Here’s Your Apron – Now Get Back In The Kitchen!

Posted on by under Election 2023, History, Law and justice, Political commentary, Racism & Bigotry, Rants, Social commentary

The United States Constitution was written in the year 1787.  Eleven years before that, in the year 1776, the Declaration of Independence was adopted declaring that “All men are created equal. [emphasis added]”  It wasn’t until 1920, 133 years after the Constitution was written, that the 19th Amendment was added to the Constitution, giving women the right to vote.  It would be another 53 years, 1973, before women were allowed to legally make decisions over their own reproductive healthcare (Roe v Wade).  Laws that gave women equality in such things as housing and employment did not come along until the 1960s.  You might say that we’ve come a long way.  Not far enough, obviously, if you consider that while women comprise 50.4% of the U.S. population, women comprise only 29% of the House of Representatives and 25% of the U.S. Senate.

But, as we all know, the story doesn’t end here.  Last year, the U.S. Supreme Court decided that women had a little too much freedom, and in a court decision titled Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization, they overturned Roe v Wade and gave the fifty states the right to drastically restrict women’s rights to make their own healthcare decisions.  Many states jumped right on that bandwagon, as did the state I live in, Ohio.

Well, guess what?  We women decided that we have worked way too hard and fought way too long to just let our rights be taken from us by a judicial order passed by men who cannot even be bothered to try to put themselves in our shoes.  And frankly, if they can take our right to an abortion from us, what’s next?  There is already talk of taking away our right to contraception (birth control).  Then what about our hard-earned rights to equal pay for equal work?  Our right to divorce our spouse?  Our right … to vote?  Oh yes, my friends … give an inch and they’ll take a mile!

Well, we stood up and told the legislature in Ohio and other states that we will fight to the death for our rights, that we are not backing down.  On Tuesday, we voted by a strong margin (56.6% to 43.4%) to codify abortion rights into the Ohio State Constitution.  Let’s dust off our hands, give high-fives all around, and be pleased with our accomplishments.  Oh, but wait … the Ohio legislature says, not so fast …

In a truly lunatic press release issued on Thursday, members of the Ohio Legislature claim that the ballot initiative was funded by “foreign billionaires” and that the legislature does not accept the will of the people, but instead will “… consider what, if any, modifications to make to existing laws based on public hearings …”  One representative, Beth Lear, said that “No amendment can overturn the God given rights with which we were born.”  Wait just one damned minute, MS. Lear!  What ‘rights’???  The right to control others???  Did your god tell you that you could force women to your will?  Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr …

Sorry for the bit of ranting there … I just hate it when someone tells me that their god gave them the right to slap me in the face.

Now, typically I would be laughing at their childish attempts to impose their will on us, knowing that we, the voters, have the law on our side.  But, with the state’s governor (Mike DeWine), Secretary of State (Frank LaRose), and the majority of the legislature  determined to undermine the will of the people, I’m not laughing, for I foresee a rocky road ahead.  Ohio lawmakers (mostly Republicans1) have said they will challenge the will of the people in the Courts, which means it could be years before women’s rights are restored … if ever.  Meantime, how many rape and incest victims will have their lives forever ruined by the misogynist laws of men who wish to keep us under their thumbs.  And if they get by with overruling our choice, then will they be emboldened to go further and take away even more of our rights?  Are we women destined to forever more be considered second-class citizens???

1 The Ohio House has 99 members, 67 are Republicans and 32 are Democrats;  the Ohio Senate has 33 members, 26 are Republicans and only 7 are Democrats.  The odds are stacked.

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44 thoughts on “Here’s Your Apron – Now Get Back In The Kitchen!”

  1. Thank you for sharing!!.. believe what we are witnessing is elements of today’s society (and the world over) who are like “a drowning person grabbing at straws, desperately trying to prevent change.. “Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past and present are certain to miss the future.” (John F. Kennedy)… 🙂

    Hope all is well in your part of the universe and until we meet again….
    May flowers always line your path
    and sunshine light your way,
    May songbirds serenade your
    every step along the way,
    May a rainbow run beside you
    in a sky that’s always blue,
    And may happiness fill your heart
    each day your whole life through.
    (Irish Saying)

    Liked by 1 person

    • Thank you, my friend. It just seems that we made these changes 50 years ago … and today we are taking steps backward at a dizzying rate! When will we ever learn??? I’m … depressed, despairing for the future of humans, for we seem to be losing more of our humanity with each passing year. But … I am old, so perhaps the next generations will do a better job than ours has. Thanks so much for the PP&M song … one of my favourites! And for the truly uplifting Irish Saying! Keep well, my friend.

