Putting Women in their Place

What’s the best way to “punish” a woman who has had an abortion? Why, if you’re Jill Stanek or one of her readers, the answer is easy: just beat her up, of course! Feministe’s Jill F., bravely wading into the morass of Stanek and her commenters, reveals the depths of their misogyny. When people are pointing to Michael Corleone as the paragon of manhood, you know you’re in trouble. Jill F. [Feministe] reports:

That’s the right-wing, “pro-life” definition of ‘family’ for ya: A wife who you can control and slap around. Of course, Don Corleone was a murderer and a criminal (didn’t he kill his own brother? and didn’t he end up basically getting his daughter killed?), but so long as he’s pro-life and hits his wife when she steps out of line, he’s the image of a real Family Man. If I remember correctly, Corleone was specifically angry because he wanted a male child, and Kaye emphasized that had she continued the pregnancy, the baby would have been a boy — I suppose that falls pretty well in line with pro-life family values, too.

In Jill Stanek’s world, men who beat their wives — especially when she has gotten an abortion of his SON! — deserve to be slapped around. Amanda thinks it’s a total misreading of American gangster films:

The misogyny aspect of gangster movies couldn’t be more obvious—like the killing and the drug-peddling, it’s part of the entire evil package. In these movies, the way women are traded and flaunted as objects and not as human beings, the way wives are supposed to be quiet and obedient and look the other way when mistresses come into the picture, all this reflects the internal logic of the hyper-capitalist gangster world, where even human beings are commodities. It’s not supposed to flatter you or your gangster stand-ins onscreen. But leave it to an anti-choice nut to watch a scene where a woman’s being treated like a commodity and say, “Well, he can’t be all bad, because he knows how to put a bitch in her place. And wow, did you check out that slapping technique? Most men need some kind of weapon to silence a bitch that fast.”

But getting back to Stanek’s post, it’s her commenters who really highlight the rampant woman-hating going on here. The beauts include:

You see, pro aborts support the murdering of children, however when it comes to other issues, they suddenly become these “bastions of tolerance.” Domestic violence? I think he snapped. Abortion is murder. The act is wrong. Domestic violence is also wrong. You can’t condone one and loathe the other.

So if a woman gets an abortion, it’s ok to beat her up because she deserves it. Because she has exercised her autonomy and challenged the patriarchal paradigm and has just got to be put in her place. Because there’s no way to “honor” women like a little bruising. I’ve got to agree with Jill (@ feministe); I think I’ll keep my own family values thankyouverymuch.