itself again and again. this was published in 91, and she clearly stated it was starting again.

it's disgusting, but not shocking to me. I have been screaming about it for years and everyone told me I was being too sensitive. fuck them. I still fight the good fight.

No one agreed with me in 91 (the year I graduated from high school) that Roe v. Wade was in danger if a Republican took office, well...guess what!?!?!

[blogslut]

38. "Stiffed"

Is the title of Faludi's followup book and thanks for reminding me that I need to buy a copy of it. I read an excerpt when it first came out and I found the premise intriguing. The premise being that it's the men who are going through crisis, not women: Men have for eons, identified themselves as protector and provider. Today those roles are greatly diminished for men and we have a culture of guys that have no idea what it means to be a man...

http://www.motherjones.com/arts/qa/1999/09/faludi.html

[frankenforpres]

81. i read it

it is pretty dry in some spots, but it is a good read overall

[SoCalDem]

37. A repost of a "yummy discussion" we had a while back

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=4067158&mesg_id=4067158


SoCalDem (1000+ posts)

Sun Jul-10-05 07:42 PM
Original message


It's really all about the women.


Radical Islam, The Taliban, The Religious Right, The African "troubles".

The (mis)treatmment of women by any society is the measure OF that society.

In days gone by, societies were closed off and people didn't know what was happening a village away. Modern life has brought the whole world into their living rooms. Cloistered women in locked-down societies can now see that other women are treated better than they are, and they don't like it.

Even in western society, women have only been "equal" for under 100 years. Some would say that even now, in America, women are not equal...and they would be right, BUT women have it much better here (as a group) than anywhere else.

This is what is scaring the militant males of the world. Whether they are Taliban, Islamic, African..whatever.. they fear the rise of women, because it means they will lose power.

For centuries, males have been able to use females, and discard them at will.

Western culture frowns on this, and in order for non-westerners to be accepted, they must stop mistreating women.. They are not willing to do this. They want nothing to do with modernity if it means their women will stop obeying them.Nothing we say or do to them will change their minds...and they ARE willing to kill to preserve THEIR way of life.

In the US, we may not have honor killings" and arranged marriages, but women are still kept under the thumbs of men...and if the religious right has their way here, women will retreat to the sanctity of the kitchen and the car pool.

Women are the majority, but we have yet to act like it...

[me b zola]

69. I thought of your thread as I was reading through this one

I know that it has been awhile since you posted 'It's really all about the women.', but it was one of those special threads where so many responses brought to the table made it a memorable conversaton--and one that has stayed with me. I don't believe that I responded to that thread, I was a mere wall fly taking it all in.

Yes, it really is all about the women.

[Nicole]

41. I with you

Count me in as standing up!

[Control-Z]

42. Count me in!

I really thought we were headed in the right direction in 2004 with the March for Women's Lives in Washington DC. It seems we've fizzled out and lost that momentum. Every woman needs to stand up and be counted now more than ever.

[Random_Australian]

44. The DU Lounge is already forming that group!

Despite it's name, it is serious, and what's more it has an 'Auxillary' of guys like me who are interested in helping. (Not that we are any better at it, but it is something you left out, there are lots of non-bastard guys out there. ;))

Mind you, it is focussed on getting the 'self-determination for women' arguments won in GD, so it isn't the largest or most influential collective yet, but it is called 'The DU uppity women's club'.... PM KitchenWitch or AirmensMom about it!

[Lars39]

54. ...

fwiw, the Feminist Group forum has had threads locked for "rallying the troops" to threads in GD.
Kinda defeats the purpose of the group, imo.

[sandnsea]

45. Women demand social programs

We demand quality child care, education, housing, health care, adequate pay. We don't put up with lame excuses because we've listened to every lame excuse man has to offer, present male company excepted. :) That's why they want to shove us down, and why they travel around the world convincing 3rd world women that social programs will hurt economic growth. They're just trying to keep the corporate fat cats from having to pay the real costs of running their businesses, the real cost being either a fair wage so women can meet their own needs, or taxes so the government can help when the corporations fail. That's why they're trying to shove us back into the homemaker role.

