Sex and Power, But No Rock ‘n Roll

The new American misogyny: birth control, abortion, family planning and repressive laws instead of economic growth, new jobs and the environment. The U.S. election this year is full of absurdities.

Even many experienced observers think the U.S. elections are already receiving far too much attention in the Austrian media. What a mistake! A sociopolitical squabble is taking place here that goes far beyond anything [that has happened] thus far in the United States. A nation of progress is bogged down in a totally backward-looking debate and a “war on women,” in which American women are being held hostage to a hidden agenda. In the U.S., birth control measures get far more attention than Afghanistan does.

The November 2012 presidential election appears to have adopted sex as its central focus. Sex using taxpayer money, because women want birth control to be covered by their health insurance; sex, because laws in some states seek to force women to undergo humiliating physical examinations and procedures before they can have an abortion; sex, because those on both the right and left of the political spectrum try to outdo one another with misogynistic comments and sleazy jokes.

The nation is turning its sociopolitical clock back — and this in an era when it’s all supposed to be about innovation, jobs, the economy and the environment! The discussion about birth control, abortion, the pill and so on was supposed to have been settled in the ’60s and ’70s. But certainly not now! And definitely not to be brought up again by those right-wing, extremist Republicans who otherwise constantly demand that government keep its nose out of individual lives. Government is your enemy at the office, but not in your bedroom? It’s nearly impossible to have a more absurd, frightening or mixed-up election in a modern, progressive nation.

But why now, and why at all? Because the truth is, it’s not about sex, abortion and family planning at all; and it’s certainly not about morals. These reasons are all put forward in explanation, but it’s really all about maintaining power in a society dominated by white, Anglo-Saxon males and driven by a latent racism that [Americans] never dare mention aloud — a racism with the solitary goal of driving Barack Obama out of the White House.

This new misogyny originated in the Catholic church and was enthusiastically adopted and amplified by many Republicans. The protestations by the bishops over Obama’s requirement that healthcare programs include free birth control services was eagerly pounced upon by the Republicans as another welcome anti-Obama weapon. It resulted in one side citing specious studies showing a link between the pill and breast cancer, while the other side characterized Republican birth control via abstinence as “Vatican roulette.”

From the European viewpoint, it’s not just strange, it’s more than strange. On the part of Republicans, their fixation on the sex theme comes off as either courageous or stupid, especially when one recalls all the recent sex scandals in the GOP. On the other hand, their opponents, and those women most affected, hesitate to use accusations of racism against them.

So why now and, indeed, why at all? Because the possible re-election of America’s first black president foreshadows a further loss of power and influence among America’s white elites in an increasingly less-white society. That causes panic. And we here in Europe should just ignore it all?