2016 in the United States. A woman is a presumptive candidate for the U.S. Presidential election. Women make up about half the workforce and have overtaken men in earning college degrees.  Women have the right to control their bodies, particularly their reproductive choices. Unfortunately, they are constantly fighting fundamentalists-turned-politicians who would love nothing more than to strip them of every single right they have earned since women gained the vote 1908. They would love nothing better than to put women “back in their place”. Subservient to men, in the home, with no control of their own bodies, no control of money, no control, period.

There is a bright side. It has been a growing trend, according to The Washington Post, that women vote in higher numbers than men do. ‘Women (sic) have in every presidential election since 1980, and the gap has widened over time. In 2012, the difference in turnout was nearly 4 percentage points (63.7 percent of ladies voted vs. 59.8 percent of gents).’

That said, why is it that respect for women seems to be diminishing and diminishing greatly? One example is the rape culture that has come into the spotlight lately. Colleges have become especially notorious for this. It has become so commonplace that California has recently become the first state in the U.S. to make sexual consent classes mandatory in high schools. Those classes are necessary, in part, because of bullshit like this from Breitbart.com. Then you have subhumans like Ted Nugent who has some sort of sick gun-as-penis fantasy and is no doubt paid by the NRA to bring their trash to the country’s attention all the time.

YES! There are actually human people who read and listen to that filth and take it to heart. I hope they don’t have daughters. Or sisters. Or mothers. Or even interact with women or girls.  But they do vote. And own lots and lots and lots and lots of guns.

It is not only on fake news sites and the lips of lunatic, washed-up NRA whores that you find this type of disdain for women. I came across this post recently on Facebook,  referring to one of my close friends.  Keep in mind this is just one of MANY vile, beastly, threatening, and hate-filled posts. I have a whole folder full that I kept when I was working with Moms. Or just make a quick swipe on Facebook or Twitter. You won’t have a problem finding all the hate against women you can handle.

 

In a civil society, this should be unacceptable. It probably should be actionable. Since anything posted on Facebook instantly becomes public domain, I guess it kind of is.

But we no longer live in a civil society. This open hatred for anyone who puts your delicates in a twist, as I have observed, started coming to a boil in 2008. No coincidence, when the U.S. elected its first bi-racial President. Fast-forward eight years.  When the likes of Ted Nugent, some rapey asshat writer at Breitbart.com, and even the presumptive Republican presidential nominee and his “I love the poorly educated!” supporters set the tone of national discourse, we can’t expect any better.

God. May she have mercy on us all.

The lowest common denominator has crawled out from its hole and become very vocal. Beware and be ready. Remember, they may be mean, but smart beats mean every time.

And LOVE WINS.