Saturday, May 05, 2012

Looking For A Protest Song?



After an incredibly depressing and insulting winter of attacks on women's rights, I've been feeling low. Then I picked out a Loretta Lynn compilation from the country CDs this week, and listened to this rallying cry.

I had forgotten how earthy and pointed this song is. First, there's the extended chicken metaphor ("tearin' down your brooder house," "set this chicken your last time,""this chicken's done tore up her nest"). Then there's the threat of quid pro quo adultery. But what really makes you take notice is and go wow is that the song's narrator pitches the birth control pill as something that benefits both her and her husband. Controlled fertility leads to a happier marriage.

The message this song manages to get forth in under 3 minutes that is so often forgotten in today's political climate--men and women like sex, sex between men and women lead to expensive, life-sucking babies that need lots of care, and birth control benefits both men and women.

It's really clear that this winter's war on women isn't about small government, or women's health, or morality. It's about controlling women and keeping them poor and popping out babies. Handmaid's Tale is just around the corner.

And yes, I realize that I live in a fucking corrupt state with a Legislature firmly in ALEC's pocket, that has in the past few weeks 1) severely limited access to medical abortion in the name of "health,"
2) declared women as pregnant 2 weeks before conception* (I am scheming a way to use this to get $4 unlimited Mother's Day mimosas at The Vig**) and 3) cut all state funding to Planned Parenthood. Believe me, the only thing keeping me here are the kidlets at this point.

*Yeah, so I predicted this happening when the CDC released those guidelines a few years back calling for all women of childbearing age to be treated as pre-pregnant. This is just a natural extension of treating all women as if birthing is our mission and only use.

**I can't decide what's the better line--"It's 2 weeks before conception, and this is Arizona--I'm already a mother!" or "I loved my baby so much I gave her up for adoption--to Canadians, so she could always have healthcare!" (breaking down into sobs)






2 comments:

Kenji said...

I've managed to stumble across your blog from GOMI!

I am not familiar with Loretta Lynn at all to be honest, but I actually find it absurd that this type of thing is still happening in this day and age.. and I'm feeling like I have been living under a rock!

Kerry said...

Hi, Kenji! Thanks for visiting. I put your blog on my Google Reader--write some more please!

Are political things heating up in Australia the way they are here in the US?

Loretta Lynn is an American treasure--see if you can see the autobiographical movie Coal Miner's Daughter. It's not just her life story, but does a pretty good job of placing her in the historical period as a feminist icon.