Women Reps in Michigan barred from speaking, one for “vagina” mention.
Two women serving in the state House have been barred from participating in floor debates for one day. The sanction is a punishment for things they said during a debate on anti-abortion legislation.
State Representatives Lisa Brown and Barb Byrum are both Democrats. Brown made a reference to her vagina in a floor statement.
“I’m flattered that you’re all so interested in my vagina,” she said, “but ‘no’ means ‘no.’”
Byrum shouted at the presiding officer after she was not recognized to speak.
Ari Adler is the spokesman for the House Republican leadership.
“It is the responsibility of every member who serves in the House of Representatives to maintain decorum on the House floor and when they do not do that, there can be actions because of that. And the action today is to not recognize either representative to speak on the House floor,” he said.
Brown was speaking during a debate on anti-abortion bills, and has no apologies for what she said.
“I used an anatomically correct word. I said ‘vagina,'” she said. “Can I not say ‘elbow?’ I don’t see what the difference is.”
This is the first time in memory that lawmakers have been formally barred from participating in floor debates.
And then
Two Democratic lawmakers say they have been barred from speaking during House debates.
The House Republican leadership confirms that state Representative Lisa Brown will not be recognized during debates as a sanction for mentioning her vagina during a debate on anti-abortion legislation.
State Representative Barb Byrum also says she has been barred from speaking in the future because of an outburst after she was not called on during the abortion debate.
It is so unbelievable!
Is it America? Or is it Saudi Arabia? It is a nasty war on women’s health. It is a war on women by nasty men.
Be brave. Fight it out.
Sometimes I feel that men who are against abortion, against choice, against women’s reproductive health, are exactly like those men who used to beat women up on the streets because they demanded voting rights for women.
‘Several times constables and plain-clothes men who were in the crowds passed their arms round me from the back and clutched hold of my breasts in as public a manner as possible, and men in the crowd followed their example. I was also pummeled in the chest […] my skirt was lifted up as high as possible and the constable attempted to lift me off the ground by raising his knee. This he could not do, so he threw me into the crowd and incited the men to treat me as they wished. 18 NOVEMBER 1910.’
Time has passed So much has changed. But the hatred against women has remained the same.
I see that republican’ts have found another item to add to the long list of things they can’t do. Vagina will be added to my long list of the can’ts list.
This is totally unbelievable – The US of Saudi Arabia.
I am wondering – the Republicans are against abortions – okay then – what exactly do they have in mind to help all the women AFTER the babies are born and the mothers stand without education, without money, without support. Maybe I haven’t been enough awake to perceive all the support packages the Republicans OF COURSE has in mind to help all these single mothers.
Or is this just another way of controlling women like the Saudi Arabian way.
The Republicans are just defending legislative decorum. I mean, you can’t have people just yelling stuff out or speaking out of turn. This is a top GOP priority, as we all know. Remember what happened to that Republican congressman who shouted “You lie!” at the president of the United States during the State of the Union address. My goodness, the way they censured that guy and denounced him for his rudeness and speaking out of turn! I mean, they did. Right? I’m sure they must have. The Republicans are all about civility and decorum, after all. Gotta have standards!
I cannot be the only person who started chanting, “Vagina, vagina,” in response to this.
They summoned a bunch of vaginas in one turn. That’s against the vagina.
Screw the vagina, I have a vagina!
I think that video would make the Republican representatives’ heads explode.
But…but…
But there’s so many other organs that can be described as a “non-penis”. Eyes, kidneys, larynxes…and only one that can!
These Republicans are clearly a bunch of non-vaginaheads.
It is no surprise that it is the sick minded Republicans baring their opposition from speaking. Next stop for Michigan – invoking Russian Rules! Oh, wait, they just did that.
Really, how does the Republican Tea Party outlaw a woman’s control of her vagina without using the word vagina?
I wonder how many of them are closeted wide stance toe tappers
How old are these guys? I know 13 yr olds with more maturity. There might be giggling, but no full blown hissy fit.
Why are they not being publicly taunted and mocked for being oversensitive, hysterical, childish, illogical, emotional…Oh, right. Those terms are only supposed to apply to women.
But I really mean it. Where is the public mockery? People in their everyday lives who run into these guys should stop in the middle of saying something and say ‘OMG, I just said (elbow, raincoat, window, whatever). I’m SO sorry. Are you OK? I REALLY apologize. I wasn’t thinking about your tender ears. I’ve probably offended you horribly. Do you need to sit down?’ Fan them dramatically with a piece of paper. etc.
This is deadly serious stuff that subverts democracy, but treating it too humorlessly as the media is doing, gives it credibility. That needs to be taken away fast. We need to LAUGH at these bastards, loudly, in public. On camera where possible.
It boggles my mind that the GOP whackaloons in the US want to regulate all women’s sexuality and reproductive health – but one dare not use the clinical words associated with women’s reproductive organs! ZOUNDS! It was just a few months ago that some GOP clowns in Florida were appalled that another legislator dared utter the word ‘uterus’. Now in MI it is ‘vagina’. Well, what are we supposed to call it GOPheads – the Love Glove?
Actually I think the way to get their heads to explode is to chant the word ‘clitoris’ at them. That is a far more scary organ than the vagina = after all, it’s sole apparent purpose is for pleasure. (Actually, I guess we ought not point that out to them, as they would be sure then to outlaw it. For our own good. As soon as they figure out a word they can use to describe it, because clearly the syllables ‘clitoris’ are right out).
I had a moment where I couldn’t decide whether to laugh or cry when I read this, but I quickly decided against laughing.
But also…Canadian Heritage Moments, anyone? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xst0VHvwcJc
I’m reminded of a quote from XKCD:
“You were once shoved headfirst through someone’s vagina. Why are you acting so dignified?
It’s not the word “vagina”, but the sexual innuendo, that makes it a slight of a breach of decorum. The same would be true if a man said “I’m flattered that you’re all so interested in my penis, but no means no” in a debate on a law about banning or requiring circumcision. But not letting her speak was an excessive reaction.
In your end go? get your mind out of the gutter.
First off it is different to legislate adult women vs male babies. If there were legislation targeting adult men’s penises and wellbeing it would be different. Men wouldn’t be angry about legislation aimed at them. They wouldn’t even understand it, and it would be so unlikely to pass that they wouldn’t have to say anything pointed about how it personally hurts them at all. In retaliation for legislation against insurance companies covering birth control, a woman proposed legislation against insurance companies covering viagra. The responses were all of confusion, none of them recognizing the similarities between legislating the sexual morality of young women vs older men. They don’t have to get it, theres no real threat to them.
If there were half a chance something against them could pass I can gaurantee you that the resulting responses would be a lot less civil than the comments from brown and byrum.
… Wow. People are so bizzarely squeamish. Though not sure if this would go both ways or not.
Of course the reason was to make a couple of women shut up. Republicans of today are like that.
Sorry; have I known that comments were moderated, and free-thoughts was just a pet name; I wouldn’t have just posted anything prev to begin with.