Misogynist barbarians in Alabama impose forced pregnancy law

[Yuwipi Woman]

Beware the "cat-ladies."

To the banshee, the succubus, and La Llorona, add the cat lady. Maybe you’ve seen her, though few do: She is a solitary creature with a fondness for night walks and bad television. Often underestimated by her foes, the cat lady is ruthless in the pursuit of her prey. No traditional family is safe. The church offends her. She despises men most of all for they rejected her and must pay the price.

Or at least that’s what conservatives appear to believe.

“We are effectively run in the country via the Democrats, via our corporate oligarchs, by a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they’ve made, and so they want to make the rest of the country miserable too,” Vance told Tucker Carlson in 2021. The cat lady did not prevent Vance from winning a Republican Senate primary on Tuesday; perhaps she is merely biding her time.

I must admit some defensiveness here. I have two cats, no children, and a therapist. I am also married to a man and went to Bible college, so I might not fit Gaetz’s definition of the horrid specter. But I am also curious (a key feline trait): What are men like Gaetz and Vance really afraid of?

The cat lady is an old stereotype based on stupid beliefs about spinsters and feminists. Associated with women and “the domestic sphere,” cats appeared in anti-women’s suffrage imagery “to portray suffragettes as silly, infantile, incompetent, and ill-suited to political engagement,” according to the Society Pages. The idea is that if a cat is allowed to vote, something has gone terribly wrong. The same is true if a woman shuns family life to surround herself with cats.

The cat-lady jibe is a cheap way to own the libs. A playground taunt, it also says something about the bully who uses it. Hatred and fear are often so intertwined they can be difficult to tell apart. The cat lady canonically has no man. Her needs and habits aren’t dictated by a husband and children. She can make up her own mind, and she is free to do what she likes, which means she has the time to be political. Without the ballast of a family, a woman can be hard to control. I can see why that would irk conservative men like Gaetz and Vance.

[https://nymag.com/intelligencer/art...YIkXmr184RNKOPbO5InjXGUC6JpHz4-g2XCubOsAnPn9E

I don't care for cats, but I think I should get myself a whole pack of dogs... maybe some corgis.

 

[8ball]

In my view not acceptable. I capitalise neither, but if I did, I would capitalise both.

The view of your three quotes is racist. Racism being the promotion of one racial group over another, and is not acceptable ever.

I don’t think capitalising either is a good idea.

From link: "For many people, Black reflects a shared sense of identity and community."

Ok.

Now Google "Rachel Dolezal".

 

[AmateurAgitator]

 

[Magnus McGinty]

It's a race issue because Black people have long been massively underrepresented in government and Black people are disproportionately affected by this disgusting Handmaid's Tale shit - some of the states with the highest proportion of Black residents are Republican-led with some of the lowest spending on public health and education.

Black girls and women are also less likely than many of their white counterparts to be able to afford to travel to another state or another country for an abortion, and forcing them to give birth to babies they don't want isn't exactly going to help them break the cycle of poverty.

It’s a class issue then.

 

[Yossarian]

It’s a class issue then.

That too, of course - one of the things that makes the abortion bans especially egregious in states like Mississippi and Alabama is that the Black people disproportionately affected by the law overwhelmingly vote for Democrats, while voters in the white majority tend to choose Republicans that favor both strict abortion laws and moves to further disenfranchise Black people. one of the things the Roe ruling did was to make it harder for the majority to impose its will so completely on the minority.

 

[Magnus McGinty]

That too, of course - one of the things that makes the abortion bans especially egregious in states like Mississippi and Alabama is that the Black people disproportionately affected by the law overwhelmingly vote for Democrats, while voters in the white majority tend to choose Republicans that favor both strict abortion laws and moves to further disenfranchise Black people. one of the things the Roe ruling did was to make it harder for the majority to impose its will so completely on the minority.

Fair point and gawwd, the Deep South. Yeah I can imagine it’s a shit show down there and the racial history can’t be ignored.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

I don’t think capitalising either is a good idea.

From link: "For many people, Black reflects a shared sense of identity and community."

Ok.

Now Google "Rachel Dolezal".

Another problem with that is that there are white people who think like that about White.

 

[Sasaferrato]

I don’t think capitalising either is a good idea.

