The Other Shoe: Further Objectification Of Women

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Republican Mike Huckabee Speaking @ RNC Winter Meeting[/caption]

(By Gage Skidmore [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons)

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Welcome back My Dear Readers to The Other Shoe. I just heard something I found rather disturbing, from a mouthpiece of the Republican Party Mike Huckabee. Speaking before the Republican National Committee’s winter meeting former Governor Mike Huckabee invoked the tired and true characterization of our Federal Government as “Uncle Sugar”. It just never ceases to amaze me how some Republicans, who actually ran for the top office of the Federal government President of the United States, can (having been scorned and refused the desired Federal Job/position) take aim at and characterize the entirety of our Federal Government simply as “Uncle Sugar”.

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Further, he used this gross misnomer while denigrating the majority of American women, adding insult to injury.

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“Democrats want women to believe that they are helpless without Uncle Sugar coming in and providing for them a prescription each month for birth control…”[1]

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Let me begin with the most obvious obfuscation by former Governor Huckabee, that the Federal Government (in any way shape or form) provides “a prescription each month for birth control…”. Now, the majority of My Dear Readers that are women happen to know (for a fact) that women do not need “a prescription each month…” to purchase birth control medications. Aye, there’s the rub! Any American Male that thinks beyond his zipper, about women’s reproduction, understands that there are many different means of birth control. That only a very few require “a prescription” . None of the means of birth control that do require a prescription mandate monthly office visits.

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Not to belabor Mr. Huckabee’s apparent lack of education and edification of women’s reproductive health [Now, this is just me… BUT shouldn’t a man LEARN about women’s reproduction PRIOR to publically speaking about this subject? It seems rather callous and insensitive, if not downright bigoted, to make proclamations about women’s reproductive health when it is so obvious he does not know the difference between a birth control pill and spermicidal foam? Just sayin’!] but I simply must belay two points;

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1. Women do not get prescriptions for birth control” from ANY Federal Office

2. Women can, by themselves without any assistance from any male or governmental agency, engage in birth control.

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In my humble opinion it is insulting, to women, to have ex-governor Huckabee characterize, the very personal, subject of birth control as just another way women take from the Federal Government “each month.” That Mr. Huckabee is clearing stating that women are completely incapable of engaging in birth control without the assistance of the Federal Government engaging in a hand out “each month”. I have quoted Mr. Huckabee’s words exactly! From where I am sitting, it appears that it is Mr. Huckabee who has expressed a poor opinion of women, and disparaged their ability to engage in birth control by themselves without assistance from “Uncle Sugar”.

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Flying in the face of logic, and as if to reverse the incredible insult Mr. Huckabee has laid at the feet of women, he goes and adds further insult to injury:

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“Democrats think that women are nothing more than helpless and hopeless creatures whose only goal in life is to have the government provide them with birth control medication,”[2]

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He says the words, but these words are greatly undermined by his own statement, only moments before. It is not Democrats that have proffered that women are incapable of engaging in birth control without the assistance of “Uncle Sugar… each month”. I mean, seriously, are we supposed to forget every single word as soon as he is through with a paragraph? Are reporters, as well as all intelligent thinking women in America, not supposed to remember that only moments before it was Republican Ex-Governor Mike Huckabee that said:

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“women… are helpless without Uncle Sugar coming in and providing for them a prescription each month for birth control…”[3]

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[caption id="attachment_2196" align="aligncenter" width="630"]

Ex-Governor Mike Huckabee[/caption]

(Gage Skidmore [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons)

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Then it was Republican Ex-Governor Mike Huckabee that went even further down the road of the objectification of women by delving even further into the subject of women’s reproduction (a subject he as already clearly proven he has little understanding) by wrapping up his statements with this gem:

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“because they (women) cannot control their libido or their reproductive system without the help of the government…”[4]

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Those are the words of Ex-Governor Mike Huckabee and not any Democrat or representative of the Democrat party. Further, I am a Democrat and I personally;

1. Do not believe women cannot control their libido’s

2. Do NOT believe women need the government (ANY government) in order to engage in birth control

3. Do NOT have such a low opinion of women that I feel it necessary to objectify women to enhance my self-esteem.

4. DO have a better understanding of women’s reproductive health than Mike Huckabee has displayed in this speech.

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Shortly after the failure of Mitt Romney to beat President Obama in the 2012 election (and Republicans lost seats in the House of Representatives and the Senate) there was a ‘Republican Autopsy’.[5]

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One of the major conclusions contained in this Autopsy was the failure of the current Republican party to appeal to women voters. The conclusions specially stated that Republicans MUST avoid;

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“"biologically stupid" remarks by Republican candidates…”[6]

Because, the report concluded, that these kinds of remarks by Republican candidates:

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“…turned off women voters.”[7]

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Yet, here we are again. This is not just some little slip-up during a telephone interview for an obscure radio station. This is a major speech at the R.N.C.’s winter meeting! This was an event covered by all the major networks, with television cameras in plain view. One couldn’t get a larger potential audience, or a better opportunity to prove that the Republican Party had learned from the ‘GOP Autopsy’. This winter meeting is the place to set the tone, and stage, for the 2014 elections.

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This further objectification of women, just to provide fodder for the base of the party, tells women that their reproductive health is just another talking point. It is my humble opinion that the Republican Party simply cannot stop making “biologically stupid” remarks about women. That the need for meat to feed the base will always outweigh the need for respect for women, and women’s reproductive health issues.

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Considering that Hillary Clinton is the most likely nominee for the Democratic Party for 2016? Continuing to objectify women and continuing to make “biologically stupid” comments about women and women’s reproductive health to be the single most damaging comments and actions this party could possibly make. It is time that Republicans made concerted efforts to stop objectifying women. It is time that Republicans make concerted efforts to stop any occurrence of “biologically stupid” remarks, least they catapult Hillary Clinton into office.

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As always I am deeply honored that you come here and read my work.

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Thank YOU!

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