The “Imaginary” War on Women

Activism, Protests & Rights, All, For the Women, Politics – US

The “Imaginary” War on Women

May 5, 2012

Today was to be my day of catching up on some doggie graphic work and some new websites, but I keep coming across more and more websites and publishings about the war the GOP has declared on Women’s Rights. One minute I want to scream to everyone the unrighteousness behind these bills. Then the next minute, I want to pack up myself and my dogs and move into a cave in the Northern Territories – with high speed internet, of course. I’m sure I can find a cave, but since I seriously doubt I’ll find one with high speed internet, or even in an area where a wireless card will work, then I must do the former of the two options.

Many Republicans are refusing to believe (or admit is probably more like it) that there is a war against Women’s Rights. For those who just don’t “get it,” just take a look at some of the images and graphics below. Now, pass me some honey tea as I’m sure my throat is going to be sore after I finish screaming at these troglodytes who are attempting to turn our democracy into a theocracy.

First are a series of tweets by Senator Barbara Boxer (D, CA). Be sure to check out her twitter feed. There are a lot of useful and informative links there as well.

One of Sen. Boxer’s tweets (not above, but on her twitter feed) led me to the site from Planned Parenthood called “Women are Watching.” Phenomenal site which has a category of daily reminders that “the attacks on women’s health are a figment of your imagination.” Here are a few of the reminders:

05/03/2012: Georgia Governor Nathan Deal signed an extreme ban which places severe limits on when women can get abortion care – with no exceptions for rape or incest.

05/04/2012: Governor Sam Brownback in Kansas is set to sign a bill that would let clinicians, doctors, or any individual or institution deny a woman care if they “reasonably believe” the use of a drug would end a pregnancy.

05/02/2012: Louisiana already requires a women seeking abortion to undergo a government mandated ultrasound, but apparently that wasn’t enough. A new provision makes the mandate even more extreme by requiring it to be audible.

05/01/2012: If you are an educator in Tennessee, beware of what you’re teaching kids—it might cost you $500. An “abstinence-only” bill set to be signed by the Governor would ban teachers and groups from promoting “gateway sexual activity.” (Does holding hands count?)

04/26/2012: Today’s daily reminder that the attacks on women’s health are just a figment of your imagination begins in Arizona, as lawmakers pass bill to ban Planned Parenthood Funding.

04/25/2012: In Arizona, Governor Brewer is set to sign a bill that would ban the use of public funds for Planned Parenthood in the state.

TAGS:

abortion, activism, birth control, imaginary war, Planned Parenthood, reproductive rights, senator boxer, War on Women, womens rights

35 responses to “The “Imaginary” War on Women”

El Guapo

May 5, 2012 at 10:15 pm

But it’s good for women. Fox News told us so.
I love that legislators like Perry and others have had their fb pages swamped by women seeking medical advice because these jerkoffs must know so much about it.

Looking forward to the revolution a little more every day. Fortunately, all the thinking people (like you, Michelle) are on our side.

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1. Michelle at Motley News
  
  May 5, 2012 at 10:26 pm
  
  Yeah, I found a site that took a bunch of screen shots of the women asking someone for advise. I posted the images. That’s awesome! But I think they’ve all caught on and may not be able to do that anymore.
  
  I just read about 10 mnts ago about this completely INSANE statement:
  
  “The traumatic experience of rape causes a woman to ‘secrete a certain secretion’ that tends to kill sperm.”
  ~ State Rep Stephen Freind (R, Pennsylvania)
  
  Can you believe this shit???
  
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  1. El Guapo
    
    May 5, 2012 at 10:29 pm
    
    Yeah, I saw that. Took me 10 minutes to push my eyes back into my head, 25 to stop saying “You’re effin kidding me”
    
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    1. Michelle at Motley News
      
      May 5, 2012 at 11:00 pm
      
      LOL… I know. I am in shock every day. Every… single… day.
      
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  2. Helen Cherry
    
    May 6, 2012 at 12:49 am
    
    I think I need to stop reading your blog Michelle it is so unbelievably infuriating!! ( not your blog of course but what you’re writing about.. ) Hard to believe it… but then you did ( not you personally I’m sure) elect Bush !!! so anything can happen over the pond.. I thought our politicians here in the Uk were bad..
    
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    1. Michelle at Motley News
      
      May 6, 2012 at 2:10 am
      
      We’re going back in time while you and most of world is moving forward. Some much slower than others.
      
