Your Vagina Is Not A Voting Tool
Brendan O'Neill writes at reason about the double-cringe-worthy line a woman used in a magazine piece to talk about Candidate Hillary:
"I intend to vote with my vagina."
Yicko!
O'Neill continues:
Let's leave aside the unfortunate image conjured up by that sentence ("You can hold a pencil with that thing?!") The bigger problem with such unabashed declarations of "vagina voting" is that they confirm the descent of feminism into the cesspool of identity politics, even biologism, and its abandonment of the idea that women should be valued more for their minds than their anatomy.Kate Harding, the vagina voter in question, isn't only going to vote with her vag--she's also going to tell everyone about it. "I intend to vote with my vagina. Unapologetically. Enthusiastically... And I intend to talk about it," she wrote in Dame.
She thinks Hillary would be a great president because she "knows what it's like to menstruate, be pregnant, [and] give birth."
So you're going to pick your leader on the basis of her biological functions, the fact she's experienced the same bodily stuff as you? Imagine if a man did that. "I'm voting for Ted Cruz because he knows what it's like to spunk off. And he knows the pain of being kicked in the balls." We'd think that was a very sad dude indeed. Why is it any better for a female commentator to wax lyrical about voting on the basis of her biological similarity to a candidate rather than any shared political outlook?
Increasingly, when I think of feminism, I think of fifth-raters struggling to become fourth-rate.
Equality? That'll be a steep haul from where today's feminists are -- mired in victimism and the politics of looking at a candidate's pee-pee to see whether it matches theirs.
Think if you say there will be voting with vaginas it might encourage more male turnout to voting booths then women.
Stephen Walski at May 3, 2015 10:47 PM
So...I'm going to need to wear rubber gloves if I want to make sure I don't get any icky stuff from the voting implement.
That's just...awesome.
I R A Darth Aggie at May 4, 2015 5:52 AM
I've often heard women say "Men only think with their dicks".
So it appears the pot has has been calling the kettle black?
JFP at May 4, 2015 5:55 AM
Well, it's Kate Harding. This is par for the course.
Astra at May 4, 2015 6:11 AM
Man, I bet that took a lot of practice.
Especially for write-in candidates.
Gog_Magog_Carpet_Reclaimers at May 4, 2015 8:28 AM
I use those muscles to hold the pen when I check the boxes, it's better than Kegels for post-childbirth toning!
NicoleK at May 4, 2015 8:53 AM
It was a very unfortunate choice of words by Ms. Harding. But people have been voting identity politics forever. Maybe not gender identify, maybe not in all cases ethnic identity (though Obama won the nomination in '08 because in Southern states with very large Black Democratic demographics, he took about 98% of those votes). But certainly social and economic identity has always been a factor. That is why the Republicans virtually always nominate rich peoople, who understand the needs of the wealthy
One should always vote more on issues than on identity politics. But they often merge. I'm a human being, and I live on this planet, and thus I am going to vote for anyone who is going to try to do something about global warming, the most crucial issue humans have ever faced. The Republicans in the Senate just voted down a Resolution that stated that global warming is caused by humans. That will determine my identity vote, but that's just me.
William at May 4, 2015 9:56 AM
You'll leave snail-trails on the touch screen.
Patrick at May 4, 2015 10:31 AM
@"I intend to vote with my vagina."
Lol! I must admit I have at times made decisions with my penis ... usually bad decisions.
One of the interesting attributes of modern feminism is that just when you think it can't get more ridiculous, it does.
Lobster at May 4, 2015 11:49 AM
"Well, it's Kate Harding. This is par for the course. "
This is Kate Harding, frantic to get people to remember she's still alive.
In her case disgust has turned to pity, at least for me.
BTW, I wonder, with this "thinking" how she is going to decide between backing Clinton of Carly Fiorina.
Jim at May 4, 2015 12:31 PM
The solipsism and chauvinism of women like this is breathtaking.
Women (some reluctantly) have embraced the "empowerment" of feminism for the past 40 years and are now unhappier than they used to be, and are less happy than men, when they used to be happier than men.
And the kicker in all this? Women have been experiencing up to now only the "benefits" provided by the cult of the goddess. They have not yet begun to pay the price for all the goodies they have received. Wait until the "responsibilities" sided of the "rights" equation starts to kick in, along with a strong dose of the law of unintended consequences.
Female unhappiness? You ain't seen nothin' yet. I for one want women to get all the equality they deserve -- good and hard!
I think of it as tough love -- harsh, perhaps, but necessary to restore sanity and equilibrium.
Jay R at May 4, 2015 1:35 PM
Most candidates are assholes. I'll be voting with my anus.
Gary G at May 4, 2015 3:37 PM
Most candidates are assholes. I'll be voting with my anus.
Posted by: Gary G at May 4, 2015 3:37 PM
How convenient. Hillary has one of those too!
Isab at May 4, 2015 10:06 PM
Liberal women certainly seem able to not vote with their vaginas when conservative women are running for office.
So I am certain that it is the liberal politics that excites then far more than just the biological similarities of the liberal female candidates.
smg45acp at May 5, 2015 6:06 AM
"How convenient. Hillary has one of those too!"
Hey! Leave Bill out of this!
Thought: if Hillary has an asshole and Republicans don't, does that mean the GOP candidates have no choice but to be completely full of shit? I mean, there's no way for it to escape.
Yeah. Dumb. Perhaps all politicians are capable of complete and utter assholery.
Gog_Magog_Carpet_Reclaimers at May 5, 2015 7:38 AM
Can't that get you arrested?
Gary Baumgarten at May 5, 2015 8:16 AM
Does voting that way leave a hanging chad?
Conan the Grammarian at May 6, 2015 12:13 PM
Posted by: Lobster at May 4, 2015 11:49 AM
....
"BTW, I wonder, with this "thinking" how she is going to decide between backing Clinton of Carly Fiorina."
She'll have to decide which one is the bigger 'vagina'
Jack LeBear at May 21, 2015 9:36 PM
Posted by: Lobster at May 4, 2015 11:49 AM
....
"BTW, I wonder, with this "thinking" how she is going to decide between backing Clinton of Carly Fiorina."
She'll have to decide which one is the bigger 'vagina'
Jack LeBear at May 21, 2015 10:00 PM
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