I thought it would be old news by the time I got around to writing this, but it looks like the gender storm is just beginning. This time shock jock radio host Rush Limbaugh has gone too far and ignited the kind of feminist outcry I’ve been wanting to hear for a long time. Maybe it took a blowhard like him to wake us up to the fact that things haven’t really changed all that much in the new millennium as far as women are concerned. That’s an awakening that will ultimately benefit all of us.

If you’re not up on the latest set of insults aimed at half the human population, suffice it to say that the abortion debate has now taken a back seat to arguing about women’s right to have any birth control at all covered by insurance. Rush Limbaugh made such derogatory comments to a female law student that Obama himself was compelled to call her and apologize. I won’t belittle this blog by repeating Limbaugh’s adolescent taunts here but if you really want to know, you can discover for yourself why his advertisers are fleeing in droves.

If you want to join the wave of pressure to have him removed from some of the 600 radio stations that host his show, sign the petition here!

It’s not like this little comment exists in isolation. The panel of five conservative Congressmen who held the forum on whether insurance coverage of contraception violates religious freedom, refused to allow testimony from any females, saying that the women chosen were not “appropriate witnesses.”                                      

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), Chair of the House Oversight &  Government Reform Committee.

“What I want to know is, where are the women?” Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) asked Rep Darell Issa before walking out of the hearing after the first panel. “I look at this panel, and I don’t see one single individual representing the tens of millions of women across the country who want and need insurance coverage for basic preventative health care services, including family planning.Where are the women?” 

Now, I may sound a bit cynical but I don’t know whether having women testify would have done all that much good. We just get labeled as angry bitches and you might be thinking that about me even now. What I think would be more effective is for each of those men to be locked alone in a room with a couple of two-year-olds for 48 hours while strapping a large watermelon to their bellies. If they survive that, then they might be eligible to vote on this issue.

Excuse me?  Medical issues are exactly what law student Sandra Fluke was trying to address.

Sandra Fluke: Law Student who was the target of Limbaugh

But really, folks, this is much more than a feminist issue. In a world dying under the weight of overpopulation, where 20% live in bone-chilling poverty, where food production is declining as climate temperatures rise, where clean drinking water is becoming an upper class privilege in many parts of the world, where one out of every three women is raped or beaten–refusing contraception digs a grave for the future of all humanity.

We’re better than this. We can work together. We can co-create a glorious future. It’s in our hands. But sometimes it requires going on a rant like this one to get us to wake up. Thank you for listening and making your voice heard in this swelling outcry against injustice and stupidity. Please help take Limbaugh off the air. At least  make the statement that we’re out here and paying attention. At least half the people of the world will thank you.

Blessings,

Anodea Judith