Brown writes: "I was shocked to learn Thursday that the leadership of the Michigan House of Representatives had decided to silence me and keep me from doing my job because I had uttered the one word they couldn't stand to hear: vagina."
Rep. Lisa Brown. (photo: housedems.com)
My Vagina Monologue
16 June 12
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGS9vo1avVg
s a state legislator, I have spoken out often and passionately on the things that matter most to me and my constituents. I have spoken out against the defunding of our public schools and against tax increases to middle-class families. So I was shocked to learn Thursday that the leadership of the Michigan House of Representatives had decided to silence me and keep me from doing my job because I had uttered the one word they couldn't stand to hear: vagina.
Let me explain. The day before, we were debating a new anti-choice law that would over-regulate women's health clinics to the point many could no longer offer abortions. It would require doctors to make the equivalent of funeral arrangements for foetal remains, both in the cases of abortion and miscarriage; and it would hinder women in rural areas or who don't have transportation from getting early abortions by prohibiting doctors from prescribing abortion drugs by phone.
When it was my turn to talk, I explained my opposition to the bill. As a Jew, I said that I follow my faith's teaching that when a pregnant woman's health and life is at stake, it's her life that comes first. As a member of a religious minority, I understand that not everyone shares my views, and I respect that. In turn, I asked that they not force their religious views on me. In closing, I told them that I was flattered in their interest in my vagina, but no means no.
Apparently, that was too much for House leadership to bear.
The next day, I was told I wouldn't be allowed to speak on behalf of my constituents on the House floor. Thursday was the last day of session before legislators went home for the summer, and a lot of work was getting done. There were proposals on funding teacher pensions and reducing income taxes – issues my constituents find very important. But I wasn't allowed to speak up for them. Because I had dared say "vagina" the day before.
To hear some talk about it, you'd think I'd said a dirty word. One of my counterparts, Representative Mike Callton (Republican–Nashville, Michigan) said he couldn't even bear to repeat what I had said because it was "so offensive, I don't even want to say it in front of women. I would not say that in mixed company." Callton, by the way, holds a bachelor's degree in biology. Imagine what he went through in anatomy class.
If he thought the legislature was a safe refuge, he's bound to be disappointed. At least three times, Michigan lawmakers have passed laws containing the dreaded V-word: once in describing body cavity searches, once in offering a legal description for birth, and another time in describing criminal sexual conduct.
Shouldn't we be able to discuss body parts if we're going to pass laws about them? Am I really to believe that my opposition is undone at the mere mention of a woman's anatomy?
I don't think so. I think what's going on is even worse. Some legislators – mostly male – will go to great lengths not to hear women's voices when it comes to legislating our health and catering to extreme special interests. They don't want to hear us, and when we speak out anyway, they try to shut us down.
I'm not about to let them stop me. I wonder if they hear us now?
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White men see their power eroding. They've openly attacked minorities for years. But the biggest mistake they've made is attacking women - all women. And now, even the nuns are against them.
Every piece of legislation the GOP touches has an ulterior motive. What do you think Bush's No Child Left Behind was all about? Now we see that "Non-Performing " public schools are being closed and replaced by CHARTER SCHOOLS that get those public funds and allow the idealogues to teach their philosophy. In Texas, GOP politicians have modified standards for their historical textbooks, presenting Republican political and economic philosophies in a more positive light. Looks like NCLB is now No Child's Behind left.
They're attacking unions to the extent that they want all states to become Right To Work states. The purpose: The right to work at minimum wage. Gov. Mitch Daniels did that in Indiana. And since GOP governors have more control over public unions, that's where they're attacking with a vengeance - Wisconsin, Ohio, New jersey. They also want to privatize EVERYTHING! Purpose: Their business cronies can profit. In AZ, GOP governor Jan Brewer is calling for more private prisons. Turns out she and/or her advisors have ownership in private prison companies. AZ just passed a "breathing while Latino" law, allowing police to stop and demand papers of any "suspicious" folks. In all GOP-controlled states - most notably FL - they're suppressing the vote, and on, and on, and on.
