Amanda Marcotte writes for and manages the blog Pandagon, blogs for Slate's Double X, and has two books out: "It's A Jungle Out There: The Feminist Survival Guide to Politically Inhospitable Environments" and "Get Opinionated: A Progressive's Guide to Finding Your Voice (and Taking a Little Action)". She's written about politics, pop culture and feminism for outlets such as Slate, Salon, the LA Times, the Guardian, Bitch, and the American Prospect. A former resident of Texas, she now lives in Brooklyn, NY.
A new Guttmacher Institute study shows that women use contraception to achieve economic and life goals, which runs up against conservatives who want to make this all about sex. But what if derailing women’s goals is the entire point?
Anti-choicers attacking Medicaid funding for women’s health care claim that it’s about abortion, but their interest in redirecting patients to centers that don’t provide even basic health care show it’s about so much more, a war in which women are just collateral damage.
In a pamphlet on modesty being distributed at the Value Voters Summit, so much of conservative attitudes become clear: That female sexuality is scary, that women exist to serve men, that women are to blame for pretty much everything.
For years, feminists have been trying to get the public to see the misogynist, sex-fearing heart at the center of the anti-choice movement. Turns out all we needed was to dangle Sandra Fluke in front of them. Why can’t conservatives resist bashing her?
The official line from anti-choicers about “life” is slipping away more frequently, and the reality—that it’s all about controlling women’s sexuality—comes out more often. Even at an official “pro-life” event at the RNC, ugly sexism can’t be contained.
Akin’s comments about “legitimate rape” went against science and reality, but that’s par for the course when it comes to an anti-choice movement that ignores the lives and feelings of women in order to paint them as reproductive objects who deserve no say in how they’re used.
You often hear women exclaim that they’re pro-choice but they could never have an abortion. This comment sounds innocent on its face, but in fact it’s deeply stigmatizing and supports the stereotypes of women who have abortions that lead to more restrictions.
By all rights of logic and basic human decency, not believing in God should lead one to come around to the inescapable conclusion that there’s no reason not to believe women deserve equal rights. But recent events in the atheist movement show not all atheists are in love with logic.
As the example of Wheaton College shows, the sudden interest many employers and schools are taking in not offering contraception coverage is all about political opportunism, not deeply-held religious beliefs.
A federal judge in Colorado shows he’s open to the argument that employers should be able to dock your insurance benefits because they oppose contraception. If conservatives successfully open this door, expect more attacks on workers’ religious freedom.
