On creepiness and sexual harrassment

(Hat tip to Americablog and The Jed Report)
Barack Obama is right, John McCaine doesn't get it. He assumes that women are stupid enough to vote for a woman who is all flash and no substance. He thinks of women as objects. Obviously, he does not have a high opinion of women. His tastes run to former beauty queens and models, the first wife was a model and very attractive before she was crippled in a car accident while he was building the basis for his political career in some fancy hotel in Hanoi. But let's face it, beauty queens do not have a reputation for being very smart or deep. John McCain has issues with women. Maybe it's from his long naval career. Or maybe from his generation, he was born before the baby boom. Who knows? I've met men younger than me who have contempt for women. And women know this, despite the nomination of Sarah Palin to be his Vice President.

And this is the part where the wingnuts start whining about the Clenis. But here's the deal. Bill Clinton actually likes women. His policies while he was in the White House helped women. Even though he was a womanizer, he remained married to the same woman. He listened to the advice of female advisors like Madeline Albright (who was way more effective as Secretary of State than Condoleeza Rice) The right wing echo chamber was mystified as to why President Clinton had the support of organizations like the National Organization of Women and NARAL despite the "bimbo eruptions". It's because his policies (with the exception of welfare reform) helped women. And women were smart enought to know this.

Politicians like John McCain don't get, they think tokenism is the way to win the hearts and minds of women. It isn't. Insulting our intelligence doesn't close the gender gap. But I'm sure it's a winning strategy for the GOP, keep it up.

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PUMAMA*

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So McCain picks a woman to be his Veep and now the PUMAs are saying that they are going to vote for the Green Candidate? I saw this in comments on several feminist blogs today.

I guess the GOP realizes that women aren't stupid enough to vote for a woman just because she's a woman. A woman who opposes everything that Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama (and Geraldine Ferraro) stand for. So now they are promoting the Green Party in the hopes that voting Green will draw enough votes away from Obama and give McCain the victory.

Why not? It worked in 2000. I just want to remind everyone that IT DOES MAKE A BIG FUCKING DIFFERENCE WHO GETS ELECTED PRESIDENT. The GOP is full of batshit crazy idiots who have no business running the country.

So do not be deceived, John McCain hates women. He is a man who verbally abuses his wife. Yes, a man who calls his wife a trollop and cunt is abusive. And that was in public, imagine what he calls her in private. A man who hates half of the population has no business being president.

*Party unity my ass? My ass!

Emergency contraception is a readiness issue

From Feministing, I see that Senator Hilary Clinton reintroduced a bill to give American Servicewomen access to emergency contraception. This also means that the wives and daughters of our servicemen will also have access to EC. This bill will require all DoD health facilities to carry EC. Hopefully, this means that servicewomen will be able to pick up a packet of EC from the Staff Duty NCO if she needs it just like condoms are available at the staff duty desk in some units I was in. (This was really common when I was in Korea. The stories of decadence I could tell you about Korea, but that's another blog entry.) I hope that the female soldier would pick up the condoms before the EC because condoms also protect against STDs.

The reason why EC is a readiness issue is because when a female soldier finds out she is pregnant, she is non-deployable for the length of her pregnancy and for up to six months after she gives birth. A doctor can clear her for deployment sooner if there is a national emergency. (I do not know what the current post-partum rules for deployment are now.)

Not only that, pregnant servicewomen are resented in the military. They are accused of getting pregnant deliberately to get out of deployments. I had a company commander who pulled pregnant females out of their sections to work in the orderly room. These were women who worked in an office with no exposure to hazardous materials. It was like they were being punished for being pregnant. Fortunately, I was in a unit that was much more supportive of me when I was pregnant. However, I suffered from horrible post-partum complications that affected my ability to deploy for nine after my son was born. However, because I had access to a wide variety of birth control options, I was able to plan my pregnancy to happen when I was in a unit that didn't deploy.

It's not that American servicewomen are slutty, it's just they get lots of opportunities to get laid. If you believe that Servicewomen should have another option in their arsenal against unwanted pregnancy, then write your Senator or your Representative and tell him or her to support The Compassionate Care for Servicewomen Act.