[Quantess]

82. Do we really "demand" all that?

Because it isn't working...none of those "demands" have been met.
I read and re-read your post, and I still don't understand your point.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

47. Well, Easter IS OVER, already. Gotta have another target.

get thee back to the kitchen, subperson!
get thee back to the bedroom, and I want to see those bloody sheets to prove your virginity!

[omega minimo]

48. SNAFU

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=972588&mesg_id=972588

[underpants]

52. Feminism=liberal=great stuff to piss of white men

that is the endangered white man of North America

:sarcasm:

[OzarkDem]

72. Dem men aren't angels

some of them can be just as sexist as the GOP and some are closet sexists.

[myrna minx]

53. You've got me sister.

I'm so sick of this, especially when I read it on DU. :grr: I'll link arms with you.

[johnnie]

55. And you are a former republican?

Your head must have exploded every day back then.

[Dora]

56. I'm with you, sister.

Not a week goes by when I don't look my husband in the eye and ask him, "Why is it that so many men hate women?"

It's painfully true: Men hate women, and they act out their hate with malice and violence. Men assault us, men repress us, men pay us less than they pay other men for the same work or less work. Men beat us with their hands and with weapons, men kill women every day - so often that it's no longer considered newsworthy. But when a woman kills a man - you'll see it on every channel and in every paper. I never hear stories of women assulting a man in a group, or of women gangraping a male dancer.

I understand that not all men hate women. I also understand that the men who do not hate women do not do enough to stop those men that do.

Brothers, do you hear your sisters crying?

[Jigarotta]

65. The weak ones are afraid of us.

I've seen that look of fear in all ages of males.
From Kindergarten, where 'beating' a girl at games, races, whatever seems SO important to their existence, to old men that think only their stories of yore should be heard with respect. To everyday family or workgroup meetings, where even the stupidest, slow man can hijack a conversation - attention and respect is just something he was born with. ;(

They are afraid because through these many centuries it is engrained in us all that women are somehow inferior and weaker and to be bested by one, even in the simplest of things, demasculizes. I have plenty of small personal stories to this effect that just galls the daylights out of me.

And they are most afraid of our sexuality. They fight their way into the world through our birth canals and spend most of their lives trying to get back in. They fear that power most.

when I say 'they', I hope it is understood I don't mean every man, hope it is a given in this regard.

[Quantess]

80. Not ALL males, thankfully.

I love self-secure men who don't easily feel threatened by others. I love a man with self confidence, who treats others with respect, and expects respect in return. Men have great qualities specific to their maleness, and women have great qualities specific to femaleness.

I have chickens, and I have seen, they have a patriarchal rape-culture. The hens get raped, usually after being chased by the rooster(s), and the hen is always overpowered by the rooster. The sex act only lasts a few seconds...great fun, huh. If there is more than one rooster, the alpha rooster usually kills the other roosters, to gain control over all the hens. However, the rooster does try to impress the hens by shoving his handsome wing feathers toward her, and acting like what a rooster is: a "cock". Chickens give me the perspective of typical animalistic male-female relations.

Humans have this idea that they are so superior to animals. If this were true, then why do human male-female relations so often resemble those of animals? If humans truly aspire to be "superior" to animals, then perhaps we should aspire to rise above animalistic rape-culture, and male chauvinism.

[Quantess]

90. what I'm saying is....

..the same people who don't believe in evolution are often the same people who engage in animalistic behavior, such as rape-culture.

(The men I know are wonderful and excellent human beings. I'm lucky to not know the horrible men out there.)

[FormerRepublican]

58. Please do not respond to this thread. I have requested that the admins

delete it. Thank you.

[lukasahero]

61. Why?

Look at all the positive response it's getting. Just as you asked, women are standing up! It's about time too.

[Triana]

59. Mysogenists are emboldened by the thugs that are running the country...

...They are hellbent on shoving women back to the 1950s or earlier. That's their agenda. It's always been the fundie extremeist agenda and still is, just that now they're more obnoxious about it since they have governmental support.

[wishlist]

62. Yes- "faith based" grant money is being paid to right wing churches

Several denominations that claim Biblical justification for their discriminatory policies denying rights of women have received large infusions of taxpayers' dollars in the form of Bush's faith based grants. The receipt of the cash adds even more incentive for these churches to support right wing politics.

