America: From Russia to Afghanistan
I know it isn’t polite for women to show anger (I found this is still the case after recently writing a rant about corporate greed and covid frustrations, among other issues), but America better brace itself if the Supreme Court manages to overturn Roe v. Wade. Because we are about to witness how angry women look and act when the government tries to take away their autonomy.
As it is, we (and people around the world) are watching in horror as a shocking number of American elected officials behave as if we are living in Russia in real-time as doublespeak becomes the order of the day. Remember that January 6 insurrection and attempted coup, when rioters beat Capitol police officers, left several people dead and over 100 injured? Those rioters were “peaceful patriots” on “a normal tourist visit” to the Capitol, didn’t you know?
And now we’re on our way to a world where women and their doctors may be considered criminals if they choose to have or perform abortions. It’s already happened in some states. What’s next?
Stoning?
Although not technically legal, in places like Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, and other Islamic countries, it still happens. Women who have an affair, flee their marriages, or marry someone without the consent of their family can be buried up to their necks and stoned to death before hundreds of community members. In a country where Blacks were lynched before gleeful crowds (the last known lynching was in Mississipi, 1981), and where, until the early part of the 20th century, women were considered the property of men — married women could not own property because they were property! — and now in Idaho, a rapist’s family can sue to stop a doctor from providing an abortion to the woman he raped, is it crazy to follow this tortured road down to its logical dead end?
Just this week, the Taliban made an announcement “recommending” that in public settings, women must wear the burqa, the garment which covers them from head to toe lest some male becomes aroused. But here’s the best part: should a woman refuse to wear the burqa, guess who receives a visit from the religious police? The male relatives of the woman in question. After a third violation by the woman, the male relative would be jailed and subject to further punishment, turning husbands, fathers, and brothers against their wives, daughters, and sisters to protect their own hides. How different is that scenario from criminalizing doctors instead of women?
The new twist in the current abortion maelstrom is that even though some are pushing for it, the “less extremist” wing in the Takeover of Women’s Rights and Bodies Movement would like you to know that they hate the idea of women being criminalized — so icky a concept, right? We never asked for that! But the “formally extremist” wing of the movement does not want to stop abortions at six weeks of pregnancy, no, they want to stop them from the moment of inception — as in when Mr. Sperm meets Ms. Egg and decide to do the nasty up in the woman’s fallopian tubes! So, how do they intend to obtain this fertilization 411?
Forced microchipping of women, of course.
Think I’m being an alarmist? Is it hard for you to visualize women being microchipped? Not for me. It’s only what we can expect. And that’s after they take away same-sex marriage, interracial marriage, and recognition of LGBTQ rights. After all, none of that stuff is in The Constitution, don’t you know?
But in the meantime, before any of that happens — before honor killings and microchipping of women — here you are, 19 years old, working as a cashier at a McDonald’s in today’s Texas, earning $9.37/hour, and by accident you become pregnant. No problem! According to the American Taliban, all you have to do is ask your boss to give you a couple of days off, find someone to lend you the money, and drive or fly to the nearest Blue state — like Colorado — to get your healthcare. And that’s just the beginning. Because they next want to go after contraception. Why? Because adoption is the magic bullet! Everyone knows how easy it is to find willing parents for babies, especially non-white babies, don’t you know?
I’m way past the age where getting pregnant is of concern to me, yet I’m infuriated; livid; beside myself (I’m literally standing next to myself watching my agitation). Wait till you see what happens when pissed-off women start unfurling their fury at the entitled men and fake women spewing all this disgusting blather about murder of the unborn. I hope we never have to see that bullshit day. But I’m not holding my breath.
Image courtesy of Vecteezy
