Why I stand with women.

             I've been asked by men I know who have occasionally read these posts or talked with me. They usually ask a question. Why do you say what you say about the so-called war on women? "Are you gay, one of the girl's?" I've been asked. No, not that it matters. "Are you doing this just to get laid?" No, I'm not doing this to get laid.

I am doing this because I believe equal means equal.

I do this because I have a daughter.

She is a beautiful, brilliant, nineteen year old Sophomore at a well respected, small Liberal Arts College in Ohio.

When she finishes her education I want her to be able to do whatever she wants. And to be paid the same as a man with equal credentials and talent.

I want her to have full and equal access to the justice system if the unthinkable happens.

I want her to have full and equal access to the healthcare system without conservative religious views codified as law to prevent that. Having a uterus is not a pre-existing condition any more than having testicles is.

I want her vote to be counted and not discarded because she's a student.

I want her to live in a nation where she is not a second class citizen, condemned to a state of socio-economic slavery simply because of gender.

I want her to live in a Nation where a Violence Against Women Act is not used as a political football and is unnecessary.

All I want is a Country where she is a citizen first and a woman, second.

Apparently this is too much to ask.

Ninety-three years ago this week the Nineteenth Amendment was ratified. That finally gave women the right to vote.

During those years the fight for women's rights has made significant progress. We have a long road to travel yet but we were always moving in the right direction. I knew this would be a better world for my little girl.

It seems I may have been too hopeful and naive.

Both of us are in Ohio. Not a woman friendly State anymore.

Ohio, through most of it's history was a powerful political State. It was a hotbed of the Abolition movement. Major lines of the Underground Railroad went through the State. 

Many of the stations are still standing as private homes. The owners are proud to point out the history of their house and the hiding places for escaped slaves to visitors. 

Lincoln carried Ohio twice.

During the Civil War Ohio produced more troops per capita than any other State in the Union. Many of the Generals were Ohioans also. Grant, Sherman, Sheridan, Harrison, Hooker and Custer to name a few.

Ohio continued as a political powerhouse. Senator Sherman of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act was a progressive Senator from Ohio.

During the Progressive era Ohio helped those progressive laws pass in the House and Senate.

Ohio produced six Presidents following the Union victory. Two of them were assassinated.

What I am trying to show is Ohio has a tradition of being a moderate, yet powerful force in American politics. A defender of liberty. Sadly in the last decade that has changed.

Now Ohio is a leader of a different kind. The reactionary Republicans that have seized the State are determined to support and champion the rejection of history, science and women as an equal citizen.

In 2011 the lizard brained psychopaths in the Ohio House passed the Heartbeat Bill. They did this in the center ring of the National Political Circus. 

These venal, theocratic rat bastards, in the pocket of the Tea Party and the Westboro Baptist wing of the Party gave us a bill banning abortion when a fetal heartbeat can be detected, About six weeks, pror to most women even knowing they are pregnant.

In committee, a woman undergoing an ultrasound so her fetus could testify made a joke that a transvaginal probe would work better. The compassionate men on the committee chuckled over that witty bon mot.

The Ohio Senate, after having their asses handed to them by the people of Ohio on Union Busting, buried the heartbeat bill.

The Republicans in 2011 came up with gerrymandered political districts.They appeared to be drawn by Strom Thurmond on acid. So even as Mitt Romney's Presidential dreams were gutted like a trout in Ohio, a more rightwing batshit crazy Legislature was elected.

Thus in their wisdom the Republican Legislators in the Great State of Ohio, after seeing Ohio reject the GOP social stances in the Presidential election, acted. 

With clear logic they came to the conclusion the most pressing issue facing the State was abortion. So, they went after women. They acted with the glee of frat boys spiking drinks at a party.

In order to avoid a ballot repeal by the sane, they put their demented views into the Budget. 

As believers of input from the public they are supposed to represent, these regs were slipped into the budget at the last minute to avoid public hearings. No point turning over a rock to expose these creepy  slimy slugs to the light of day.

They doubled the waiting period to forty-eight hours. An ultrasound must be performed with a voice over of what's going on. 

A woman must be told the chances of carrying the child to term. Healthy or not.

Since being a member of Ohio's Legislature automatically makes you a de facto OB/GYN they redefined pregnancy. It now begins at conception. After all what does the AMA know?

