rockin'robin

Republican politicians are treading into murky (read: sexist) waters in the contraception debate. Earlier today, in protest of House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. Darrell Issa's refusal to allow women onto a panel of witnesses at the hearing on the White House mandate to require employers and insurers to provide contraception coverage, Reps. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) and Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) walked out, garnering a significant amount of media attention and setting off an ensuing furor among women and men. Why no women? Issa said, “the hearing is not about reproductive rights and contraception but instead about the Administration’s actions as they relate to freedom of religion and conscience."

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Currently under the Obama plan, in cases where religious groups are involved contraception coverage will be offered to women by their employers’ insurance companies directly, so that religious employers who oppose contraception don't have to be involved with that nasty business. What Issa means is that the hearing is about whether requiring insurers to cover birth control violates the religious freedom of people who don't believe that birth control should, essentially, exist. The people on his panel, then, were men. Religious men. (Two women appeared on a second panel at the hearing. Both spoke against contraception.)

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But back to Issa's statement: How do you take "reproductive rights and contraception" out of a conversation about birth control? You can't. You might try to ignore those parts of the conversation because you want to get a specific answer, for a specific purpose. And allowing women on a panel to talk about how and why they need birth control -- and how and why they need insurers to pay for it -- detracts from that mission.

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In tackier, more sensational headlines, Rick Santorum pal Foster Friess announced on MSNBC today that back in the old days the "gals" used to just put some Bayer Aspirin between their knees as a handy (and cheap!) contraception method. In addition to winning "most moronic statement of the day," Friess went on to further belittle the issue of birth control, insinuating that all this focus on stupid lady crap when there are more important issues at stake (like wars), is the marking of a randy, sex-obsessed culture:

Here we have millions of our fellow Americans unemployed, we have jihadist camps being set up in Latin America, which Rick has been warning about, and people seem to be so preoccupied with sex. I think it says something about our culture. We maybe need a massive therapy session so we can concentrate on what the real issues are.

Rush Limbaugh comes down on this side, with a bit more of a conspiracy angle, saying Democrats "ginned up" the contraception debate to divide the GOP and distract from the real issues.

RELATED: Even Republicans Want Employers to Cover Birth Control


But what are the real issues? Sex, and everything related to it -- you could argue that very little is not related to sex in some way -- surely, is one of them. Surely Friess knows that. (We dare say his words have the confessional mark of "methinks the man doth protest too much.")

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Friess, Limbaugh, and Issa, each in different ways, are trying to desexualize and downplay the importance of an issue that is, at its core, about not only sex but also men and women, power, religion, socioeconomics, relationships, healthcare, equal rights, and, not to speak too broadly, but pretty much our entire global future. We'll throw Issa a bone: Fine, this particular hearing is also about freedom of religion and conscience -- things that women have opinions on just as much as men do, just like men should care about birth control just as much as women do. But, two facts: Men don't actually get pregnant, and we have nothing to gain from a one-sided conversation about an issue that impacts us all. It's doubly insulting when women, who have been dealing with birth control on their own for years, are left out of the conversation or added as an afterthought. Come on, politicians. We're all grown ups here. If you feel the need to giggle behind your hand when someone mentions sex, you should excuse yourself from the table. Didn't we all take health class back in high school? (As House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said today, “What else do you need to know about the subject? I may, I may at some point be moved to explain biology to my colleagues.”)

The simple answer of why men are dominating the conversation on birth control is that, regardless of strides made, men continue to largely dominate the conversation in politics. The more complicated answer is that the men who are dominating the conversation on birth control -- and you can count Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum, and Florida Senator Marco Rubio among those who've come out against the White House contraception plan -- are deeply afraid of losing the conservative vote, and, it seems, conservatives continue to be deeply afraid of women having free and equal control over their own bodies and all that follows from that. Like having sex. Creating fewer unwanted children. And women taking care of themselves. What a sin.

Why Are Men Dominating the Debate About Birth Control for Women? - Yahoo! News

Deafness

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saywhatkid

Interesting.

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VacationGuy234

Because women don't vote for female candidates? Just sayin...

If women voted for more women, there would be more women in congress.

Assuming the voting isn't rigged, but that wouldn't be a shock to me.

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TWA

Well, they're often lied to by the male candidates. But then, those candidates lie to all of us about everything anyway, so moot point really.

