“Earlier in the town hall, a voter asked Buttigieg how he will handle the homophobic rhetoric that will meet him should he win the nomination. “
In this article, Democratic presidential nominee Pete Buttigieg responds to homophobic remarks made by Rush Limbaugh, and endorsed by President Trump. He spits back that neither Limbaugh or Trump should be one to lecture on “family values” while also addressing the fact that being chosen as the Democratic candidate would likely place Buttigieg in the firing range for more homophobic remarks. This reflects the remaining homophobia, particularly in the political sphere, that was described in “Momism and the Making of Treasonous Homosexuals” as well as “The Love that Dare not Speak its Name.” These articles described how homosexuality was attacked in the name of “national security” as well as labeled “sexual deviancy” by psychiatrists, thus justifying the position that many Americans held that homosexual people should be persecuted. The effects of this sentiment, though progress has been made, have not disappeared from American politics today, and are exemplified in this voter’s (quoted above) concern about homophobic rhetoric surrounding a presidential nomination for Pete Buttigieg. The mayor’s response was that although there is still a lot of headway to be made regarding gay rights, people are generally moving in the right direction.
“I think at a moment like this, it’s important that we find those who are maybe not quite there yet and help them get there instead of clubbing them over the head and telling them they’re bad people until they see it just the right way.” -Buttigieg
JOURNAL 3: 3/11/2020
“US Soccer also pointed to biological differences and “indisputable science” to argue that women should be paid less because the men’s team “requires a higher level of skill” than the women’s team.”
Journal 4: 3/30/2020
Iowa, Ohio Sued Over Abortion Bans During Coronavirus Crisis
“A global pandemic is not an excuse to attack essential, time-sensitive medical procedures like abortion,” said Alexis McGill Johnson, acting president of Planned Parenthood.
This article describes how states such as Iowa, Ohio, Texas, and Mississippi have included abortions in their elective surgery ban during the global pandemic of COVID-19. As of now, most states have cancelled all elective operations in order to conserve medical supplies, limit peoples’ exposure to the virus, and free doctors to help with the overwhelming waves of people predicted to flood nearly every hospital in the country. A number of states, however, have used this time to promote their anti-abortion agenda, stating that it is an elective procedure and women are no longer allowed access during this time of crisis.
A number of medical experts as well as leaders of Planned Parenthood and the National Abortion Federation have spoken out about how abortion is a time sensitive procedure and cannot be banned under the decades of precedent set by the Supreme Court. They state that this ban would force numbers of women to carry an unwanted pregnancy to term, potentially at the cost of their own health or life, or at a time when they cannot support the child. These advocates point their fingers at the governors who are using this global pandemic to further their own agenda at the expense of women’s health and during a time where health is so fragile to begin with.
JOURNAL 5: 4/6/2020
This led Bennetts to promote a so-called “life-span feminism” which focuses on women’s rights all the way through until old age, rather than just focusing on young women who are more “palatable” to the general public. Bennetts suggests that women are the ones who are going to be needed to make this shift, because it remains in man’s best interest to keep this age group of women suppressed, and with many women not having husbands late in their lives for support, they are going to need to rely on each other even more.
This article reminded me of the Judith Butler video, where she speaks about the discrimination against people with disabilities largely stemming from a fear that everyone’s body is eventually going to age and deteriorate. The insults and strange looks come from a projection of those fears and insecurities onto people who visibly have some sort of physical disability. I also thought it spoke to the mass media and consumer-focused age-ism that promotes “fixing” the elderly or aging body using products and procedures, which is similar to the process Garland-Thomson wrote about in her piece.
Journal 6: 4/20/2020
https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/coronavirus-gender-roles_uk_5e9cb152c5b635d25d6ea576
This article relates to many of the topics we have discussed in class. It first touches on the idea that women are the ones to be domestic and staying home while men are to be the primary breadwinners. This ideal is starting to be contested by an increase of women in the workplace, but I think the stay-at-home requirements provide an interesting and liberating opportunity for women who want to invest more in their careers because they do not have the guilt of leaving their children with a babysitter or in a day care, and they still have a parent who is tending to them. I also think that this relates to topics of this week regarding Men’s Rights Activism, because a main argument of the MRA is that women have all the rights to their children and men are simply expected to pay for them. This unique situation provides these men with direct contact to what it really means to provide for one’s children in the household, with their everyday needs, and will hopefully provide some insight to the amount of work it is to care for young children.
Journal 7: 4/29/2020
This article written by Lisa Lerer and Sydney Ember describes the Biden campaign’s response to the allegations of sexual assault by Tara Reade. Many people, especially those on the far left, are calling for Biden to make a statement responding to the allegations. They think that this is an opportunity for him to show how he and the Democratic Party choose to respond to allegations like these, to set a precedent that they are taking it seriously. It is unclear how these allegations would affect Biden’s popularity among voters, especially considering the only other major alternative at this point has at least a dozen sexual assault and harassment allegations against him [President Trump]. The situation has also served as a real test for many members of the Democratic Party who found it easy to promote “Believe women, believe survivors” when allegations were posed against powerful Republican men, but are having a difficult time believing Reade when the accused is Joe Biden, a so-called champion of women.
“And liberal activists find themselves in a tense standoff with a candidate they want to support but who they say has made little attempt to show leadership on an issue that resonates deeply with their party’s base.”
“Vice President Biden has the opportunity, right now, to model how to take serious allegations seriously,” the draft letter said. “The weight of our expectations matches the magnitude of the office he seeks.”