This EVIL is like a cancerous cloud slowly creeping over America. It's at crisis level in MI, and it seems no one with any clout cares.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nw3zNNO5gX0
http://www.change.org/petitions/support-gender-equality-pass-the-equal-right-amendment-three-state-strategy-h-j-res-47
Now I am worried that they are trying to silence her. She has not been on TV for several days, and neither has Ed Schultz or Chris Matthews. They all speak out about all the unfair goings on.
Maybe the owners of the station want to silence them before the election? I may sound a bit paranoid, but there are so many awful things going on, that it is all too easy to imagine the worst. I sure hope I am wrong.
The people that every day are blasting that liberals are undermining the Constitution and convincing their brain dead listeners, are the very ones that truly are taking away our Democracy and shredding the Constitution.
Oh Barbara. I noticed that you mentioned on one of the other articles that you have a lot of heath problems.
So much is done to the food we eat that many are getting ill
Have you considered that you may be gluten intolerant?? You may not have been before, but you could be now! So many people are, at this point. You will be surprised at HOW many foods contain wheat. Soy sauce?? being one of them.
A very good friend of mine can no longer tolerate wheat and if she ingest just a very small amount...unknow ingly... she becomes really sick for many days.
Please look into that. If it is YOUR problem you can be helped. And you will become expert at reading labels!
Please let me know, what you find out. I do care about you. We here can certainly help each other in many ways.
Pernsey mentioned last fall... when we were commenting on the dangers of Viox and Celebrex, which has killed more than 170.ooo people... that he was being helped immensely by taking PRICKLY PEAR Juice daily. He was kind enough to give me the website. I have been taking it since November, and I am not bothered by Arthritis now. It has great anti inflammatory properties.
I wish you all the best Barbara.
What I CAN tell you is, that another friend of mine...also VERY gluten intolerant....w as in Italy recently, and she nearly overdosed on pasta, and bread and ........NO PROBLEM AT ALL?????? Which should prove, that what is done to OUR wheat is making too many people ill.
I had never heard about the gluten problems before the last year or two.....Now so many people learn that it is at the root of many of their health problems. If it is yours, you should avoid it COMPLETELY, and you may be surprised at how much better you will feel.
So many products now eliminate wheat, because there is a real need for it. We have a chain here in CA. Trader Joe's, that makes hamburger buns with no wheat.
I hope you can be helped Barbara.
Maybe they are toying with us, and will pull the plug when it will be most devastating. I'm sorry I AM sounding paranoid. Maybe they keep them on because plain and simple: They make money for the owners.
Please tell as many people as you can.
The states run by R governors are showing us what we can expect. If more republicans get in we are sunk, so please dovelaine do what you can. We CANNOT afford to be SILENT.
In a psych class in college. a prof talked about the Karpman Triangle. This diagram is used to analyze interactions between co-dependent and addictive people. It goes like this:
- victim
- rescuer - persecuter
Rather than being responsible for their feelings, the victim blames their emotional response on the persecuter, and then asks their followers to come and rescue him or her, which is what the speaker did for Mr. Callton.
The person doing the blaming is always trying to change the wrong person. In this case, Mr. Callton may just be pretending to be mortified, but the outcome is the same. He wants to control Ms. Brown, and how she responds to his actions.
Those who are afraid, Mr. Callton and the Koch brothers, for instance, want power over others, not power with others. This is one way of attempting to get it. Mr. Callton must be called on his behavior, not only for denying a person the freedom to speak, but also for his manipulative attempts to blame someone else for how he feels.
More to come...
Gary,
A variation of the Karpman Triangle, or maybe the original, is found in Eric Berne's classic, "Games People Play" where he calls the game, "Yes, but." Using Berne's T.A. method results in deep understandings of human nature and the games we all play.
If you haven't read or heard about this book, I would suggest Anne Wilson-Schaef's book "When Society Becomes An Addict." She also has another book out titled "The Addictive Organization."
