Anyone who listened to the intelligent speech that got Rep.. Brown banned from speaking on the floor of the Michigan House yesterday realizes that her banning had nothing to do with her use of the word "vagina" (though it probably does have a lot to do with religion). She used the word in an accurate medical sense, albeit sarcastically. She dared to tell her fellow representatives that women have the sole right to decide what happened to their vaginas--and men don't get to force their views (or their penises) on them.
In other words, she dared to tell White (mostly) Christian Men to back the fuck off.
And since God didn't smite her on the spot, a gavel did the legislative equivalent.
In other words, Rep. Brown had the unmitigated gall not to bow to the Superior Wisdom of Men. She did not genuflect before the Power of the Almighty Penis.And she didn't acknowledge that Christians have final say about anything Biblical by telling them what Judaism had to say about women's lives being more valuable than that of a fetus.
Three sins for the price of one.
I don't know about you, but I am sick and tired of fundamentalist christian men telling the rest of us that we must follow their narrow religious views even if we don't share them. No, let me correct that: especially if we don't share them. After all, they know better than we do, because they are Saved and will be welcomed into the Exclusive Country Club of Heaven which will bar everyone else who dared to disagree with them, ask them hard questions they couldn't answer, or just be different in public, from entry. For them, half the pleasure of heaven won't be being in the Presence of Divine Love (which is what this ex-catholic was taught was what heaven was all about) but eating popcorn and laughing at all the people they didn't like suffering in hell. Not a very Christian attitude in my book.
Primary among those people they'll point fingers at will be Women Who Didn't Know Their Place. Yes, all of us who weren't sufficiently submissive, didn't raise their arms and shout "Amen!" to their every pronouncement, didn't rush hast enough to make them a sammich. I figure this will include Elizabeh Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, Betty Friedan, Gloria Steinem, Abigail Adams, Robin Morgan,Lucy Stone, Flo Kennedy, Wanda Sykes, Roseanne Barr, Sojourner Truth and every other woman who dared to declare that she too was a person, not God's afterthought created just to give Adam someone to do the housework. It will definitely be heaven for climate and hell for company.
There is also something else Rep. Brown did: she made reference to women's right not to have sex with any they choose to reject. " 'No' means 'No' " offends the hell out of these guys who don't believe rape would ever happen if women just wore less revealing clothing (I.e. burqas), didn't flaunt themselves in public, didn't hang out with men, never went to bars, and just stayed home and obeyed their Daddies because Father (or Husband) Always Knows Best. We've been hearing this sorta crap a lot lately, especially when the Rethugs tried to ban abortion for anything but forcible rape. Guys, if she says no, it's No. If you continue, it's rape. Period. The End. Even if a gun or knife wasn't involved.
A certain type of man cannot handle women who don't conform to their expectations of subservient, modest, submissive behavior. We need to teach them they can't get away with this in the 21st century. Personally, I think they are afraid of vaginas. In my more annoyed moments, I contemplate sending vibrating vaginas (google those words; they sell them) or blow-up sex dolls to them to help them get over their vaginaphobia. But since I don't want to waste money on something they might actually enjoy, I'll settle for suggesting our new chant at reproductive rights rallies:
"V-A-G-I-N-A! Vagina!
Say it loud.
Say it proud.
VAGINA!"