Republicans in Your Vagina

Can you think of anything less appealing?

I borrowed this title from a cartoon circulating on Facebook that depicts a male gynecologist giving his female patient the bad news. It so perfectly captures the feelings so many women, including my women friends, are experiencing these days with  Republican presidential candidates outmaneuvering one another to demonstrate their fear of women's sexuality and reproduction, their lack of respect for women, and their need to exert their inner Papa Hemingways. Rick Santorum thinks women who use birth control are immoral. Huh?  Mitt Romney's wife drives a couple of Cadillacs. What the what? I am not sure I can reproduce anything that His Ranine Highness Newt Gingrich has said on the subject, but take one look at Callista and you pretty much know everything you need to know. I have said on many occasions that the fact that Newt Gingrich has had three female partners in one lifetime is a sure sign the patriarchy is alive and well.

So women are angry enough to fight back! Huzzah! And prepared to fight funny, which I always appreciate. Congresswoman Jane Stokowski from Illinois mentioned today in an MSNBC interview that there was a proposal afoot to require that men taking Viagra watch a film about the drug's possible side effects (the specific symptoms to be depicted remained unspoken; I myself was hoping they were making reference to the 4 hour erection).

I just want to make sure I have this right: Rick Santorum, and his straight Capital C Christian followers, no longer have sex after the possibility of reproduction has passed?  Or do the men simply stop having sex with their wives and move on to younger women of child bearing age?  Don't get me wrong, I applaud those who choose celibacy because it offers emotional healing and/or spiritual development, and I recognize the struggles they face.  All I ask is: 1) please don't choose celibacy, Monseigneur, then take advantage of kids that you have authority over and 2) please don't be a hypocrite, whoever you are.

It boggles the mind that it's taken this long for the "mainstream" to recognize the radical and dangerous gender politics of the Republicans, or to develop the courage to speak out.  Better late than never; women who don't have money or geography on their side have born the brunt of the war on women's health over the last few decades.  But we might be poised to reverse this toxic trend before we find ourselves playing out Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale.