Yes, the Republican Party Does Hate Women

Omid Safi

Posted Aug 23, 2012      •Permalink      • Printer-Friendly Version
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Yes, the Republican Party Does Hate Women

by Omid Safi


I am not just talking about the idiotic comments of Todd Akin on how women cannot get pregnant through “legitimate rape.”



Nor am I talking about the politics of abortion, an emotional issue that people have strong opinions about. 

Furthermore, I am not even discussing the “No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act” bill that Todd Akin and Paul Ryan co-sponsored.

Now, I am talking about something much more basic:  the hatred towards girls and women, simply for being women.

This time is not from a would-be fringe politician, nor is it on rightwing blogger’s indiscrete thought.

The comments come from the National Review, something of a Bible to the GOP.  
This post comes from the current online issue, the one that has the cover that endorses Romney for President:  “Own it, Mitt.”

These latest hateful comments are from an the lead online article by Kevin D. Williamson that National Review proudly carries, titled:  “Like a Boss:  When it comes to being a rich guy, Mitt Romney should own it.”

Kevin D. Williamson is no stranger to the National Review.  He is in fact their deputy managing editor.

Let’s leave aside the usual class analysis and the justification of wealth for another conversation. No, let’s focus on the heart of the matter, the National Review’s comments on gender.  So there is no misunderstanding, here is the citation in full:

It is a curious scientific fact (explained in evolutionary biology by the Trivers-Willard hypothesis — Willard, notice) that high-status animals tend to have more male offspring than female offspring, which holds true across many species, from red deer to mink to Homo sap. The offspring of rich families are statistically biased in favor of sons — the children of the general population are 51 percent male and 49 percent female, but the children of the Forbes billionaire list are 60 percent male.

Have a gander at that Romney family picture: five sons, zero daughters. Romney has 18 grandchildren, and they exceed a 2:1 ratio of grandsons to granddaughters (13:5). When they go to church at their summer-vacation home, the Romney clan makes up a third of the congregation. He is basically a tribal chieftain.

Professor Obama? Two daughters. May as well give the guy a cardigan. And fallopian tubes.

From an evolutionary point of view, Mitt Romney should get 100 percent of the female vote. All of it. He should get Michelle Obama’s vote.

Yes, you are reading those words correctly:  The National Review, one of the chief propaganda publications for the Republican party, is citing Romney having sons over daughters vis-à-vis Obama as proof of him being “boss.”

This is what the Republican Party has sunk down to, touting the virtues of sons over daughters.

This is what it has come down to.   We are not even talking about distribution of wealth, or policy.
We are at a point nothing less than the undisguised hatred for girls, for women.

Where I come from there is a name for that.   It’s called misogyny.

Is this an America that we recognize?  That we would want to be a part of?    

The Republican Party today is mired in a misogynistic abyss.  

If it has any hopes of recovering its credibility as a legitimate voice in American politics, Republicans need to take a long and hard look at why and how this kind of hatred for half of American citizens, half of the world’s population, has become so everyday, so accepted, so unchallenged, in their midst.

There is something rotten in the soul of the GOP party.   It seems to officially hate the poor, hate the women, hate Hispanics, hate Muslims, hate gays/lesbians, hate environmentalists, hate unions, hate teachers.     Who is left unhated?   

There is a time to vomit out the virus of hate and exclusivism.

That time is now.

Originally published on Religion News Service and reprinted with permission of author.

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