      Hell NO I didn’t vote for Bush. He’s nothing more than a puppet to both the corporations and to the war mongers. But what he didn’t do, that I recall anyway, is attempt to shove his religious beliefs down our throats in the form of laws. (OMG… did I actually defend Bush in something???? Well, knock me over with a feather.)
      
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    2. Helen Cherry
      
      May 6, 2012 at 2:14 am
      
      Shame on you girl 😉
      
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    3. Imaginary War on Women
      
      July 11, 2013 at 3:00 pm
      
      “We’re going back in time while you and most of world is moving forward.”
      
      Yup, and it’s entirely due to clueless puppets like yourself, hellbent on distracting everybody with vapid conspiracies about the Corporate Boogeyman so that the government can feel free to centralize it’s power and raise taxes without worrying about pesky facts like the law or the Constitution.
      
      Because you’re clearly down with warcrimes, surveillance, assasination, killdrones, indefinite detention, unauthorized wars, corporate cronyism, censorship, lies, torture, bombing middle eastern children and rampant government overreach so long as it’s YOUR Cult of Personality doing it and not the other Team’s.
      
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2. Imaginary War on Women
  
  July 11, 2013 at 2:55 pm
  
  “I love that legislators like Perry and others have had their fb pages swamped by women seeking medical advice because these jerkoffs must know so much about it.’
  
  But I’m so sure you have no problem with Big Daddy Obama insisting with froth-mouthed that the government knows what’s best regarding health and healthcare more than you do, right?
  
  “Looking forward to the revolution a little more every day.”
  
  Why? People like you are going to be dragged through the streets for helping us achieve the current police state.
  
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Chris Sheridan

May 5, 2012 at 11:14 pm

This is really good, Michelle.Obviously not good that these abuses are happening, but good that you’ve found another way to expose them with the information here in this post. It’s obvious that Republicans are going to resort to their favorite tactic to try and counteract the backlash they’ve been getting for being the perpetrators of this all too real war on women.

And their favorite tactic is to create a LIE and then endlessly repeat it.They are are launching a campaign to constantly repeat the LIE that their war, the REPUBLICAN WAR ON WOMEN is “imaginary”. And they will call it “imaginary” over and over and over again, because in the past, constant repetition of a LIE has been an effective strategy for them.

A prime example is that 2 years after the invasion of Iraq and NO weapons of mass destruction were ever found, Dick Cheney was getting on TV at every opportunity to repeat as often as possible the LIE that the US did find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Of course he didn’t really believe it… but he did believe in the power of constantly repeating a LIE because if uninformed or misled (Fox News viewers) people heard the LIE often enough, they would start to believe it, and then they would go around and repeat the LIE to other uninformed and misled people, and these people would also believe the LIE and spread it to even more people.

Did it work? Well as I recall, George W. Bush won a second term in 2004. No, not everyone believed the LIE but enough people did believe the LIE to make the campaign of constant repetition of the LIE a success.

So what women need to focus on, is that every time you hear a Republican call their war on women “imaginary” they are also really saying “We think that women are stupid. Because if we just keep repeating our new LIE that our war on women is “imaginary” we’ll be able to get enough stupid women to believe it.”

I don’t think that women are stupid. No, I think that this time, Republicans are stupid for thinking that this campaign of repeating a LIE is going to fool American women, when the truth is so glaringly obvious!

So on election day this November, lets all show Republicans just how stupid they really are, by voting against them as we send them a real message that we refuse to vote for stupid Republican politicians, who are stupid enough to think that they can fool us with an such an obviously stupid LIE!!!

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1. Michelle at Motley News
  
  May 5, 2012 at 11:23 pm
  
  I’ve been thinking about this. And I believe that most of the Republicans really do not feel they’ve launched a war against women. Rather, what they’re doing is attempting to bring their own beliefs, theological, into our gov’t. Thus turning a democracy into a theocracy.
  
  Since most of what they’re bringing in has to do with birth control and abortion, then naturally that falls upon the women. I’m not sure they’re specifically out to target women, but rather we bear the brunt of their theocratic beliefs.
  
  Which most absolutely is wrong. Once religion is brought into our gov’t – well, more so than it has been and was built on – then we are in for some very serious problems.
  
