Message From A Dead Horse

I’ve been sporadically following the controversy of Rush Limbaugh attacking a student for asking for coverage for contraception through her college health plan.  He called her a slut and a whore and said if she wanted to be paid to have sex, she should post her encounters online so he could enjoy them.

I realize part of his job is to generate controversy and get people talking.  But in this case, it’s not controversy.  It’s just sad, old and tired.  A woman asks for something you don’t like, so you attack her character to get her to shut up.  Boring.  Here’s a message to you, Rush, from the dead horse out back: Stop beating me!

Calling a woman a slut because you don’t like what she’s saying is just pathetic.  You honestly couldn’t come up with anything else?  Couldn’t discuss what she’s actually asking for?  I’m assuming he isn’t actually as dumb as he sounds, since then he’d have to be planted somewhere and watered twice daily.

I am very tired of a woman’s appearance and sexuality being used to discredit her goals and accomplishments.  It’s the twenty-first century and I think we need to come up with some new insults.  Those are almost two centuries old.

Women shouldn’t be attacked for wanting to have sex.  It’s natural and part of the same biological urge men have.  Wanting to make sure your life doesn’t get derailed by an unplanned pregnancy or cut short by disease is smart.  If someone is considered intelligent enough to drive a car, drink and vote, surely it’s plausible to trust a person to have sex responsibly, too.

Here’s a challenge to everyone, male and female alike.  Let’s stop using the words bitch, slut or whore to dismiss people whose opinions we disagree with.  Let’s stop the more subtle degrading dismissals too.  I can always tell when an autism posting disagrees with Jenny McCarthy because they’ll mention she posed for Playboy.  Because that’s relevant to her opinions in some way … apparently.  It’ll all part of the same attack pattern.

It would be incredibly refreshing to see the actual opinions attacked rather than the character of the person expressing them.  It would also be a heck of a lot more useful in helping to improve things.  Attacking character is low and shows a real lack of imagination.

Frankly, I think we can do better.