Passing Through: Firstly, I just want to thank The Nation for giving me the opportunity to guest blog. I've been reading the magazine since I was a teenager – obsessing over Katha Pollitt's columns much in the same way that other girls were swooning over their Teen Beats. (Though I never got my Katha pull-out, very disappointing.)
Since a lot of my feminism started here, I figured what better way to start my guest-blogging stint than to point out a bit of a sexist election trend.
We all know about the waxing misogynist over Hillary's hair or "cackle," and Chris Matthews' ability to insult women in the most ridiculous ways while keeping a straight face. But what I'm finding most interesting is the perpetual paternalism that's been driving the Republican candidates as of late.
In an interview with People magazine, Bush spoke about his daughter Jenna's engagement – specifically about how Henry Hager "asked for her hand."
"He kind of sidled up to me and said, ‘Can I come and see you?' We were sitting outside the presidential cabin here, and he professed his love for Jenna and said, would I mind if he married her? And I said, ‘Got a deal.' [Laughter] And I'm of the school, once you make the sale, move on. But he had some other points he wanted [to make]. He wanted to talk about how he would be financially responsible." I suppose it doesn't really shock me that Bush would think about his daughter's engagement as a "deal" or "sale," but it did make me think about how – even at a time where women's votes could make or break candidates – the Republican hopefuls seem hell-bent on making little girls of all women.
And no one screams Daddy State more than Mike Huckabee. Whether it's feeling the need to weigh in on Nickelodeon teen celebrity Jamie Lynn Spears' pregnancy ("…she's going to have the child and…that is the right decision") or making condescending remarks about women's ability to understand their own decisions--Papa Huckabee is on one heck of a sexist roll.
Just this past weekend Huckabee said, "I think if a doctor knowingly took the life of an unborn child for money, and that's why he was doing it, yeah, I think you would, you would find some way to sanction that doctor...I think you don't punish the woman, first of all, because it's not about ... I consider her a victim, not a criminal."
Now, you have to love that Huckabee assumes abortion providers are men (I suppose that makes it easier to paint them as taking advantage of poor widdle women), but even worse is the assumption that women don't realize that when they get an abortion, they're getting an abortion.
And he's not alone. When asked about criminalizing abortion, almost all the Republican candidates scoff at the idea of punishing the women themselves--instead preferring to talk about how we've been victimized by doctors. Women, it seems, need to be protected from our own decisions. (Better to leave that to the menfolk.)
While the choice issue may be the easiest way for the candidates to flex their Daddy muscles, I have a feeling that when push comes to shove, none of the Republicans running will have a problem making other decisions for American women as well. So call me crazy, but I'd like a president who thinks of me as, well...an adult. Capable of making decisions. (But what do I know...I'm just a girl.)
Comments