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  2. “foreign billionaires”??????????????
    Oh man that is ‘reaching’ and it’s not even good ‘reaching’
    “foreign billionaires” are the very sorts that keep those reactionary folk in their cosy seats.
    But if there are “foreign billionaires”, that means that their very polar opposites ‘The Socialists’ are the folk that the Ohio republicans should be seeking out. But since they don’t like ‘Socialists’ either….
    See what I mean?
    What a load of……

    Liked by 1 person

  3. Well, most of what I have to say about this has been said. I remain amazed, though, at the lack of pushback to this small yet important point made by an anti-choicer in the OH legislature: “One representative, Beth Lear, said that ‘No amendment can overturn the God given rights with which we were born.'” Did she even hear herself state that the rights are conferred at birth? (And I don’t mean pushback here; I mean in the press, and in the actual space where she spoke.)

    Liked by 1 person

  4. Jill, a couple of trends come together to provide an interesting set of hypocrisies.

    More than 1/2 of students at colleges and universities are women.

    Couple that with a faux masculinity movement where men seemingly must do all things manly.

    Couple that with the Me-too movement where women are pushing back.

    Couple that with this evangelical movement to put women out of the paid workplace based largely on religious text written largely by men.

    Couple that where women are pushing back on the stripping away of health care rights.

    To me, given the Republican stances that are anti-climate change action, anti-environment, pro-gun, anti-family planning, pro-wealthy, etc., I see very little reason for women or supportive men and others to vote Republican, full stop.

    Keith

    Liked by 3 people

    • Thank you, Keith! Hearing you say that is a breath of fresh air after reading all the rhetoric by the Republican congressMEN and others in the press. That said, it amazes me when I hear women siding with the misogynists on issues of women’s rights … and there are some who do. I want to shake them and then ask them if they really want to return to the 1800s! I don’t!

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  6. I like women, a lot. By some luck I was thrown in with a bunch of men(grandfathers, Dad, handsome uncles) who knew the power of women and how respect could make them safer to handle. Fun fact, young rattlesnakes are more dangerous as they have no control of the dose. The older ones are just as venomous but they can control the dose so they don’t have to kill you.

    Liked by 3 people

  7. Hi. I am always stunned when a state or federal elected legislator says that “god’s law overrules man’s laws” and “god’s will is more important than the will of the people”. How do fundamentalist religious people rationalize that laws don’t apply to them because they believe they have special permission from someone no one else can hear or see. When not religious people try that, they are called mentally ill and they still have to follow the laws. Hugs. Scottie

    Liked by 4 people

    • Astute observers such as ourselves have noticed that the word of god is most often expressed by mostly males, always in the language that they speak and usually carries some tangible benefit to themselves at the expense of others. Since God has no need to rob Peter to pay Paul it is safe to assume that these are not actually god’s words.

      Liked by 5 people

    • I know, Scottie … I’m always stunned by that, too, and not in a good way! If I hadn’t long ago shunned religion and religious beliefs, I would have to do so now, seeing how so many Christians cherry-pick their beliefs and choose only those that fit in with the life they want. Hugs

      Liked by 1 person

  8. Religious extremists are religious extremists whether the religion is Islam, Christianity or any other and whether on whichever wing of those beliefs. And Goddammit they are right – God told them so – so just behave. God being, of course male. The scariest thing for me is how many women manage to do the mental gymnastics to be in Politics and still espouse all that patriarchal claptrap. Good luck with your campaign.

    Liked by 6 people

    • This is very true! I usually critique Christians more only because they are the driving force here in the U.S. and are attempting to turn this nation from a secular one to a Christian one, but you’re right … all religions fit into Marx’ definition of “the opiate of the masses”. All religions are about controlling and manipulating the populace. Religion has no place in good governance, as I see it.

      Liked by 2 people

  10. … the right to own land … I tell you, the American Republicans went on a course with the Taliban.
    Women in thoses states have not many choices, but they can refuse to marry, and they can refuse to have sex if contraceptives are being forbidden. (what the fugg?)
    At the time the Constitution was written and even nowadays, the wordn “men” is often used in the sense of “mankind”, which is also a bad word in this respect is it not? But shall we say mankind and womankind? This would get rediculous, but we can still say human beings. That is something worth changing in the Constitution though, using “human beings” instead of “men”, so that all blockheads understand what is meant.

    Liked by 6 people

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