From link: "For many people, Black reflects a shared sense of identity and community."

Ok.

Now Google "Rachel Dolezal".

How odd.

I capitalise neither, and will not capitalising either.

 

[Cloo]

This is an interesting angle, but don't know if it would have any legs - or if it would only cover abortion to save a mother's life if successful:

Jewish Leaders: Banning Abortion is 'Absolutely' a Violation of Religious Freedom

As Roe v. Wade hangs in the balance, many in the Jewish community argue that their religion not only permits abortion access, but requires it.

jezebel.com

Also makes me reflect on the astonishing appallingness that someone can consider it right for a woman to die with her unborn child, possibly leaving other kids without a mother and of course you know, the whole world without her. I presume some of the Christian types suppose a 'good' mum will give up everything to go to heaven with her little angel

 

[Jeff Robinson]

“Just because my life has a precedent of 72 years does not mean that my existence is so sacred that it cannot be overruled. There is actually a lengthy history in the United States of my nonexistence, stretching from my birth back to 1776."

Justice Alito Somberly Ties Noose After Realizing He Not Mentioned In Constitution

WASHINGTON—Building upon the arguments in his draft of the majority opinion likely to overturn Roe v. Wade, Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito was said to have somberly tied a noose Tuesday after realizing he himself was not mentioned in the U.S. Constitution. “Absolutely nowhere in this...

www.theonion.com

 

[Jeff Robinson]

This is an interesting angle, but don't know if it would have any legs - or if it would only cover abortion to save a mother's life if successful:

Jewish Leaders: Banning Abortion is 'Absolutely' a Violation of Religious Freedom

As Roe v. Wade hangs in the balance, many in the Jewish community argue that their religion not only permits abortion access, but requires it.

jezebel.com

Also makes me reflect on the astonishing appallingness that someone can consider it right for a woman to die with her unborn child, possibly leaving other kids without a mother and of course you know, the whole world without her. I presume some of the Christian types suppose a 'good' mum will give up everything to go to heaven with her little angel

Hope this argument makes it to the Supreme Court! It'd be a real headfuck for these rightwing misogynist maniacs.

 

[Jeff Robinson]

 

[Magnus McGinty]

“Just because my life has a precedent of 72 years does not mean that my existence is so sacred that it cannot be overruled. There is actually a lengthy history in the United States of my nonexistence, stretching from my birth back to 1776."

Justice Alito Somberly Ties Noose After Realizing He Not Mentioned In Constitution

WASHINGTON—Building upon the arguments in his draft of the majority opinion likely to overturn Roe v. Wade, Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito was said to have somberly tied a noose Tuesday after realizing he himself was not mentioned in the U.S. Constitution. “Absolutely nowhere in this...

www.theonion.com

Do “pro-lifers” ever even discuss or rally around the plight of the living? Or does it all end at pregnancy rights?

 

[frogwoman]

Most of those freaks aren't keen on Jews either tbh (as opposed to the State of Israel)

 

[existentialist]

Do “pro-lifers” ever even discuss or rally around the plight of the living? Or does it all end at pregnancy rights?

The latter.

 

[muscovyduck]

As alluded to by posts a couple pages back, it's not just about controlling women, it's about creating an underclass of unwanted children, who are going to be good sources of both cheap labour in the work force and a large amount of invisible labour in the households they end up in.

 

[Cloo]

As alluded to by posts a couple pages back, it's not just about controlling women, it's about creating an underclass of unwanted children, who are going to be good sources of both cheap labour in the work force and a large amount of invisible labour in the households they end up in.

I don't even think they've thought it through that much. They just see a world they don't like where people who should be beneath them are getting recognition as Actual Human Beings and they think they can make everything go back to being all right if they get women back under the thumb of the patriarchy. And forcing them to give birth is a good way of achieving that.

 

[Yuwipi Woman]

As alluded to by posts a couple pages back, it's not just about controlling women, it's about creating an underclass of unwanted children, who are going to be good sources of both cheap labour in the work force and a large amount of invisible labour in the households they end up in.

... and if they fail to be employable... as fodder for the prison system. There will be a profit to made off their backs one way or another.

