Men in Black

[paft.livejournal.com]

Here is a picture from today's House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing about the Obama administration's birth control mandate:



The first row are the allowed witnesses.

All those people a couple rows behind them? Well... those witnesses just don't fit in.

That's why most of the Democratic women on the committee walked out of the room.

Just now, Oklahoma GOP representative Jim Lankford implied that these men in black were being "berated" by the committee. In fact, they've mostly been getting strokes just short of full-body massages from most of the remaining committee members. This hearing is such a transparent and over-the-top, right wing extremist attack on the administration (one Representative invoked those dastardly laws against smoking in public buildings as a sign of the slippery slope the administration has set up) that clips from it should be used by Democrats in the upcoming election.

I cannot imagine any reasonable and honest person watching this hearing and not being appalled.


Partially crossposted from Thoughtcrimes

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Comments

[xtremeroswellia.livejournal.com]

Exactly. And it all comes down to power and control.

[shinyget.livejournal.com]

It really does. I'm planning on going into the study of the militarization of women's life and it's mind blowing how subtle this masculine-dominated kind of control can be at times.

[xtremeroswellia.livejournal.com]

It is so subtle sometimes. This, though, where ALL men are on a panel talking about how evil the birth control pill is? Not subtle at all.

I think the worst part of it for me is listening to some WOMEN condemn other women over birth control or abortion. It makes my head hurt.

[shinyget.livejournal.com]

Yeah and sadly, that kind of opposition is nothing new. There have been tons of anti-women's rights groups that were women. Women's suffragist and Equal Rights Amendment movements had to deal heavily with those. :(

[xtremeroswellia.livejournal.com]

Yep. It just shows you how very deeply engrained patriarchy is. :/