Misogyny

No I haven’t  ceased sending emails to the usual victims. My recent silence has nothing to do with a lack of material, but because I have little to add to the coverage I’ve heard from the media. As I see it the actions of Republicans, in tandem with the right wing in general , have done nothing in this period to enhance the party’s approval among women.
 
The Fat Man was in full bloom for a few days with his less than flattering description of a law school student who didn’t see things his way, as a “slut.” There are numerous synonyms for this word, but no euphemisms, so his excuse of bad word choice doesn’t pass muster. I sense a general agreement on both sides of the spectrum, a bit more begrudging on the right, that it isn’t cricket to impugn the character of someone with whom one disagrees. The old battle cry “they all do it” is the next thing to admitting that your guy was naughty too, but only because “they” made him.
 
When it comes to misogyny the Fat Man is small potatoes compared to the Virginia legislature. Most of us have sufficiently considered and condemned the male chauvinistic nature of this law with its pre abortion rituals. What has been largely overlooked is that this is an attempt to effectively nullify a Constitutional right specified by the United States Supreme Court in Roe v Wade in 1973. 
 
The purpose of this law is purely and simply to penalize abortion. The penalty is not a fine or prison, but shame. Not embarrassment involving others, but shame directed at one’s self. This sort of thing is not unheard of in our history. But then the Scarlet Letter was set in 1642 America, nearly a hundred and fifty years before our Constitution.
 
Of course if Hester had access to proper contraceptive coverage she wouldn’t have earned her “A” and Nathaniel Hawthorne would have had one less story to his credit.