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Bill Cunningham on the inherent weakness in women
This week on Reality Cast, we're going to celebrate! Well, mostly celebrate the various wins on ballot initiatives around the country, and mourn one loss. Also, a segment on whether or not voters are voting pro-choice values, and an interview with author Jenny Block about living in an open marriage.
Oh god, Sarah Haskins tackled "The View". I can't think of anything better deserving of satire, though sadly they also did a bang-up job of giving at least one interview that was better than anything that so-called real journalists did.
- the view *
I probably quote Sarah Haskins too much on this show, but she's just so damn funny.
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Okay, I'm just going to use this segment time to celebrate. Let's go over what we have to celebrate, shall we? How about some before and after the election run-throughs? Before Tuesday, things looked bleak in South Dakota with another abortion ban on the ballot.
- south Dakota *
The so-called exceptions weren't exceptions at all, but the anti-choicers were hoping they could fool the voters of South Dakota. And they did fool them. Or 1% of them. The first ballot was defeated 56-44. This one was defeated 55-45. They'll have to keep introducing exceptions until it's not a ban at all.
- crowd cheering *
And Colorado before Tuesday:
- Colorado *
And here's what happened:
- Colorado 2 *
The amendment was voted down nearly 3 to 1. Perhaps this is a sign of things to come, that Americans are finally getting sick of the relentless attempts to curtail women's rights and divide the country needlessly. Maybe there's hope on the horizon.
- crowd cheering *
It wouldn't have been so great for anti-choicers anyway, because Tuesday night, the country elected Barack Obama as President. And Barack Obama has made it clear that he's pro-choice and that he would appoint judges who have the modern, progressive view of the courts, the ones who think that women's right are important. This is important, because there's at least 3 judges, all pro-choice, on the Supreme Court who are likely to retire in the next 4 years. Since Obama will replace them, we'll hold the 5-4 majority on Roe. So this Colorado challenge and this South Dakota challenge were doomed anyway.
- crowd cheering *
California saw more anti-choice ballot initiatives, and it was the third time out for this particular one for them. Here's before the election:
- California *
And here's the result:
- California 2 *
California has a three strikes you're out law for repeat criminal offenders, but unfortunately they don't have one for ballot initiatives. Too bad, because this would have been the decisive end of this, but we'll probably see it back again. But for now, we won!
- crowd cheering *
There's bad news, though. Prop 8 did pass, and now gay marriage in California is eliminated, including those that have already been performed.
- crowd booing *
However, I don't think it's necessarily as bad as it seems. There was a lot of confusion amongst voters, many who thought a yes vote was a vote for gay marriage, when it was a vote against gay marriage. In addition, homobigot ads blatantly lied about the impact of the law, claiming that if Prop 8 didn't pass, churches would be forced to marry gay couples. I think some people thought religious freedom was at stake. The truth is no one is forced to marry anyone they disapprove of. Catholics have avoided marrying divorcees forever, so why would that change? We don't have proof that the majority of Californians are bigots. All this has proved is that you can't pass a gay marriage ban in California without lying and deceiving.
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- insert interview *
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The big story in 2004 was exit polling data that showed that a huge percentage of voters considered "moral values" to be a major part of their voting decisions. This was uniformly understood by the mainstream media to mean the values of right wing Christians, who value rigid gender roles, conformity, and unquestioning obedience to authority. This, of course, was completely unfair. Pro-choicers have values. We value women, for instance. Everyone has values. It's just sometimes different values conflict.
The economy was obviously a big factor going into this election, but the question for this podcast is, how much did social issues factor into people's voting decisions? For people who want to say this election signals an end to the culture wars, I'm afraid they may be facing both good news and bad news. The bad news is social issues were on people's minds more than you'd think. Exit polling data showed that the economy was very important, but there's reasons to think that more was driving people's voting patterns, and that people might have been actively pro-choice in their voting, contrary to what Bill Bennett or Pat Robertson was hinting at on election night.
Wake Up World had some fun with the importance of abortion to this election's results.
- florida abortion *
She also broke down anti-choice women in those who want to dump unwanted children on churches and those who prefer to leave them in bathroom stalls. Or Nebraska.
Trying to decipher exit polling is not fun for anyone, but I combed over CNN's results and my inclination is to say that reproductive rights were a massive issue on both sides of the divide. 26% of the voters coming out polls considered themselves white evangelical voters, and 74% of them voted for McCain. In fact, Protestant and Catholic whites were the only religious groups that had a majority vote for McCain. It seems everyone else was for Obama.
But while that indicates that McCain voters were motivated by hostility to reproductive rights, the interesting story is that Obama supporters seem to be strongly motivated by their pro-choice values as well. Of the 7% of people who said that Supreme Court appointments were the most important issue---in other words, the people who voted on the abortion issue---57% voted for Obama, and thus for a pro-choice court. Over half of voters indicated that the court was an important part of their voting decisions, and over half of them are Obama voters. We are seeing an active pro-choice vote emerge, it seems.
Needless to say, anti-choicers are flooding the internet with bitterness. Here's a small, bitter taste.
- bitter *
I almost feel bad sampling this girl's, but hers was the only one I could find that was laden down with hysterical racist attacks. But I tend to have a soft spot for anti-choice teenage girls, if only because we win most of them over when they grow up and start having sex and realize that what sounded like baby-killing in church is actually life-saving for adult women.
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And now for the Wisdom of Wingnuts. Naturally, angry right wingers have moved right into blaming their favorite target---women who don't seem to be directly owned by visible males. Bill Cunningham, well, let me just play this clip.
- Cunningham *
I'm sure he wouldn't say it's sexist to characterize women as fundamentally weak and requiring to be cared for by men, but I think it's the definition of sexist. In this, though, you really see the conservative belief about women's place in the world laid out: Women are weak, and so have to be "protected" by men, with the price they pay being subordination. And the government is letting women off the hook, letting us walk around free, not forced to scrub stoves and boost egos to put bread on the table.
Next week, no doubt more fallout from the election. I think we're just beginning to scratch the surface of how we're going to have to rethink reproductive rights and sexual health.
