Some people out there are saying things like:
In fact, the Republicans in control of Texas have been strongly anti-mask and anti-vaccine. Texas Governor Greg Abbott issued an Executive Order prohibiting government entities from mandating masks:
And yet, Texas passed a draconian anti-abortion law.
There seems to be a contradiction here, right?
“It’s my body and I’ll get a vaccine if I want to” versus “Don’t you dare get an abortion.”
You’d almost think the woman’s body doesn’t belong to her.
What appears to be sheer hypocrisy is perfectly consistent within the context of the world view of Christian nationalism and Christian fundamentalism. The contradiction resolves when we understand that the hierarchy envisioned by Christian fundamentalism views women as subordinate with a purpose: To bear children.
Jose Olivia, former (Republican) Florida State Representative called it as he saw it when he said he would support abortion legislation dictating a “cooling off period” to delay women—whom he described as the “host body”—from going through with the procedure, CBS Miami reported.
Abortion laws, like rape laws, are about maintaining the hierarchy with women as subordinates who don’t really own their own bodies.
In my blog post on Republican lawbreaking, I talked about rape laws.
To briefly recap (apologies to regular readers for the repetition. I like each blog to stand alone, which means at least some repetition while I build on ideas.)
For much of world history, rape was a property crime. An unmarried girl was her father’s property. A married woman was her husband’s property. If a virgin was raped, the property damage was to her father. If she was married, the damage was to her husband.
If she wasn’t a virgin and wasn’t married, there was no crime (because the property was already damaged). A man couldn’t rape his wife (his own property) and rape of enslaved women wasn’t a crime.
Sexual assault (meaning the act wasn’t completed) wasn’t a crime because there was no actual property damage.
Rape was a property crime because the woman didn’t really own her own body.
This was seen as part of the natural order of things. (Remember from my previous videos that people who embrace hierarchy think that nature forms a hierarchy).
Rape was seen as a natural result of “human nature.” Men were “natural” aggressors, so a woman was responsible for guarding her chastity.
The laws were designed to protect [white] men from false accusations. They weren’t designed to protect women from attack. It was up to the woman to protect the property.
If men are the natural aggressors, it’s up to the women to protect the goods.
Scholar Susan Brownmiller sent shockwaves in 1975 when, in Against Our Will, she argued that rape was not a natural result of human nature. It was a means of exerting patriarchal power.
In 2019, U.S. Rep. Steve King said, If not for rape and incest, ‘would there be any population left?’
During the Kavanaugh hearings, he also said if sexual assault is the “new standard, no man will ever qualify for the Supreme Court.”
These comments reflect the idea that men are natural aggressors, and rape is therefore to be expected.
In the 1960s, when she was a law professor at Rutgers, Ruth Bader Ginsburg first researched the history of law as it pertains to women. She found that the laws reflected and reinforced traditional gender roles and stereotypes. Most statues and court decisions, she found, rested on the belief that the natural place for a woman was as a nurturer in the home, while a man belonged in the world.
It’s easy enough to see how outlawing abortion keeps women in the home and financially dependent on men.
Archibald on Twitter asked:
What I want to know is why so many women seem to be willing to aid and abet this.
There have always been women who have supported the patriarchy.
Look at Phyllis Schlafly, who probably single-handedly killed the ERA.
Susan B. Anthony had women slammed doors in her face.
If you believe in a patriarchy — a social ordering with men above women— it makes sense to reject laws that infringe on the liberty of men.
This brings us to the seeming contradiction between “it’s my body and I’ll get a vaccine if I want one,” and “let’s criminalize abortion.”
White Evangelicals—an important part of the Republican coalition—believe the United States is (or should be) a Christian nation. They reject the authority of the government insofar as it takes power from the church.
They call it Christian nationalism. This definition comes from Christianity Today. Christian nationalism is the belief that “the American nation is defined by Christianity, and that the government should take active steps to keep it that way. America is defined by its ‘Anglo-Protestant’ past and that we will lose our identity and our freedom if we do not preserve our cultural identity.
This is from a 2019 article by two sociologists entitled, “Is a Christian America” a more patriarchal America?”
So yes, Christian nationalism rejects nontraditional family forms and adheres to traditional gender roles.
Vaccine and masking laws apply to men as well as women and have a goal other than reinforcing a Christian America. Therefore, this segment of the population rejects such laws as an abuse of government power.
Moreover, fundamentalism also tends to have a fatalistic attitude. “If I get COVID and die, so be it. It was God’s will. If that girl gets pregnant, that, too, was God’s will.”
On the other hand, laws outlawing abortion reinforced traditional gender roles, so this is viewed as a valid use of government power.
That’s why they see no contradiction between rejecting any form of vaccine or mask requirement while embracing laws that criminalize abortion.
