Chris Jepson: Choice is not a dirty word

What is it about a woman’s “peachy-parts” that get Republicans all a titter? Mike Huckabee is yet another sanctimonious conservative who, once again, opened his blathering pie hole and out came timeless male chauvinism about women who “cannot control their libido[s].” Nasty. Nasty.

Women, according to Republicans, are so sexual that, well, thank goodness for the GOP to rein-in America’s women and their carnal appetites. Surely, women cannot have sex in America without consequences. Suffering. Expense. Pain. Humiliation. Pregnancy. Certainly somewhere in the Bible it suggests as much. Consider Proverbs 11:22, “Like a gold ring in a pig's snout is a beautiful woman without discretion.”

Is it not weird, seriously, the Republican fascination with female sexuality? With sex, generally speaking. They get their undies all in a bundle over who’s doing what to whom. And could “they” possibly be enjoying themselves? Horrors! How about Republicans just MYOB (Mind Your Own Business) and do what you do best, continue to give tax breaks to the well-off.

Chris, Chris, Chris, you’re missing the point. Republicans want women to have sex…but only the GOP-approved way. In a marriage and, optimally, without the benefit of birth control. Anything short of that ideal, well, you know. Nasty. Nasty. Hmmm? (Please see alternative Republican sexual universe of Newt Gingrich, David Vitter, Larry Craig and Mark Sanford).

For the better part of the last 6,000 years, men controlled access to women. Few cultures, in the past, were cultures of equality (or even near equality) for women. Women were too often chattel, assets to be distributed. They were sequestered, sheltered and limited in their movement. Women were prized, much as a heifer was valued, for her reproductive qualities. I highly recommend the 2003 movie “Osama,” which depicts the lot of women in Afghanistan under the Taliban. It will make you weep. But, broadly speaking, it is representative of the history of the oppressed sex.

In the West, the last 1,000 years have been an inexorable slog for women to achieve freedom (from/with men) and equality. Organized male-dominated religions have been a relentless obstacle, an impediment to female empowerment. So, too, male governance, traditions and customs. I knew women who, once-upon-a-time, could not vote in America. My grandmother lived part of her adult life without that right. That is but a chip shot ago, historically speaking.

So many triumphs for women in the 20th century and historians will someday look upon the advent of reliable, safe birth control as one of the most significant achievements of our era. No longer are women forced to bear child after child until one’s teeth fall out.

The Republican attempt to vilify and penalize women for wanting choice in their lives is emblematic of a dying political party. Sorry boys, that American mare has done left the barn. The GOP spin is to now pillory women for having sexual appetites. Let alone the temerity to act upon them. Nasty. Nasty. How dare they “act” like men? How dare they be human? To our Neanderthal GOP, “Male libido good. Ugh, female libido bad.”

Choice is not a dirty word. Choice is empowering, liberating and what we all desire as human beings, men and women alike. Vote accordingly, particularly if you are female.

Support Planned Parenthood of Greater Orlando at 407-246-1788.