It’s important not to let those two particular words Rush Limbaugh used to describe a law student woman distract you from the message. Okay, just ignore those two words. Pretend he didn’t say “slut” or “prostitute”.
The message, which those words distract you from, is that he thinks she has so much sex that he’s surprised she can even walk, that she has it with so many people that her boyfriends are lined up around the block, and that she wants to be paid to do it.
It is easy to see how this subtle and nuanced view could be missed if all you heard was that he thought she was a slut and a prostitute, when what he was trying to say was that she has way too much sex with way too many people and wants to get paid for it.
Some people are qucik to point out that apparently she is a 30-year-old law student, not a 23-year-old law student, and that she has a history of advocating on these issues. The objection is obvious; clearly, we don’t want anyone who cares about women’s reproductive health getting involved in a debate about birth control. There’s a reason that the original plan was to have an all-male panel discuss this issue; it’s that our entire political system is based on excluding the views of anyone who could possibly be competent to hold an opinion. Which is to say, the conspiracy theory on this topic isn’t even the least bit coherent; it doesn’t matter who she is, or what her “motives” are, or who allegedly planted her; what matters is that Limbaugh apparently feels that the specific word “prostitute” distracts people from the claim that someone is trying to get paid to have sex.
I know the guy’s been sort of a scumbag all along, but this one really does astound, even so.
Comments [archived]
From: Catsidhe
Date: 2012-03-07 22:42:29 -0600
http://angryblacklady.com/2012/03/06/wont-be-long-now-folks/
From: Lissa
Date: 2012-03-08 08:13:30 -0600
This is probably a contributing factor.
http://www.livescience.com/18706-people-smart-democracy.html