Complementarianism and other links

Conservative Christian sexists (not that the religious right or Christianity has a lock on this) that they’re not about sexism, they’re about complementarianism: Women have rights and roles and men have to respect them and vice-versa. Only as Echidne points out, that doesn’t mean any sort of equality: secular and religious conservatives alike have insisted that women’s special role is the home and not the workplace, politics or the military (or even the voting booth). Which is bad for women (or men) who don’t fit the box they’re “supposed” to belong in. Worse somewhere like Saudi Arabia where even driving is considered outside women’s sphere. I have a past post on the topic here.

And of course, women don’t get much say in what their chosen sphere should be. It’s something decided by a small coterie of men. So it’s no surprise that men end up getting the choicest cuts of the steak.

•In response to the current flap over vaccinations, Rand Paul says that since parents “own” their kids, government can’t mandate vaccinations. Of course as Digby points out at the link, that ownership is reversed when abortion is the topic and suddenly the child owns the mother and has 100 percent of the rights. Unfortunately he’s not the only politician willing to curry favor with anti-vaccination activists. As Digby says at the second link, most of the parents are probably sincerely trying to do what’s best for their kids, but there’s no excuse for the pols.

•A new theme for the anti-gay movement: Gay parents have to adopt, which rips a child away from its parents, which is wrong! And requires declaring that some women are unfit mothers, whose babies should be taken away and given to some smug gay couple. While I don’t dispute there are issues with surrogate motherhood and adoption, those are hardly because gay couples will steal straight women’s babies—they apply just as much in straight cases. So either the author (it’s not a direct link) is pulling a fast one and hoping we don’t notice or she’s generally anti-adoption (the idea Only Biological Parents Are Worthy has cropped up now and again on the right, particularly anywhere gays have legal rights to adopt).

•How to fix the transportation budget? Don’t raise gas taxes, cut funds for pedestrians and bikes so we have more for the almighty car! I’m not entirely surprised—any transportation solution that deviates from cars, cars, cars tends to freak people out. Even private walkable developments sometimes trigger outrage as if the developers had suggested the government swoop in and confiscate everyone’s vehicles. And our local paper back in Fla. used to complain whenever government suggested spending money on anything but more roads for more cars because, tourism! Development! (While nominally libertarian, the Daily News’ was always enthusiastic with government money going to development).

•After an argument, a TSA agent allegedly lies about a passenger making bomb threats, then has him arrested.

•Bud Roth, a Franklin County, Va. wedding officiant—an official county position—first informs a couple that he won’t marry them at the courthouse, only at his church. Then he refuses to marry them at all because they’re an agnostic and an atheist.

First point: You work for the state, you don’t get to deliver services based on what you think God wants. Second: Insisting they use his church (and pay for it, apparently) seems like a little small-town scam.