 

[frogwoman]

As alluded to by posts a couple pages back, it's not just about controlling women, it's about creating an underclass of unwanted children, who are going to be good sources of both cheap labour in the work force and a large amount of invisible labour in the households they end up in.

Im not 100% convinced of that as a motive tbh, its going to have the effect of removing a lot of women from the work force or making it way harder for them to participate. Loads of abandoned kids does fit the whole Mother Theresa vibe tho

 

[_Russ_]

Most of those freaks aren't keen on Jews either tbh (as opposed to the State of Israel)

Or Blacks, communists, women, hippies, Homos ....who have I left out?

 

[Jeff Robinson]

They are sadists, I'm sure of it. They make these sort of rulings because they enjoy inflicting pain and misery on as many people as they can get away with.

 

[Sasaferrato]

Or Blacks, communists, women, hippies, Homos ....who have I left out?

Everyone that is not like them. Which is most of humanity.

 

[tim]

Yes, it didn't quite sit right with me, either. The names are, well, white. And they're all a little bit blameless for my liking. If you're living a chaotic life you have more need of an abortion than anyone and - yes - shouldn't have to justify it.

Yes, but neither should women be penalised or vilified for choosing not to have an abortion. The British right, from the era of the eugenics movement until the present has sought to control the fertility of women, specifically those who are poor, from minority backgrounds, or with "chaotic lifestyles", of whom it doesn't approve. Women who chose to bear children should not be made to feel guilty about that choice and should receive support from the state to help give that child a decent life.

 

[likesfish]

Its about punishing sluts If you are a woman and you remotely enjoy sex you are Slut at end of. Unless you one of there mistresses or daughters then you've made a mistake and can go to a discrete clinic in Mexico possibly not canada

 

[Monkeygrinder's Organ]

As alluded to by posts a couple pages back, it's not just about controlling women, it's about creating an underclass of unwanted children, who are going to be good sources of both cheap labour in the work force and a large amount of invisible labour in the households they end up in.

Mm, I don't think the Deep South is lacking in exploitable cheap labour tbh.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

Mm, I don't think the Deep South is lacking in exploitable cheap labour tbh.

Yeah I think it's less calculating than that, or at least calculating differently. Strikes me that for those who drive this as a wedge issue, it's fundamentally about power. And they would rather wield power in a shithole than not wield power in a decent place, even if that means they have to live in said shithole as well.

 

[spanglechick]

Its about punishing sluts If you are a woman and you remotely enjoy sex you are Slut at end of. Unless you one of there mistresses or daughters then you've made a mistake and can go to a discrete clinic in Mexico possibly not canada

It is exactly this. I was in the states in the run up to the 2016 elections, and Trump played to his base by saying he’d consider prison sentences for women who had abortions. But the men who impregnate them? There’s not even a question for politicians about them.

This isn’t about saving lives.

If it was about saving lives people would be forced to donate one of their kidneys or their bone marrow. Both are in short supply. People die from the lack of both. But the pro lifers aren’t campaigning for that to happen.

Until a pro lifer can tell me why it’s acceptable for a woman to be forced to gestate and birth a child, but they shouldn’t be forced to give up a kidney, they have no moral argument that doesn’t boil down to punishing women for sex.

 

[Yuwipi Woman]

It is exactly this. I was in the states in the run up to the 2016 elections, and Trump played to his base by saying he’d consider prison sentences for women who had abortions. But the men who impregnate them? There’s not even a question for politicians about them.

This isn’t about saving lives.

If it was about saving lives people would be forced to donate one of their kidneys or their bone marrow. Both are in short supply. People die from the lack of both. But the pro lifers aren’t campaigning for that to happen.

Until a pro lifer can tell me why it’s acceptable for a woman to be forced to gestate and birth a child, but they shouldn’t be forced to give up a kidney, they have no moral argument that doesn’t boil down to punishing women for sex.

The right couldn't even be pro-life enough to wear a mask during a pandemic. If you aren't willing compromise your bodily integrity in such a small way for others, why would you expect a larger sacrifice of bodily integrity be made by women?

 

[editor]

Apols if already posted, but YYYYEESSSS!

 

[spring-peeper]

Apols if already posted, but YYYYEESSSS!

Could you tell me what she said? I do not have a twitter account.