Woah, it’s been a long time! Work has been exhausting for sure, and I meant to write a post about the Winnipeg Slutwalk and whatnot. Sadly the organizers have not gotten back to me and I had some epic questions of doom (and I don’t know what that says about the movement, though I may write about that too).
Two things that happened this week in the world really stuck out at me though, in a good news/bad news kind of way. As usual, I’m finding it difficult to start anywhere because these things always lead to some impressive high and lows emotionally. Is it really that healthy for me to be invested this much?! Anyway, here goes!
1. That Personhood Thing In Mississippi
Look, I would be lying through my teeth if I told you that the first words out of my mouth were not “IN YOUR FUCKING FACE ANTI-CHOICE DOUCHECANOES!!” followed by a dance the husband described as “eccentric with a side of 80s”. I’m sorry, but I am not a graceful winner at all and in cases like these? I’m going to celebrate. An amendment like this being defeated in a red state like Mississippi gives me some hope. Hope that the general public has sent a loud enough message that they want the government to stop fooling around in a woman’s uterus. Of course, the fight isn’t even close to over since they are gearing up to have these type of amendments tabled in other states. Personally I will completely and totally relax once shit like this fails in a state like Kansas…..oh Kansas….let’s not get started on the horrors of Kansas, I don’t think there is enough space on the internet for it.
Of course, that does not mean we can’t pause for a brief moment of celebration. Though I do have a serious case of the neener-neeners, I am grateful that the people themselves soundly voted against this. I mean, it’s fucking ridiculous on so many levels beyond just abortion. Women flush out fertilized eggs all the time, we’re going to investigate them for murder now? Are we going to rifle through the menstrual contents of every woman and investigate every miscarriage for criminal activity? The IVF angle has been well explored too, are doctors going to want to perform the procedure knowing that sometimes it doesn’t work? I mean, seriously, DID YOU FIND ANY JOBS IN THE CONTENTS OF THAT LADY’S UTERUS WHILE YOU WERE POKING AROUND?? I’m guessing no. Women don’t give birth to jobs, which is what y’all promised, and we don’t birth better economies either.
I was riding high on this win and feeling slightly better about the world until…..
2. Penn State Students Protest Because a Coach Got Appropriately Fired
Hey, you know what’s not cool in any way, shape, or form? Child rape. You know what’s just as disgusting? Covering up for a child rapist for DECADES. Joe Paterno did just that and got canned. GOOD. I hope the victims throw a civil suit right in his face and I hope he is ruined. Doing nothing in the face of sexual assault to me is just as bad as the assault itself, and like I said I’m not an entirely gracious person so I hope this isn’t the end of the bad karma. So this seems like it could be good news right?
But OH-HO-HO does humanity ever fail me once again! People marched, protested, and rioted not because this douche helped to cover up child rape. They did that because, duh Americans, FOOTBALL.
Oh dear me guys, what could be more important that dealing with child rape in a serious matter?? SOME MOTHERFUCKING FOOTBALL GUYS!!! People are ANGRY that they fired THIS GREAT MAN because OMG FOOTBALL AND LEGACIES AND SHIT! It’s apparently such a tragedy against Joe Paterno! Like, I know it sucks for the victims but FOOTBALL! GREAT COACH! PILLAR OF THE COMMUNITY! FOOOOOOOOOOTBAAAAAAALL!!
Ugh, anyone reading this that defends this man….that’s what you sound like to me. You fucking disgust me to the core and you are a terrible person. You thing it’s wrong that he got fired for covering up rape. You think what happened to HIM was unfair and horrible. You have basically said “fuck the victims, I want my football heroes”. You sent a message to the victims of child rape that football is more important than how Joe Paterno failed them by keeping a blind eye. That makes you a terrible person. Full stop. You are what’s wrong with how we treat rape as a crime. You are an example of rape culture. Terrible person, just like your buddy Joe.
Joe Paterno is no better than the Catholic Church covering up child rape. In my own opinion, I don’t think he’s any better than the rapists themselves, neither is Mike McQueary, who sent the message to the rapist (his name doesn’t deserve the page views) that he can keep on doing this. It also sent the message to the victim “no one will help me”. Fuck you very much if that is less serious than your precious fucking football team.
I’m really astounded at the level of asshattery surrounding this case. I’m astounded at the asshattery revolving around the almighty uterus. More than anything, I am astounded that we all still wake up in the mornings and keep on fighting for a better world. With shit like this, what hope do we really have?
Y’know, I think I finally figured out the push for the whole “personhood” thing. It’s certainly not about fetuses. On some level, it’s not even about women. It’s about devaluing the concept of “personhood.” See, if they’d passed that law, they wouldn’t have actually taken any of the steps needed for the now-coveted fetal people to be born and grow up–that would have required a certain amount of social services, which *obviously* are all evil (what with the right of people to education and police protection and an environment free of lethal toxins and all). But, if even a freakin’ zygote can be a person, “person” becomes a meaningless word. If you can flush a person down the toilet, what’s the big deal about a little “environmental pollution”? If you can store a few thousand people in the back of your freezer, who’s going to get miffed about a little unjust detention?
Okay, sorry for the rant. I know that we should just be happy that the measure failed, but the fact that it existed is chipping away at my faith in humanity. Zygotes? Seriously?
I’m with you, though I’m still riding on more of a high about the personhood initiative not passing. I live in the Deep South, though thankfully in a big and fairly liberal city, and my partner is from Mississippi. Based on my experiences, I was pretty sure, right up until that night, that 26 was going to pass. The fact that it didn’t – that this was a line too far for all but the most conservative people to cross – has restored my faith in humanity just a tiny bit. Many of my partner’s old childhood friends, all of whom are very conservative and with whom he agrees on virtually nothing else, were posting No on 26 stuff on their Facebook.
At the same time, I acknowledge how sad it is that this is all it takes to make me happy – that 57% of voters agreed to allow women some teensy bit of authority over their own bodies. Abortion is still extremely hard to get in MS, or anywhere else in the Deep South for that matter, and the state has so many other problems. Plus 43% still voted for this evil amendment! It just goes to show how cynical I’ve become, that this is all it takes to restore some of my faith in humanity. But hey, I’ll take it.
[...] A Good Thing/A Bad Thing…Or How I Easily Get Deflated – The …Nov 11, 2011 … I’m really astounded at the level of asshattery surrounding this case. I’m astounded at the asshattery revolving around the almighty uterus. [...]