I See What You’re Doing There.

Remember when Rush Limbaugh called Sandra Fluke a slut? People got angry about it, contacted advertisers about their displeasure, and advertisers dropped him, leaving dead space on his air in place of advertisements. Good times. (The advertisers dropping him, not Rush Limbaugh calling Sandra Fluke a slut.)

Some people had the temerity to point out that hey, liberal commentators don’t have a great track record with respect for women, either, citing examples of Bill Maher, Ed Schultz, and Keith Olbermann making misogynistic comments about conservative women (and in some cases, progressive women – just watch Chris Matthews foam at the mouth whenever you put the words “Hillary” and “Clinton” next to each other.)

These people are not wrong to call out liberals on their hypocrisy. If you care about fighting misogynistic attacks against women, you care about fighting misogynistic attacks on all women, not just the ones you don’t like. This doesn’t mean you have to refrain from criticizing any woman simply because she is a woman; this means you should stick to criticizing a woman based on her actions, not on the fact that she probably has a vagina. (I say “probably” because I don’t wish to exclude trans women.)

To those of you who make a point of speaking out against misogyny because you care about women, thank you for using this as an opportunity to educate and promote awareness, to attempt to expand the minds of the people around you. Respect.

To the rest of you who only seem to be interested in misogyny when liberals are the ones making those attacks?

I see what you’re doing there.

Yes, you’re right to call out people like Maher, Schultz, Olbermann, Matthews, et al for their misogynistic comments. That is a good thing that you are doing. But when you remain completely silent on the actions of Rush Limbaugh except to say, “Remember that time Ed Schultz called Laura Ingraham a slut?”

I see what you’re doing there. You are trying to create a false equivalence.

Yes, it is a false equivalence, and here’s why.

Let’s pretend Rush Limbaugh and Ed Schultz made these comments at the exact same time, within their own little thought bubbles. They both called a woman a slut. They both used misogynistic language. Removed from context, one comment is no worse or better than the other. Removed from context, they are equally bad and misogynistic.

But let’s put the context back in and look at those comments again. While they are equally bad, the effect and implication of those comments are a bit different. Unless I’m remembering incorrectly, Ed Schultz didn’t make his comment during a time where state governments were scrambling like mad to limit free speech rights of conservative women. But Rush Limbaugh made his comment at a time where state governments are scrambling like mad to limit women’s reproductive rights, where mostly men are making loud proclamations in every state, “I’M IN UR UTERUS, CONTROLIN UR BODY!”

Keep in mind that the above link isn’t a comprehensive list. EMILY’S List composed that list before Oklahoma introduced a bill to put abortion details online (violating HIPPA rights, I’m sure), before Arizona passed a bill that would allow an employer to refuse contraception coverage to an employee AND discriminate against an employee if she pursues coverage independently, before whatever unrelenting assault on women’s health care and contraception happens today or tomorrow or the next day…and during all of this, our ostensibly pro-choice abortion-loving president remains completely silent, except to call Sandra Fluke to say, “Thank you for standing up for women’s health [so I don’t have to].”

And even though proponents of these legislation pretend to care about religious freedom or taxpayer dollars, it’s only a matter of time before you get a comment about aspirin between the knees, or someone saying that “If women didn’t have the sex, we wouldn’t have this problem to begin with,” or someone comparing women to cows and chickens. These comments all come from legislators or billionaire fundraisers for presidential candidates.

In other words, we’re not mad about Rush Limbaugh just because of Rush Limbaugh. If he were some asshole on the street making sexist comments as we’re trying to go to work, we’d roll our eyes and move on, annoyed, but probably not letting it ruin our day. But dear old Rush is spouting views that are held by many legislators in the Republican party, the ones who claim to care about religious freedom and taxpayer dollars and then, two seconds later, make slut-shaming comments about women and prove that they are inherently hostile to the idea of women having sex and controlling their own bodies.

The candidates’ responses to Rush’s comments speak volumes. Mitt Romney says it “wasn’t the language he would use” – but the sentiments are A-OK, Mittens? You would have said “trollop” and “streetwalker” instead? Santorum says Rush is just an “entertainer” – I guess you’re entertained by the idea of a man harassing a woman and asking that she put videos of her having sex online? That’s a good idea to you, eh, Ricky boy?

And while this is going on, while women are being told every day by our state governments that we’re sluts if we have sex, prostitutes if we want to use contraception, and mini-Hitlers if we want an abortion, you have the gall, the temerity, the audacity, to bring up Bill Maher and Ed Schultz?

I see what you’re doing there. You do not give a fairy’s fart about what’s happening to women in this country, the double standards at work, the fact that Georgia legislators want to outlaw abortions for stillborn fetuses that are already dead. You just care about WINNING.

Well, congratulations on WINNING! I guess your goal in life is to be as much of an asshole as Charlie Sheen.

You are the equivalent of the kids I used to teach. There were kids, and then there were Those Kids. Those Kids who would do something inappropriate, and then, when I called them out for being inappropriate, would say, “But you didn’t say anything about X doing that to Y!” They cared not a thing about changing their behavior, or internalizing the principles I was trying to teach them. They were just mad they had gotten caught and were trying to change the subject and get me to focus on something else.

You, those of you who have not condemned Rush Limbaugh and have only said, “But but but ED SCHULTZ!” You are the same as Those Kids, with one important difference: they at least had the excuse of being thirteen years old.

You? You are a grownup. What’s your excuse?