Both speak to the idea that our country's values and priorities are connected to or based on addictive values and priorities. When people are socialized to see addctive values as the norm, they take them for granted. If you really want to know what people believe is true, find out what they take for granted. I think that's why many people never question the choices they make.
As I understand it, all addicticns are based on fear. Greed, for instance, is the fear of never having enough. And guess what many politicians in general, and the conservatives in particular, are selling. It's all about fear. Obama had that right in his first campaign. I don't know what happened, but he seems to have changed, and I don't know why.
People
"Accepting responsibility for your reactions to events diminishes the blame you can place on others, but also empowers you to change and move on. After all, in the words of the Swahili saying, 'It is not what name others call you that matters, but what name you respond to that determines who you are."
When Mr. Callton refuses to accept responsibility for his emotional reactions, he is, in essence, saying that Ms Brown is responsible for his responses. This is what leads to co-dependency in people.
If he is doing this knowingly, simply to manipulate the situation, and the outcome, then he is even less to be trusted, as this is malicious behavior, and he is a coward.
That is great. I will remember that. Thanks.
Repugnuts keep talking about a slippery slope; well, how great a slippery slope would it be to lose our freedom of speech?
I thought this quote from Harry Truman said it well. "Once a government is committed to the principle of silencing the voice of opposition, it has only one way to go, and that is down the path of increasingly repressive measures, until it becomes a source of terror to all its citizens and creates a country where everyone lives in fear.
I don't know who said this: Success is never final, and failure is rarely fatal; it is courage that counts.
German poet and philosopher Goethe wrote: "Truth is fire, and to speak the truth is to flame and burn."
We all need to learn to speak truth to power.
One of the trademarks of those who would silence others is that they are rarely, if ever, able to say "I might be wrong."
I do my best to live by four simple rules.
1. Show up
2. Pay attention
3. Tell the truth as I know it - at this point in time
4. Be open to outcomes
Vote them out in November .. or risk all 50 states being taken over like in Michigan and Wisconsin.
They will show more a little later. That's great. I have signed several petitions on the internet today, they will be delivered to the speaker and the majority leader.
Something IS happening Barbara, and Chris and Ed is on today, I imagine Rachel is too. So my worry was unfounded.
If Mitt gets elected, it's over for women's rights unless we can get these people in state and federal congresses, who do not see women as people -- and that's exactly what saying a congresswoman (or anyone) cannot say the word vagina is -- OUT. If we don't, we are in deeper trouble than we already are.
Unfortunately, most young voters have never lived in a world where abortion was not legal and protected and done medically well, where it was not a right under the law. They will be astounded at what voting against it will turn their world into. But they are being "shushed" and "bamboozled" from the pulpits of America.
Time to educate from the streets of sanity: the people who know.
Time to clean the houses and senates of the greedy idiots in all congresses who use their public offices to hide behind their trumped up laws and sanction a fellow woman member of the House of Michigan for merely uttering a common word that has to do with her body.
OUST THE BUMS...or times will be uglier than they are!
N.
It took time but eventually it brought women all the rights we'd gained over the past 40 years.
"V" is for Vagina.
Flood them with emails, post cards and have it printed on hats, Tshirts, buttons and bumper stickers and do it as a summer campaign before they reconvene. They can come back to face the angry shit storm they started of silencing Free Speech in their own legislature.
If they can silence elected officials who represent the people, it's time for the people to speak for themselves.
Susie,
Just what I was thinking. Here we are, communicating on the World Wide Web, hearing about the inane antics of morons, and wishing we can DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT! Well we can as you pointed out. The powers that be, there in MI, can't block the Internet, can't block cell phones or any of the current media devices. FLOOD the Governor's Mansion with the digital word, the digital sound of the forbidden word VAGINA. Do the same with this cretin, Mike Callton. Their e-mail addresses and fax and phone numbers are easily obtained with a quick Google search. We need a new rendition of the old phrase about the pen being mightier than the sword. How about this:
THE PIXELS ARE MIGHTIER THAN THE PRICKS!
