Pizza Diavola

I keep seeing the claim being repeated over and over that the only things that Obama has done to evince sexism are the “sweetie” and “periodically…down…claws come out” comments.

Firstly, sexism is never acceptable, whether in small or large doses. Secondly, to claim that is to blatantly deny reality and minimize and erase the misogynist policy positions he’s staked out in comments, interviews, and forums.  I’m tired of seeing that claim and so I’ve pulled links and quotes on some of Obama’s sexist positions and stuck them below the cut.

FYI: most of the links center around his problematic statements on reproductive rights, and that’s because I believe that the right to bodily autonomy is a basic human right and any hedging around restricting access to abortion is misogynist. I have a ton of other problems with him on progressive issues (GLBTQI rights, FISA, environmental policy, health care, economics, etc.), but I keep seeing the “So he said sweetie…can’t you overlook that considering that MCCAIN IS WORSE OMG?? What sexism??” comments sprout everywhere and I’m tired of people having to list things over and over, so these links focus specifically on sexism.

As for the reproductive rights focus, you can only believe that women do not have the right to control what happens to their bodies if you believe that (a) the fetus takes precedence over the woman carrying it, thereby disregarding the woman; (b) women don’t get to decide what happens to their bodies because they’re too dumb/emotional/uninformed/irrational to make their own decisions; (c) your religious objections to abortion take precedence over a woman’s bodily autonomy and control over her future. All these positions are rooted in the idea that women should not be independent, should not make their own life choices, and fundamentally do not have control over their own bodies. That is sexism.

These are just from a skim of my RSS reader; if you have more links, please send them to me and I’ll update this post.  Also, I’m really not interested in having the OMGYOU’REVOTINGFORMCCAIN argument.  The conflation of not voting for Obama with voting for McCain is illogical and stupid:

1. I’m not voting for McCain and have never expressed any intent to do so.
2. I’m not abstaining and have never expressed any intent to do so.
3. It’s a false dichotomy.
4. That conflation is premised on the assumptions that (a) the Electoral College does not exist; (b) every state is a swing state.

I’m also really not interested in having the OMGYOU’RECRITICIZINGOBAMADON’TYOUKNOWYOU’REELECTINGMCCAIN argument. Criticizing political officials is a necessary part of a healthy democracy. Holding them to progressive standards rather than letting them get away with bullshit or tossing crumbs is a necessary part of working for progressive policies.

Kate Harding: Tell Me He Did Not Really Say This – the sweetie comment.

Melissa McEwan: Periodically Speaking – periodically speaking / tea parties / on edge / likeable enough / claws come out

RKMK: Sexist Tourettes:

“You’re feisty and I like that, but you’re wrong,” Obama responded to Timmons.

Kate Harding: How a President’s Faith Can Affect Us All: “sacredness of sexuality,” “I think abstinence education is important,” “that there is a behavioral element to AIDS that has to be addressed. And if there is — if there’s promiscuity and we are pretending that that’s not an issue in spreading AIDS, then we’re missing part of the answer,” “empowering women, giving them microbicides, or other strategies that would allow them to protect themselves when they sometimes in certain situations may not be able to protect themselves from having unprotected sex” (which is RAPE).

Paul the Spud: Why Taking the High Ground is Important: conflation of Senator Clinton and former President Clinton/treating a married woman as an extension of her male spouse

As Obama tried to defend his recent comments about Republican ideas and Ronald Reagan, Clinton interrupted and said she has never criticized his remarks on Reagan.

“Your husband did,” said Obama, who has accused the former president of misrepresenting his record.

“I’m here. He’s not,” she snapped.

“Well, I can’t tell who I’m running against sometimes,” Obama said.

Melissa McEwan: !!#@$!!!@*!&*#$*&@:

I have repeatedly said that I think it’s entirely appropriate for states to restrict or even prohibit late-term abortions as long as there is a strict, well-defined exception for the health of the mother. Now, I don’t think that “mental distress” qualifies as the health of the mother. I think it has to be a serious physical issue that arises in pregnancy, where there are real, significant problems to the mother carrying that child to term. Otherwise, as long as there is such a medical exception in place, I think we can prohibit late-term abortions.

Jeff Fecke: Barack Obama: I Didn’t Say What I Said:

My only point is that in an area like partial-birth abortion having a mental, having a health exception can be defined rigorously. It can be defined through physical health, It can be defined by serious clinical mental-health diseases. It is not just a matter of feeling blue. I don’t think that’s how pro-choice folks have interpreted it. I don’t think that’s how the courts have interpreted it and I think that’s important to emphasize and understand. [emphasis mine]

Zuzu: Putting the Obama comments on third-term abortion into perspective:

Let that sink in a bit. Barack Obama, professor of Constitutional Law at the University of Chicago Law School — which, to borrow a phrase from Clarice Starling, is not a charm school — is running around telling Christian magazines that he doesn’t think mental health should be considered important when considering exceptions to bans on third-term abortions, which is wholly, squarely at odds with the very holding of the decisions legalizing abortion, while at the same time maintaining that he supports Roe.

