The Sickening Insanity and Hypocrisy of the Anti-Sex Right Wing

We all know deep down that our new Puritans are frauds and liars. We know of countless examples of Republican "Culture Warriors" who are little more than filthy degenerates. From Bathroom King Larry Craig to Serial Adulterer Rudolph Giuliani to Mr. Nailing-His-Secretary-While-Denouncing-Clinton Newt Gingrich to Hookers 'n' Porno Jimmy Swaggart to Sexual Harasser Bill O'Reilly, these people preach a repulsive hatred and intolerance toward others while engaging in the very behavior they claim to find repellent. Now, a new book that I must obtain appears to sum all this up nicely, while addressing the broader issue of right wing hatred of human sexuality itself. It's called America's War on Sex, authored by Marty Klein. From the review in BC Books by David Farthing:

It never occurred to me that President Bush wanted to eliminate the right of the American people to acquire dildos. That’s right. Dildos.

According to Klein, “The state of Alabama has been in and out of court, trying to criminalize the sale of vibrators for a decade. When a U.S. district judge ruled against the state ban on sex-toy sales - twice - the state appealed - twice. Finally, a federal court actually ruled that the government has a compelling interest in keeping ‘orgasm stimulating paraphernalia’ out of our hands. Were they concerned that women would stop having sex with their husbands if they could buzz off with a vibrator?”

Klein goes on to write in depth on the various “battlegrounds” the Right has chosen to fight:

1. Sex Education Abstinence-only programs. Do they work?

No.

a. In Minnesota, sexual activity of junior high school participants in an abstinence program doubled.- Professional Data Analysts, Inc. and Professional Evaluation Services, “Minnesota Education Now and Babies Later Evaluation Report 1998-2002,” as prepared for the Minnesota Department of Health, January 2004.

b. Young people who take a virginity pledge are one-third less likely than those who don’t to use contraception when they become sexually active.- Peter Bearman and Hannah Brickner, “Promising the Future: Virginity Pledges and the Transition to First Intercourse,” American Journal of Sociology 106, no. 4 (2001): 859-912.

c. Young people who take a virginity pledge have the same rates of sexually transmitted diseases as those who don’t.- Hannah Brickner and Peter Bearman, “After the Promise: the STD Consequences of Adolescent Virginity Pledges,” Journal of Adolescent Health 36, no. 4(2005): 271-78.2.

Reproductive Rights

Klein wants to know why the right to get pregnant, give birth, or not should be a major concern of the Right, both political and religious, though they don’t always overlap. “Other than your partner - and possibly your mother,” Klein asks, “why would anyone - especially a stranger - care about whether or not you use a condom…?”

The belief underlying the move to limit everyone’s access to contraceptives is that the only legitimate purpose of sex is procreation and marital intimacy. Contraception means that sex can be used for other reasons, that is, pleasure. That is what the battle over reproductive rights ultimately is: limiting sex for pleasure.

If you think it’s really about the right of the fetus to come to term, or the “every sperm is sacred” argument (see song by Monty Python’s Flying Circus), then look at this quote by Joseph Scheidler, national director of the Pro-Life Action League. He said, “I would like to outlaw contraception. It is disgusting - people using each other for pleasure.” [Emphasis added] He really said that. It isn’t often the power brokers of the Religious Right admit the truth behind their political maneuvering.

Yes, people like this appalling Stalinist Joseph Scheidler are the real threats to America's freedom. Every time I read something written by one of these hideous right wing authoritarians, I just want to shout, "Who in the hell do you think you are??" They want to control the most INITIMATE areas of human life and they don't give a damn what you think of it. (That alone is reason to vote against them in mass numbers. I also advocate acquiring weapons for the defense of individual freedom against people like Scheidler and all of his perverted ilk.)

And again from the review:

The most thought provoking idea in Klein’s book, however, can be found in chapter three “The Most Powerful ‘Minority’ in the United States.” He writes, “I’m confused. Exactly who is this ‘they’ that the Religious Right keep saying has hijacked the country?… And who are the consumers of the cultural products the Religious Right constantly criticizes? Who do they think is watching Desperate Housewives, going to see Maid in Manhattan, buying Cosmopolitan, and downloading Janet Jackson’s half-second nipple?…They have gotten the government and media to support them as defenders of America’s wholesomeness against some mythical, incredibly powerful ’them’… But the Right is like the kid who kills his parents and asks for mercy because he’s an orphan. Somehow, they neglect to mention that it’s the consumer choices and other preferences of their own constituents that are the so-called problem.”

In other words, it is the average, working- and middle-class, Republican voters that are watching porn in private and crying out (and voting) against it in public.

Damn right it is. And anyone who thinks I'm going to keep quiet while these sick, sexually crippled jackasses try to run other people's lives doesn't know me. I've said it a hundred times, I'll say it again: there is little difference between the Taliban and the radical American Right. Both of them are the enemies of human freedom, and both need to be utterly defeated.

And one more thing for Little Joey Scheidler: you stick your ugly face in my bedroom window, and you're going to regret it.

Permanently.