[AtomicKitten]

64. WHO was that twat on Colbert last night?

The creepy part is she was serious.

[lukasahero]

66. The worst thing you can think of to call someone is

slang for women's genitalia? Come AK, you can do better than that.

There is a thread about the woman and she deserves to be derided, not compared to a beautiful thing. ;)

ETA link to other thread: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=972995&mesg_id=972995

[AtomicKitten]

67. I apologize to women's genitalia everywhere.

However, it is more mainstream than you think.

twat (noun)
1. a man who is a stupid fool - syn: fathead, goof, bozo, jackass, goose, cuckoo, zany.
2. obscene term for female genitalia.

I, of course, meant #1.

[me b zola]

70. I stand with you, and all my sisters. n/t

[OzarkDem]

71. Let's start working on the Equal Rights Amendment

We only need 3 more states to ratify - Illinois, Arkansas and Florida, are you up to the challenge?

http://www.equalrightsamendment.org/

Remember, the majority of Dem voters are women. The more Dem men behave this way, the more Dem voters they lose.

[sproutster]

75. Totally In

The crap I've been reading, hearing, etc... is scaring the shit out of me.

[RagAss]

78. It's the groundwork being set down for the anti-Hillary movement

Rove-Wolves of London again.......

[loyalsister]

83. Evolution and negligence

The biological effects of the women's movement are having a unique effect on the dynamics- political and otherwise. As women age and lose estrogen, the small amount of testosterone that we have is unmasked, and we become more assertive. So, the women who participated in the women's movement are naturally becoming more assertive and active in their later years.
The gains we have made have resulted in great increases in women in higher office Governors, and Senators and Reps at both state and federal levels. Check their ages if you don't believe me.
This is something some men and even some women hate. For one thing it changes policy, and it threatens men and puts pressure on women that some dislike and resent.
Result blame and hate the feminists.
Another reason men have come to resent women is changes in business. Women live more healthy lives longer. The baby boomers have started businesses late in life and are succeeding. This is a source of resentment.
Also consider as men are reaching the end of their game in the workplace, women are moving up and even taking over.
A perplexing hitch in the middle of it all is the negligence of Gen X women. Very few would like to consider themselves feminists. They usually think it is a dirty word. Female assertiveness makes many uncomfortable. Partly because of the pressure it implies.
It has been my observation that when they do want to be a part of the glory, many seem to do it by joining the majority structure and taking on those attitudes.
It is nice to run across the rare exception.
I am finding that the younger genxer women and still younger women are begining to grab on to third wave feminism, however. Hopefully, they will help carry us through this mess!

[Quantess]

86. what the hell is "third wave feminism"? No Text n/t

[loyalsister]

89. Sort of like the "3rd uprising"

The "first wave" recognized are the suffragists. Elizabeth Cady Stanton , Susan B. Anthony, etc.
The "Second Wave" are the women from the 1960s\70s women's movement.
The third wave are the young women who now have access to Women's Studies as a major and have been put on alert by the Bush administration. They have become aware of the threat to choice, and have become active.
And, they are redifining feminism to some extent. Holding on to some principles but modifying it in some ways. One thing is that they are grabbing on to femininity and making sure that that is a part of it.

[clyrc]

87. I can't stand it, either

I remember about five years ago I was eating lunch in a rural Florida restaurant, and I was near a big table of business men also having lunch. They were teasing the waitress, a teenager who was teasing right back, but then one of them asked her, loudly, if she was one of those feminists. She asked him what a feminist was, and he told her it was a woman who thought she was better than men. The teenager loudly and vehemently denied that she was one of those people. My head nearly exploded. My lunch was ruined and eventually I was just sad.

I look like the world's most ridiculous advocate for Feminism, since I'm a stay at home mom who isn't very assertive and rarely speaks her mind. That was certainly what I was expected to be by my family, and it is hard, even at 36 years of age, to break free of all of that. Still, I'm raising my daughters to be self-confident and assertive (when needed) and they seem to be doing just fine. My oldest has been a feminist since she was four, and no one can tell her women aren't as good as men and that women don't deserve to make their own choices. She has a good dad and she adores him, so I'm hoping that will translate into a healthy regard for good men, when she gets older.

[Joe Fields]

92. I wasn't aware of any such war. I love women.