It’s been all over the news: Rush Limbaugh’s@@http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/@@ fall from grace.@@first i have heard@@ His select choice of words on Feb. 29 has become common knowledge, and the concept of 21st-century sexism has been thrown into the public light.
Limbaugh is a conservative radio talk show host for “The Rush Limbaugh Show,” the highest-rated radio talk show in the U.S. In a recent broadcast, he fell into infamy for his comments on Georgetown University law student Sandra Fluke.@@http://news.yahoo.com/rush-releases-apology-statement-georgetown-law-student-sandra-035614898.html@@ Fluke testified in favor of health insurance coverage of birth control before the House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee,@@http://tierney.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=106:steering-and-policy&catid=45:committeees&Itemid=537@@ a subset of the House of Representatives. Earlier last month, she was supposed to testify at a Congressional hearing, but Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) rejected her request @@checked@@to testify, stating that she was “not appropriate or qualified” to speak on the topics of birth control and the separation of church and state. At that hearing, only men were allowed to testify.
Afterward on his show, Limbaugh said, “What does it say about the college coed Susan Fluke, who goes before a congressional committee and essentially says that she must be paid to have sex — what does that make her? It makes her a slut, right? It makes her a prostitute. She wants to be paid to have sex. She’s having so much sex she can’t afford the contraception. She wants you and me and the taxpayers to pay her to have sex.”@@wow     http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/29/rush-limbaugh-sandra-fluke-slut_n_1311640.html@@
According to Friday’s Huffington Post, @@checked@@about 50 advertisers have pulled their money from Limbaugh’s radio broadcast. And it’s easy to see why.
Women on birth control are not sluts. Women on birth control are not prostitutes. Birth control is not a gateway drug to nymphomania, low self-esteem and reckless sexual habits. It’s a control method, an instrument to allow women both better control of their lives and more comfort in their psyche. It is a way to gain independence and stability. Rush Limbaugh is an idiot, to be sure, but his comments have just highlighted how the opposition in the contraception debate does not care about feminine equality and sexual safety at all — it cares about control.
According to the Guttmacher Institute, more than 99 percent of women in their childbearing years (15-44) who have had sex have used birth control at least once.@@http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/fb_contr_use.html#2@@  Of all American women in their childbearing years, 62 percent are on birth control.@@see previous link@@ In addition, many women use birth control for nonsexual reasons;@@checked@@ the pill is used to treat irregular and painful periods, acne, excessive hair growth, ovarian cysts and other hormonal problems.
The birth control debate has two distinct sides — the conservative religious right vs. the liberal left. This war is long-running and obvious. Despite the exaggerating media coverage and overly emotional campaign trails, these two sides fight with subtle steps. This bipartisan dance requires that each side slowly and deliberately react to the others’ movement; it’s a chess game.
What Limbaugh did was knock a piece over. He did nothing less than express what many on his side believe — a move that should never be expressly made, only idly hinted at. He stirred the pot with a dash of reality, and this angered the pro-contraception side (obviously) and left the anti-contraception side scrambling for the defensive. Sure, they think women on birth control are sluts, but you’re not supposed to say it out loud.@@why not?@@
The remarks were grotesquely ignorant and simplistic about an issue that is anything but. God forbid women are given the remote control to their bodies. God forbid women live life more comfortably and with less anxiety about their bodily functions. God forbid health insurances cover Viagra and the pill.
In the end, it’s not a sexual-intercourse issue. It’s a gender one. Women deserve the same rights as men — in and out of the bedroom. Men do not have to worry about pregnancy, heavy periods, monthly cramping or bloating.@@well, i don’t know about the bloating…@@ Neither should women.