You keep using that word...

I don't normally stick my nose into issues of politics, but here goes...

This past week Sandra  Fluke, a Georgetown Law student, advocated that women should have access to contraceptives. She stood up in front of a panel filled with many men, and she shared her opinion. Sharing her beliefs took courage. Women's reproductive health care and the issues surrounding the best ways to provide it have long been topics of heated discussion. The issues are polarizing, and it can be embarrassing for women to discuss reproductive health concerns - especially in mixed company.

Rush Limbaugh heard that Sandra Fluke spoke her mind, and he called her a "slut" and a "prostitute." When confronted by others for his usage of these words, rather than apologize, Limbaugh used the words again and again when referring to Fluke. I'm not sure what Rush Limbaugh means when he uses those words, but I am certain that he does not mean by them what he thinks he means by them.

When I was 16 years old, I was trying to make my way in a new high school. My family had recently moved, and as I tried to integrate into my sophomore year in a new environment, I found myself on the receiving end of hurtful words and actions. I won't call it bullying because that is a different issue, and I do not want to take away from the point I'm hoping to make here. I remember coming out of the girl's locker room after gym class and hearing three girls laughing at me. Tears welled up in my eyes and I said, "What did I do?" They said, "You don't wear any make up. You're ugly. That makes you a slut." What? Not wearing make up made me a slut? I didn't think that was the meaning of that word. All I knew was that when they said it, it hurt. A lot. The words stuck in my throat, and I couldn't say anything. They walked past me down the hall, and their laughing continued.

The usage of that word was not to call into question my moral values. They wanted to silence me. They wanted to pull out the most hurtful word they could think of and lob it at me so that I would have no ability to defend myself.

What I hear when Rush Limbaugh calls Sandra Fluke a "slut" is that he does not value the opinions of women. He does not want to hear what women have to say. He hopes that by using this playground insult - a jab that causes tears to well up in the eyes of women as they remember taunts from school days - that women will stay "in their place." I'm offended that Limbaugh feels so insecure in his own views that the only recourse he thinks he has is to use juvenille and sexist remarks to bolster his own ego. I won't even get into the sexual indiscretions in Limbaugh's history, and whether or not he has any right to be pointing out the morals in the lives of others. I'll save that for another blog post...or better yet, another blogger.

Most of all I am horrified that women are applauding him for saying these things. Regardless of how one feels about access to contraception for women or whether organizations should be required to have insurance that covers birth control, we all need to support women who courageously speak about their healthcare without embarrassment. Sandra Fluke, I applaud your courage to share your viewpoint, and I hope that you continue to exercise your First Amendment rights  regardless of ego-maniacs and the immature things they say.