Hey girl. Politics, and why you should care....

I've been shocked by the nonsense that counts as political rhetoric these days.

We have a separation of church and state in this country. If you don't like that, move to Iran. Iran is a theocracy.  Throwing fits about having to give employees birth control coverage as a part of a health plan has a very easy solution to me. If you are a church, you are tax-exempt, and you don't get money from the state. You want to claim that you should not have to give birth control coverage because of religious beliefs, give up that money. Otherwise, sorry, you count as a state-funded organization and you have to abide by the laws therein.

And...I'm sorry guys, I really don't want to impugne Catholicism, but I think Jesus would be righteously pissed at the Catholic church. He didn't create a society of exclusivity around Christianity. He welcomed everyone. The church I grew up in, while it had it's flaws, allowed everyone to take Communion. The fact that I or any other non-Catholic is not allowed to take Communion during a service is against the teachings of Christ, IMHO. Catholicism has, numerous times, tried to control, opress, and keep the people uneducated  so that they could keep their death grip on political decisions. I think they're still doing it, by guilting women for taking control of their reproductive health.

Also, all of this nonsense about birth control being "abortefactant" (rubbish) makes me crazy. THIS IS WHY I ADVOCATE EDUCATION AND CRITICAL THINKING. So that you don't fall for every fundamental jackass who tells you lies.

On womens' health and the recent rape discussion:

I don't understand why re-defining rape has been in the forefront of the political discussion lately. I don't think it should be up for discussion. But your boy Mitt joined the discussion, to his detriment in my view.

I am a rape survivor and a survivor of childhood sexual abuse. The Republican party would ask me questions like "Why didn't you tell your parents when it started happening?" Where were you the night you were raped?" "Had you been drinking?" "Why didn't you call the police?"

These are all questions I have no problem answering. "Because I was 8, how the hell would you deal with someone who is in a position of authority being inappropriately sexual with you when you were 8?" "Out with my friends, should I never go out with friends for fear of being assaulted?" "Yes I had been drinking, I still said NO STOP and he didn't. My BAC doesn't change that." "Because I blamed myself, kind of like you're doing to me now."

The society that blames women for getting raped simultaneously blames them for not reporting it when they are. "It'll never happen to me" is a fallacy that we as women (and the men who love us) cannot afford. So, I'm sorry, when old men try to talk about how women have a "shut off valve," and say things like "legitimate rape," it makes me physically ill. Please don't align yourself with the party that serves to shut up your daughters and yourselves when they are assaulted in the most horrible way possible. You think "Oh I'll teach my daughter not to dress a certain way and not to drink and not to LIVE and then she won't get raped." I was wearing jeans. Granted I was drinking and living, but that doesn't negate what happened to me. And those of you who think it does, that it is even a little bit my fault that someone I trusted chose to ignore me when I told him to stop, hold me down, take off my clothes and have sex with me without my permission, I don't want to know you.

But then again I question authority. I question what is considered the status quo and what everyone else thinks "should be." I think that compassion (not gullibility) should rule the day. Anybody who knows me, knows I'm not a bleeding heart, and I value personal responsibility. I want women to stop leaning on men for their decisions, and start educating themselves. You are important. Your children are important. Your choice about whether or not you have children is important, and your right to make that decision is important. You should care. Do not give up your hard won right to vote. If you don't believe it was hard won, read this: http://www.rochester.edu/SBA/suffrage_sba_ecs.html