Either he’s slicing things very fine — the inclusion of mental health as part of the package is part of Doe, not Roe, and he’s only said he supports Roe — or he just hasn’t bothered to read the cases and educate himself about things. Because that phrase, “squarely at odds with the holding” that Greenburg used? That’s legalese for, “Didn’t you even read the fucking case, you dipshit?” …

“My only point is this — historically I have been a strong believer in a women’s right to choose with her doctor, her pastor and her family. [emphasis mine]

Petulant: Read These Now or The Holy Spirit Will Cast His Vote:

it requires us to acknowledge that there is a moral dimension to abortion, which I think that all too often those of us who are pro-choice have not talked about or tried to tamp down. I think that’s a mistake because I think all of us understand that it is a wrenching choice for anybody to think about.

“The second thing, once we acknowledge that, is to recognize that people of good will can exist on both sides. That nobody wishes to be placed in a circumstance where they are even confronted with the choice of abortion. How we determine what’s right at that moment, I think, people of good will can differ. [emphasis mine]

Kate Harding: It’s Time to Get Obama-Skeptical:

Hey, guess what, dude. Progressives? Do not respect the anti-choice position.

This isn’t a “Hey, we just see things differently!” thing. This is a “Hey, we believe in a woman’s right to bodily autonomy, and they don’t” thing. Also? Pro-choice “forces” have consistently acknowledged the “wrenching moral issues” that any individual woman with an unplanned pregnancy might face, but we don’t acknowledge the question of whether that should be her choice as a wrenching moral issue, because it’s not. It’s a fucking no-brainer. And finally, those anti-choice voters you’re reaching out to? They do not want to help women “avoid having to make this difficult choice.” If they did, they’d support comprehensive sex ed, accessible birth control, and emergency contraception wholeheartedly. …

Except in 2005, Obama was planning to vote to confirm John Roberts as Chief Justice, because he “expressed admiration for Roberts’s intellect” and said that “if he were president he wouldn’t want his judicial nominees opposed simply on ideological grounds.” His chief of staff, Pete Rouse, had to point out to him that voting for Roberts might just come back to bite him in the ass if he ran for president.”

Melissa McEwan: Obama: Reproductive Rights and NAFTA:

there’s a disconnect between his positions and his rhetoric, which is of course, not the first time. Once again, the end result appears to require that women trust him that he’s on our side while he talks out the other side of his mouth to people who “believe that women should have some control over their bodies and themselves” and that the decision regarding abortion “generally is one that a woman should make.”

Zuzu: Words mean things, part 2:

And, to his credit, he does come out strongly here for comprehensive, age-appropriate sex education and calls abstinence-only out as the boondoggle it is; he also supports confidential access to contraception and reproductive health care for teenagers, as well as over-the-counter access to EC. He’s even against the Hyde Amendment and wants to cut off federal funding to crisis pregnancy centers.

So I’m left wondering at the disconnect between his responses to the RH Issues Questionnaire and his responses to Mr. Innocent Sweet Babies. He (or, rather, his staff) responded to the questionnaire with simple, clear answers that gave due consideration to the concerns of parents, but which took a clearly pro-choice position. But to Mr. Innocent Sweet Babies, he hemmed and hawed and volunteered answers that sounded like right-wing talking points about responsibility and the degree to which women should be entitled to exercise control over their bodies and their sex lives.

Maybe he does come out the right way on these issues in the end, but the way he talks about them means something, such as when he responded to a questioner at a town hall meeting shortly after taking office in the Senate:

Resendiz then said the House passed a measure making it illegal to transport a minor across state lines for the purpose of obtaining an abortion.

“How are you going to vote on this, keeping in mind that 10, 15 years down the line your daughters, God forbid, could be transported across state lines?” Resendiz asked.

Obama declined to answer the question directly, saying he had not read the legislation and was wary of rider clauses, while also acknowledging the need to protect minors.

“The decision generally is one that a woman should make,” he finally replied. The crowd that had hushed at Resendiz’ pointed question applauded Obama’s response.

“Generally.” “Some.” The way he talks about my rights and my bodily autonomy makes me uneasy.

Via Redstar, campaign surrogate Jesse Jackson, Jr.’s comment:

In an appearance today on MSNBC, Jackson said that Clinton’s “tears” — none actually fell from her eyes — are something that “we’re still analyzing within the Barack Obama campaign.” “Those tears also have to be analyzed,” Jackson said. “They have to be looked at very, very carefully in light of Katrina, in light of other things that Mrs. Clinton did not cry for, particularly as we head to South Carolina where 45 percent of African-Americans will participate in the Democratic contest, and they see real hope in Barack Obama.”

Jackson continued: “We saw something very clever in the last week of this campaign … We saw a sensitivity factor, something that Mrs. Clinton has not been able to do with voters that she tried in New Hampshire. Not in response to voters. Not in response to Katrina, not in response to other issues that have devastated the American people — the war in Iraq — we saw tears in response to her appearance. So her appearance brought her to tears, but not Hurricane Katrina.”

Asked whether he was suggesting that Clinton’s “tears” were “staged,” Jackson said he wouldn’t go that far — but then suggested that there are things in the world worth crying over, and that whatever got Clinton going wasn’t one of them.

“There’s racism, sexism and elitism all wrapped up in that gem – she didn’t cry over non-white folks in the Gulf and Iraq; she’s a shrewd, calculating harpie; what the hell has she got to weep over?” – Redstar