  Now, there are a few exceptions to this.. Scott Walker WI. Repealing the fair pay for women. There was absolutely no benefit to doing so other than aiding the corporations in cutting back on women’s pay. I think Walker’s repeal, in all honesty, is a tantrum and a “fuck you” to the people of the state for gathering enough votes to repeal him. I hope they make the deadline in time. He must go away. And Wisconsin used to be a liberal state….. (sigh)
  
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barbara

May 6, 2012 at 12:25 am

first all the restrictions on women have nothing to do with the bible. did you all know moses was a child molester who had over 32,000 little girls raped (he gave the little virgins to his troops) (some as young as three years old) . he had around 30,000 boys their brothers hacked to death and their mothers hacked to death with swords as the girls had to watch and he said god said to do this and it is in the bible numbers chapter 31 read for yourself. so this is all contrived and f you were listening you’d know they plan to take your children away if your poor and the church people will get them and sell them into adoption and breed them which is why they are doing away with rape laws .if i was young i’d darn well go after those sob right wing church people. they hang a cross on a building and call it gods house but its where they meet to plot. be funny if one day it began across the country they show up on sunday and your roasting hot dogs over what use to be a building. i believe in god i just know the truth. there is not a christian among them.

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1. Michelle at Motley News
  
  May 6, 2012 at 2:33 am
  
  Interesting. I have read the bible from cover to cover, simply because I wanted to learn more about something I didn’t believe in but yet billions of people do. Anyway, I, myself, do not agree with this interpretation in which you are referencing. In fact, I had never heard that before so I googled it. Yes, there are many sites which believe this is what the text says. Personally, I do not.
  
  I do completely disagree with you that these horrid laws have nothing to do with the bible. I believe they have everything to do with the bible. Christianity is all pulled from the word in the bible, therefore, as the bible does support a hierarchy system placing men at the top. Although there really is no passage which “outlaws” birth control but rather to “go forth and multiply”. Regardless of what the text says, as I doubt most of them have actually studied the bible, let alone read it from the Alpha to the Omega. Most just know what’s been preached to them by their church and family. So they feel it’s their duty to change our gov’t into one that supports the bible.
  
  Infringes horribly against my rights since I’m an atheist.
  
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  1. Helen Cherry
    
    May 6, 2012 at 2:41 am
    
    Hear! Hear! Michelle
    
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  2. Imaginary War on Women
    
    July 11, 2013 at 3:03 pm
    
    Oh, please. You hold far too many attavistic faith-based presumptions and believe in too much supernatural BS to be an atheist.
    
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Chris Sheridan

May 6, 2012 at 12:33 am

I see your point about Republicans not seeing their agenda to turn the US into a theocracy that takes away the reproductive rights of women, as not a war on women but what they think that God has ordained, and also what the Men’s Club of political power brokers has decided is the right thing for women to do and not do, since women shouldn’t be trusted to makes these decisions for themselves.

No, they probably don’t see it as a war, but the rightful restoration of America as a God fearing Christian nation, and also a restoration of the “natural order of things” such as returning women to being subservient to men. Which helps to justify paying women less money for doing the exact same work as men, because hey, they’re women, and they’re supposed to be subservient, so why should they get as much money as men make?

But here’s my take on how they see things.When a group of people want to pass laws that would force my daughter to go through the torture and trauma of carrying for nine months and then giving birth to her rapist’s baby, I don’t really give a fuck whether they think it’s a war or not. I think it’s a war!

Their delusion that they have a monopoly on knowing what is right and wrong not only for them, but for all the rest of us,whether we believe what they do or not,is a dangerous threat to the well being of my family.

Their goal of legally forcing us to live according to their religion beliefs and their political ideology to the point that they legally have the power to force my daughter to go through a another long and hellish nightmare after the trauma of being raped, is an outright attack upon the well being of my family, and I see that as waging a war on both me and my family.

I don’t care what they think it is, and I don’t care what they call it. I’m calling it a war, and I’m going to wage a war against them to defend my family and myself from their fanatical ambitions to force their toxic and destructive world view upon those that I love, upon my friends, and upon the rest of my fellow citizens.

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1. barbara
  
  May 6, 2012 at 12:40 am
  
  i agree 100%. i hate those people stinking bible thumpers . they are what is behind all of this . i have said and no one can stop me the day some men become heroes and take those devils off the face of this earth i will pay a hundred dollars for a copy of the video even if it only five seconds just loop it and enjoy it,. they are killing us and where i come from we always said ” do unto others only do it first”
  
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2. Michelle at Motley News
  
  May 6, 2012 at 2:06 am
  
  I agree and I’m right there with you.
  