You are right though. We do need to email the idiots. Crash their in boxes.
The Daily Kos just made it easier to send some thoughts to clowns like James Bolger, Michigan Speaker of the House.
http://campaigns.dailykos.com/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=161
My "prixel" (sorry, couldn't resist) to him "...do women have to incorporate their vaginas to insure them the right to Free Speech?".
What a ridiculous state of affairs. If Representative Callton's constituents have any notion of democracy or love for this country, they would flood his office with calls and demand he resign. Are Michigan republicans positioning the state to be the Mississippi of the Midwest? What a circus this country must look like to the outside world.
The Women, En Masse, simply... 'Refused Their Men'....
until they were heard , and respected?
Lysistrata, a play by Aristophanes. No sex 'til the men stopped the war.
btw: if there is going to be a constitutional amendment to rescind citizens' united, it should be tied to passing the era.
It is time for the grown ups to take the field--women grown ups--mothers to be precise. Privileged, white males have run the world into the ground and no longer have lost the ability to govern in any rational way.
The rallying cry should be "Given 'em the boot!" I want mine with a stylish 5" heel.
I hadn't realized that England had gone nuts too. The mothership gone down the same crapper as the errant colonies? A pox on PWMs on both sides of the pond.
I am not a feminist, more in the vein of a truck stop waitress on Route 66. Fed up with bullshit and looking for a scrap.
Everyone who believes in women's equality is a feminist, btw. :-0 Just sayin'.
Shock and awe coming from women, directed at the tyrants, who are predominantly men, will give those men more ammunition against those women, stating, "You see? This is what we must deal with and why we must shut them down."
A time worn psychological war between the sexes, which has no place in U.S. society. No excuses, period.
I've said it before - decent men MUST stand beside women in this effort.
The Repugs had to cater to the religious right to compete with the Dems, and so now they are saturated with religiocity.
I can't get too excited about Obama and the Dems doing much of anything either... 99% of the time they serve the 1%, heck they are the 1%. The 1% have the whole thing rigged.
Those Democrats love war too!
The buckling environment will be the thing that finally brings us to our knees. Will it be too late? hope not. Are we hospice workers or midwives? Let's view global collapse as our final initiation into being true members of the earth community...
Have we EVER lived in a time when the female gender has been subjected to more disrespect? Even when the ancestors of these same creeps jailed and chained and beat up suffragettes for demanding the right to vote?
We're right back there and it's time for something to be done. And it appears that WOMEN are going to have to do it. Where were the intelligent MEN in the Michigan legislature?
It is about time that we let "the other half" know that yes, our bodies belong to US -- and they are going to quit telling us what THEY will allow us to do with what is OURS.
The machines are shoddy, easy to hack, and totally unaccountable. See Black Box Voting to get started on how the elections are stolen all over the country.
perhaps you can show the gentlemen legislators this video:
Graham Chapman's funeral
in which john cleese did something similar as you did.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsHk9WC7fnQ
your words are vital to be taken in by the Re-Pugs, albeit,
they have so little brain, with which to comprehend !!!!! :))
Is it acceptable to say vacurect, viagra, or penis in those hallowed halls, or should they too be censored? luvdoc
Boooooo for the Michigan legislature for turning back into the 15th century
lol
One can't always tell, but I'd guess yes.
"Diebold voting machines easily hacked
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_exVfvC-cI
(I even included a link from Fox-proving this is something that both R’s and D’s should be very concerned) Researchers Hack Voting Machine for $26 http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/09/30/researchers-hack-voting-machine-for-26/ "
http://www.youtube.com/watchv=zpBO3euQQPY
Please read a short summary of Aristophanes’ play, written about 411 B.C.
http://www.sparknotes.com/drama/lysistrata/summary.html
Men have declared war on us; Lysistrata might show us a way to become free once again.
Suggested bumper strip, stickers and buttons—“Zip it up” Perhaps it will make men think with their heads rather than...
So let's hope they do the right thing.
They really need to grow up.
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