There is a script healthcare providers have to read that links abortion to increased chances of breast cancer. It doesn't matter the American Cancer Society says there's no correlation. A bunch of liberals. 

Fetal pain, something that has never been established as fact must be mentioned as if it's an accepted medical concept. Any MD that doesn't lie to his patient can be found guilty of a felony and fined $1,000,000.(not a typo)

The redefinition of pregnancy makes some forms of birth control abortion agents . So to get the pill, an IUD or Plan B, you get the lecture, ultrasound and waiting period.

The GOP says this is for the health and safety of women. That would be why any women's healthcare clinic that even mentions abortion as an option goes to the end of the line for funding, including rape crisis centers. A child of rape is a gift from God, you know.
 

This puts the anti-abortion fronts known as pregnancy crisis centers to the fore. They routinely lie to women about the effects of abortion. 

In other states they've been caught saying abortion created antibodies that will induce miscarriages in future pregnancies. 

They've tried to link abortion to mental health issues, falsely. 

They say the pill causes abortions, again contradicting the AMA. 

Also, condoms are naturally porous so they don't work. 

The only  way acceptable way to avoid pregnancy is the ole rhythm method or abstinence.

The sole reason for these regulations undoing decades of progress is to force women to give birth. They want to humiliate unmarried women who have sex. Basically codifying slut shaming.

Since women are wilful, sinful creatures they need to be shown the sonograms. Obviously they don't realize that is a baby, not an undeveloped clump of cells.

We all know they blithely seek abortion as an easy, convenient form of birth control. They are too stupid and hormone addled to make these decisions anyway. After all they refuse to accept the consequences of their sinful, wanton desire to have sex outside of marriage.

The very best way to keep these feminazis out of public life is to control their reproductive options. 

Because of the hippies and commies in the Sixties, women have decided they should no longer be subservient to men. They have this absurdist notion they are as intelligent as and equal to men. The girls think they deserve equal pay also.

The Nineteenth Amendment was a mistake. Ask Ann Coulter.

The best way to remove these pesky women from business and politics is let's keep them pregnant through most of their reproductive years. If they can't plan their life they have to settle for women's work. They'll stop taking jobs from men. We'll quit wasting money and time educating them. After all how much education does a walking life support system for a fetus actually need? 

The girls need to go back to their God ordained role in the family. An incubator and child rearer. They need to be obedient to their husband.

To these views being passed off as helping women I say, are you fucking crazy? This is the Twenty-First Century for Christ's sake. We can not treat women like we are still a bronze age nomadic tribe.

I respect women as the individuals they are.

I respect women as equal in all ways before the law and in society.

I want my Daughter to live a long fulfilling life seeking her happiness, not some preacher's view of that.

I do this for my daughter's better tomorrow.
Who do you do it for??

Shhhh, girls, the men are talking. Ohio. Again.

