As panels of terrifying old men gather on national television to debate whether and how far women should be punished for having sex outside marriage one could be forgiven for thinking that American politics had temporarily been scripted by Margaret Atwood. As the recession crunches down, the country is awash with anti-erotic, anti-queer, anti-woman rhetoric that goes beyond ‘culture war’ into the territory of sexual counter- revolution.
New Statesman – Rick Santorum and the sexual counter-revolution
This is a great text by Laurie Penny and I recommend reading it in its entirety. I especially like her comment that “to call this a culture war would be to imply that more than one side is fighting."
I would only add to this passage that a lot of the current plans would punish all people who don’t want to get pregnant, not only unmarried (cis-)women.
The text also reminded me of the letter by Melissa McEwan at Shakesville I tweeted this morning: Pat Buchannan told Republicans that they are ”going too far with all the attacks on reproductive rights.“ The GOP is moving to the right of Pat Buchannan. Pat Buchannan.
That is just plain scary.
Thoughts?