DeafCaroline

This article explicitly explains why birth control IS a right. It states in cold hard facts the realities women deal with around the world.

Women’s right to birth control is a human right

Reba

I don't vote for candidates by sex.

Last election I voted for a candidate for governor who happened to be a woman.

Reba

Female candidates don't lie?

TXgolfer

Women should absolutely positively have the right to birth control if they want it. I agree with 100%. No doubt.

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Sometimes at night, I see their faces. I feel the traces they've left on my soul

Foxrac

Are you different from kokonut's view on right to birth control?

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In Moto We Trust

TXgolfer

I don't think he has a problem with women using birth control either.

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Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. - Romans 12:21


Sometimes at night, I see their faces. I feel the traces they've left on my soul

Reba

Even if we presume that birth control for women is a right, why is it the only right that has to be subsidized by federal insurance?

Under the American Constitution, we have the right to bear arms but no one claims that tax dollars should subsidize that right.

Is there tax-supported insurance that covers free speech? Free press?

When we exercise our right to peaceably assemble, does the Federal government pay for our transportation and lodging?

kokonut

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"Restriction on free thought and free speech is the most dangerous of all subversions. It is the one un-American act that could most easily defeat us."
-Thurgood Marshall, former Supreme Court Justice


"... turns out they are telling the truth."

TWA

Sure they do, but that is completely irrelevant to what I said, now isn't it?

Foxrac

He doesn't believe that birth control is right.

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Grayma

Clearly an oversight. It's time for your taxes to be raised so we can have some new weaponry around my house.

My husband was saving for a new pistol. Now that he's looking for a job, that money had to go for utilities. UNFAIR. We shouldn't have to choose between our second amendment rights and electricity.

Banjo

Let them pay child support if they want it done their way.

Grayma

So, women don't vote for women because they are too stupid to know when they're being lied to?


All candidates lie to all of us about everything.

TXgolfer

When you think about it....it's pretty scary to think only the rich can afford guns. That could end VERY badly.

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Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. - Romans 12:21


Sometimes at night, I see their faces. I feel the traces they've left on my soul

TWA

No, they vote for male candidates because they think those male candidates represent their best interests based on the lies they are told. Don't put words in my mouth.

That's exactly what I said: Now, the unfortunate thing here is that you knew exactly what I meant, as did Reba, and yet both of you want to quibble about a point of semantics and put words in my mouth? Unbelievable.

Grayma

No, Actually, Alex, I didn't know what you meant, not being a mind-reader. Thanks for explaining.

TXgolfer

The church?

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Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. - Romans 12:21


Sometimes at night, I see their faces. I feel the traces they've left on my soul

TWA

Please just quote me and talk directly. There is no need to inject my name into your reply. To do so feels like I am being talked down to.

Reba

It's that generational thing again. We oldsters are used to addressing those to whom we speak. It has nothing to do with talking down to someone.

kokonut

Amazing, a non-mindreader who attempted at mind reading a non-mind reader. Happens a lot around here.

__________________
Before AD.

After AD.

"Restriction on free thought and free speech is the most dangerous of all subversions. It is the one un-American act that could most easily defeat us."
-Thurgood Marshall, former Supreme Court Justice


"... turns out they are telling the truth."

TWA

So why do you not do it?

Also, it has less to do with generational issues and more to do with good forum etiquette. 99.9% of people on this website simply quote a person and then respond directly.

Reba

Sometimes I do. I guess I've gotten used to the format here.

It also seems weird to me to address people by their screen names, especially ones that aren't capitalized or have numbers in them. That's just me.

That's the most efficient way but I don't think other ways are violations of etiquette.

Most annoying to me are replies that neither quote the post nor identify to whom they are addressed. That has caused some misunderstandings and unintentional slights. At least if someone uses your name you know that the post is intended for you.

TXgolfer

What do you mean?

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Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. - Romans 12:21


Sometimes at night, I see their faces. I feel the traces they've left on my soul

kokonut

Who you talking to?

__________________
Before AD.

After AD.

"Restriction on free thought and free speech is the most dangerous of all subversions. It is the one un-American act that could most easily defeat us."
-Thurgood Marshall, former Supreme Court Justice


"... turns out they are telling the truth."

TWA

Yes, I agree completely. Not using the quote button is really annoying and poor etiquette.

TXgolfer

__________________
Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. - Romans 12:21


Sometimes at night, I see their faces. I feel the traces they've left on my soul