     I had hoped not to have to write this. I should be used to dashed and decimated hopes by now.
     Gov.John Kasich ( R-OH) had the chance to show Ohio is a sane, reasonable place to live. Instead he chose to show Ohio as a reactionary, theocratic, anti-women, anti-science State where Conservative men know more than Doctors on how to treat a pregnant woman.
    The provisions in this abhorrent Budget have purpose. To shame and intimidate women. The rules come from the idea that the girls are incapable of making decisions on their reproductive health, their future and rights as a human being and citizen  With the redefinition of pregnancy (AMA be damned) certain contraceptives may be defined as abortifacients since they prevent implantation to the uterine wall. Ultra sound and lectures for the pill or IUD?
     Any contraception restriction seems to be intended to strip women of viable alternatives to sex for other than  procreative purposes. If you have sex simply because you enjoy it (SLUT) be prepared for the consequences. You may need to rely on barrier or rhythm methods.       Or the RWNJ favorite, abstinence. See, sexually active women with alternatives and reproductive control are a major reason for the decline of our "Christian" nation's moral values. Harlots!! There seems to be a longing by these rat bastards for a return to a woman being pregnant for most of her reproductive years.
     Let's not forget there is no exclusion for rape or incest. The only exclusion is for saving the life of the mother. Period. That's it.
     The GOP in Ohio used to be reasonable and wary of overreach. No longer. They feel they have a mandate from God. A divine right to impose their narrow, hateful vision and moral judgements on the people of Ohio.
     The "Pro Life" lobby is ecstatic. Women are so incapable of making these decisions about their lives. Men are so much smarter and must act to protect them from themselves.
     Kasich in response to abysmal poll numbers has flirted with trying to appear pragmatic and reasonable. There have been occasional dashes to the center. Always short lived and seen as blatant political posturing.  
     Thus in Ohio there was the feeling he realized these provisions were a mistake and extremist over reach. He would use the line item veto on them. Instead he decided to play to the rabid right base to position himself for reelection in '14 and a possible Presidential run as a Conservative Pro Life champion in '16. He seems to have forgotten his Presidential flirtation with the GOP  in 2000 collapsed under massive indifference.
     I have always tried to avoid pissing off women as a rule. I have found angering women is unwise and dangerous.  These guys seem to relish it.
     So, options
     The best remedy I believe will be the courts. The danger there is these budget provisions seem to be a direct challenge to Roe v. Wade. A challenge that winds it's way to the Supreme Court (GOP AG DeWine would surely keep appealing any losses up the food chain) could,in this court result in overturning that landmark decision. We've seen their disdain for precedent and what in normally considered settled law.
     A major pushback by concerned and outraged women is very likely. However there is no Recall in Ohio.
     Budget provisions, I believe, can't  be overturned via ballot repeal. I need to research that but even if, deadlines for Nov. loom.
      The GOP can expect a push for defeat by righteously, outraged Ohio women and men.
     Our primary recourse is the ballot box to remove these people from office next year. Due to gerrymandering it will be a challenge. A challenge accepted. As a free people that value equality we can not let this abomination stand.
     We have an obligation to our daughters to stop this now. To stand and say NO! No Farther.
     Apathy and complacency will doom women to a return to the 19th century. Dangerous herbal concoctions to induce adbortion and miscarriages.
     Again back alley abortion resulting in death and sterilization of women due to sepsis. The return of the wire coat hanger as a surgical instrument.
     Not again!

With you, I'd walk anywhere.

I used to say I didn't understand women. I may need to revise that. In 2013, in America, I don't understand men. Really. The condescending smirks. The acceptance of violence. Slut shaming. Reproductive rights restrictions. Denial of worth and rights. A general notion that women are property to be used. abused and discarded.

Since the Sixties I thought we had made progress in slowly moving past thousands of years of societal discrimination.  I am dismayed by the seemingly acceptable sexism so prevalent today. The Right Wing seems to think women are too flighty and emotional to be trusted with important decisions. It's as if having a uterus makes you stupid.

At work or in a bar, out on the street in overheard conversations I am at times appalled and mystified by the things men say. When I call someone on it I'm one of the girls. Whatever,

Once, talking to a friend, I mentioned I love women in response to something he said. The guy looked at me like I had just beamed down from the Enterprise. He said,"I hate women. If not for the pussy there'd be a bounty on them." That attitude is more prevalent than I ever thought it would be in the 21st century.

Like I told him, I love women. I follow a lot of women on Twitter. Why? I've found the arguments are more cognitive and reasoned without an infusion of testosterone. There's no pissing contest. No measuring and no struggle for domination of the conversation. I find the company of women enjoyable and a wonderful pleasure.

I have more women friends than men friends.Women on the whole are just more pleasant to be around. At least that's how I feel. In a relationship or casual hanging out I love how a woman feels on the dance floor. The touch of a hand, soft as a whisper. The way one looks at someone they care for. As one can see I am at times confused and conflicted.

I respect women the way I crave respect. I try not to objectify but sometimes I do. I know where your eyes are but mine will stray. I don't think bitch is interchangeable with woman but I use the word. An all purpose noun, verb, adverb and adjective. I try to maintain propriety but at times fail miserably.

I may let wanting to be seen as sensitive and a romantic get in the way of being just a person talking to another person. I try to be witty, charming and funny. With mixed results. That's to cover the nervousness and fear of rejection. I seem to crave the approval of women. (Thanks Mom.)

So dear reader I suppose you are as confused as I am where this rambling mess is heading. I guess I'm trying to say women should be valued. Respected for their passion and intellect. Loved well. Equal. Like a person that has value outside of reproductive capabilities. Not abused. Not raped. Not treated as chattel or a trophy.

This generation is lost. We need to educate the next. We can not live up to the promise of the future by glorifying the attitudes of the past.We move forward or fail as a species.