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The “Imaginary” War on Women « Motley News « Religious Leaders: Misogyny is NOT a virtue! And Civil Law trumps your faith!

May 6, 2012 at 11:30 am

[…] The “Imaginary” War on Women « Motley News. Rate this: Like this:LikeBe the first to like this post. This entry was posted in Uncategorized.Bookmark the permalink. Leave a comment […]

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V. Lyn

May 7, 2012 at 3:30 pm

I think the GOP thinks the masses not only have a short attention span but are gullible as well. I think they believe if thet rewrite the script and repeat the new version long enough the populace will believe them.
Every step of the way the GOP has been at war from the moment that Barack Obama became POTUS, their fear was tangible before the election and once he was coted in they even tried to sabotege his swearing in and every since they have become more insular and divisive.
What a scary nation we would live in if Romney gets elected.

By the way I was glad to hear that you don’t have MS!

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1. Michelle at Motley News
  
  May 7, 2012 at 3:45 pm
  
  Hey YOU!!! Been wondering about you! Hope all is well.
  
  Yeah, the GOP is really screwing themselves by stirring a hornets nest of women and their rights. A bunch of fools.
  
  The numbers, from what I hear, are showing Romney and Obama running pretty neck-to-neck. But honestly… I have a very hard time imagining that. Romney is a fool! Nothing but a puppet for the corporations. We will become the United States of America, Inc if he were to have his way.
  
  I watched Obama Saturday in Ohio, and he had a lot of powerful things to say. Plus he is gaining so many women and hopefully more overall due to these insane voting laws the Republicans are putting out.
  
  Freakin’ turning out Democracy into a Theocracy!!!
  
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  1. V. Lyn
    
    May 7, 2012 at 3:52 pm
    
    I’ve been well actually. Just a tad overwhelmed with work, and evrything else. Life 🙂 I was glad to hear you don’t have MS have they determined what was making you sick?
    
    And you are right the right is trying to create a theocracy no different than the one they hate in the middle east and corporations are attempting World dominance. Hopefully Democracy wins out and the people wake up and see how much is truly at stake.
    
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    1. Michelle at Motley News
      
      May 7, 2012 at 4:36 pm
      
      Yes, it is nice to know I don’t have MS. Not idea what was causing my fatigue, dizziness, etc. Although I have a feeling it may have all been stress related via work. Since all this happened, I cut back to 30 hours / week, we’ve hired more staff, and I am just no longer under near as much stress as I used to be. And I’m feeling quite a bit better. So who knows….
      
      Glad you are doing well!
      
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    2. V. Lyn
      
      May 7, 2012 at 5:22 pm
      
      Well what ever the reason for your improvement may it continue!
      
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    3. Michelle at Motley News
      
      May 7, 2012 at 6:23 pm
      
      Yes. Thank you!
      
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2. Imaginary War on Women
  
  July 11, 2013 at 3:06 pm
  
  “Every step of the way the GOP has been at war from the moment that Barack Obama became POTUS, their fear was tangible before the election and once he was coted in they even tried to sabotege his swearing in and every since they have become more insular and divisive.
  What a scary nation we would live in if Romney gets elected.”
  
  Uh huh.
  
  How’s that NSA surveillance treatin’ ya? And those drones? And all that money going to intervention in the mideast, and all those unauthorized wars which dropped bombs on innocent people? How’s the unconstitutional healthcare mandate holding up? And the economy and joblessness? How’s the closing of Gitmo, the repeal of the PATRIOT Act, immigration reform and the ending of the War on Drugs going?
  
  Oh, right, i forgot. Obma isn’t responsible for any of his actions -“he didn’t build that”- it must be Bush and Romney’s fault. SOMEHOW.
  
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Chris

May 8, 2012 at 12:30 am

I’d like the news media to start recognizing this as not just a war on women, but a war on our Constitution as well. There are Supreme Court rulings which clearly protect certain rights for women via the Constitution, and these GOP dillholes want to act as if they don’t exist. For all their bullshit about the sacred nature of our Constitution, they sure do like to try and screw with it, don’t they?

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1. Michelle at Motley News
  
  May 8, 2012 at 12:43 am
  
  You are so right. It is a war on our rights and constitution.
  
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2. Imaginary War on Women
  
  July 11, 2013 at 3:12 pm
  
  Since you’ve obviously never read the document (because you spend 99% of the time hating it and demanding that that “dumb piece of paper written by old white slaveowners” be torn apart so that Godemperor Obam,a is free to do whatever he wants without pesky restrictions) someone should really explain to you that abortion is not included in it anywhere.
  
