The Thinking ‘Kat: ‘Your Body, my Choice’
The title of this post is also the mantra that some Trump-loving Republican voters have been repeating, ever since he won the election. Within days, there has been an eruption of misogynistic slogans, and it seems a certain degree of gleeful hand-rubbing, in anticipation of rolling back women’s rights and freedoms.
This isn’t to say that the remarks spreading across social media are a definitive indication of the future of women’s rights in the USA, but the mindset is definitely there, displayed by countless men. They are emboldened by Trump’s victory, and they are not hiding their wish to control and dehumanise women. This explosion of threats and hate has not come out of nowhere, and there’s no telling where it might lead.
It can easily be argued that Republicans view The Handmaiden’s Tale not as a warning, but as a guidebook. Some of their actions have already hinted at this. Their allies within evangelical Christian denominations have long-demonstrated latent misogyny of their own. The future of women’s rights suddenly looks very uncertain, and if the rise in online vitriol translates into real-life action, there could be a lot of broken hearts and horrible pain in the near future. I hope none of that comes to pass, but it’s a very uncertain future indeed.
That’s what you call a deep thought? That’s just a lot of hyperventilating.
The Supreme Court threw the issue back to state legislatures. Trump’s election leaves the issue in the hands of those state legislators. Moreover, citizens have directly stated their preferences in ballot initiatives.
There are certain requirements to make a law work within the American legal system.
1. Everyone has to understand the law.
2. The law has to be enforceable. That is, if someone breaks a law, that lawbreaking has to be detectable, and it has to be possible to catch the lawbreaker and provide evidence of the crime.
3. There has to be sufficient widespread support that a jury will convict.
Points 2 and 3 pose serious issues.
2. Given the way the new drugs work, Abortion is not a particularly easy law to enforce if a woman aborts her child early in her pregnancy. She may be the only one who even knows she is pregnant.
3. Just because a prosecutor brings a case to trial does not mean he can get jury to convict. If members of the jury don’t think what the prosecutor wants to prosecute is a crime, they won’t convict.
In America’s federal system, the states serve as laboratories. Different states try different things, and they watch and imitate each other. In time state governments will work out a compromise most people can accept. That was not happening at the Federal level because the Supreme Court had unconstitutionally taken the issue away from the voters.
Tom, considering some of your more… let’s say enthusiastic references to Liberal Democrat Marxists and the like, your opening remark is quite ironic 😉
Moreover, you have missed the point my post was raising. In the wake of Trump’s re-election, there has been a stark rise in misogyny across social media. There has also been a rise in racist remarks on social media. It would be unfair to say this is definitively Trump’s fault, but it is interesting that certain people feel emboldened enough to dramatically ramp up sexist and racist rhetoric, in the wake of his victory. Why do you suppose they regard now as the time to step out of the shadows?