  The Constitution IS, however, very implicit about the concrete rights to Free Speech, public assembly, free press, the right to bear arms, the need for congressional approval to declare war, the right for citizens to be secure in their homes, processes for appointment of cabinet heads, and much more, all of which has been repeatedly spit and trampled on by the standing regime to a chorus of cheers and the stamping of patent leather boots from you totalitarianism-fetishizing Regressive cultists.
  
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barbara

May 8, 2012 at 4:33 pm

what bothers me most is the church folks plan to take children from poor people but they begrudge them every bite they eat so why ? i think to breed in fact i believe this 100% . they can make constant money selling babies into adoption and they will have no problems selling to the sex trade a child molester will be able to buy instead of snatch kids. you have to understand and not be fooled by the bible they carry they are down right evil and you better learn to fight back.. they don’t give a damn about those kids so what else ? christians ? thats a joke. if it was me and i was young and strong i’d damn well show them. one day women will be fed up and get these bible thumping men and remove their protruding parts .if they don’t have them they can’t rape your children. think about it wanting to end protection for women who are raped taking everything this is why they vote republican these republicans are giving them your children and if you were listening you’d know i’m right . me thinks schools need to be set up on the anatomy of the protruding parts of those men . i have a name for it ” THE CHOP CHOP SHOP”. to be educated on those men no young men just tea part male republicans over age fifty–the younger ones will learn and if they don’t they will one day be over fifty.

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barbara

May 8, 2012 at 5:17 pm

here is more on abortion. birth control helps stop abortions . most women don’t want to end a pregnancy and good birth control stops that . we need more advanced forms of birth control not less. i had a bad heart and after second child with which i had kidney failure at around six months i got pregnant again and they wanted me to end it that was 1960 you could if need be even then. i chose to take the risk and have the baby but it was my decision not a bible thumpers ! i think i might have been talked into being sterialized then but as i didn’t end it the pregnancy had less problems that others but it was my decision. a country that screams about abortion but then takes food from children is just hard to believe it is america. paul ryan is in my opinion a new hitler he wants to and does do all he can to hurt people then talks of his religion it is men like him who you can point the finger at . as to me i had my heart fixed in 1962 (it was called a patent ductus ) and went on to have three more children. the last one i was almost forty and i had her because and this is fact she came to me in a dream and asked me why would i not let her be born and went into details and showed me a bit of the future. i told everyone that next day and less than two years later i had her and everything she showed me happened.so birth control is the answer to ending need for abortions . that is what is aso phony about the church folks. i really hate those people.

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Imaginary War on Women

July 11, 2013 at 2:52 pm

Absolutely idiotic. Acknowledging the idiocy and wrongheadedness of using tax dollars to pay for your private abortions is not a “War on Women”, moron.

Gotta love the double standard on display; abortion is absoklutely private and none of anyone else’s businmess, so it logically follows that everybody shouldbe forcec to pay for it by an authoritarian government.

Course, by now it’s woefully clear to all us that aren’t indoctrinated that this imaginary “War on Women” was never anything but a disctraction in an election year to prevent people from talking about Obama’s failed economic and foreign policies and his all-out War on the Constitution (funny how none of you Team Blue goosesteppers care about wars on, y’know, ACTUAL rights) and the fraud of criminals like Elizabeth Warren.

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1. Michelle
  
  July 11, 2013 at 4:28 pm
  
  Government funding cannot and is not used to fund abortions. Period. Dot.
  
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  1. Imaginary War on Women
    
    July 13, 2013 at 3:18 pm
    
    And yet that fact has done nothing to stem the ever-growing demands from the Left that it SHOULD be.
    
    We also have the First, Second, Fourth, Fifth and Eighth Amendments, Right-To-Work Laws, checks & balances, Taft-Hartley ETC ETC ETC,and we’ve seen no shortage of attempts to circumvent these by current and previous administrations.
    
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Imaginary War on Women

July 13, 2013 at 3:15 pm

The answer to every single question, is a resounding “YES!”

The Left REALLY needs to learn what “war” means. Barack Obama ordering killdrones to drop bombs on innocents in Pakistan and Libya without congressional authorization is an act of War.
Not believing that public tax dollars shoud be stolen and used to pay for something that the Democrats have informed everyone for the past forty years is a personal and private matter is NOT “War”.

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