A few minutes ago on the floor of the Virginia State Senate, four female Senators blasted Senator Steve Martin (R) for his comments on Facebook calling women “the child’s host (some refer to them as mothers),” and generally raging against pro-choice advocates (as “very sick people”). First, here’s Senator Louise Lucas, who called what Sen. Steve Martin said “paternalistic thinking.” Lucas continued:
I can not imagine why {Sen. Martin} would use that word to describe a pregnant woman, but this is just another sad example of the kind of thinking exemplified by those who would restrict a woman’s right to choose — that we can’t make our own decisions, that a woman’s role is in the bearing of a child, and that anything that disrupts that is against the natural order of things. His remarks may have been a joke – to him perhaps, but not to those of us who are mothers who are referred to as hosts. But it underscores the point; he simply has no idea what he’s talking about. He owes Virginia women an apology, and we’re waiting Mr. President.
Now, here’s Sen. Mamie Locke:
Mr. President, when I learned that one of my colleagues said that a woman who was pregnant is a host, even as a sarcastic remark, something else was being said. It was a degradation of women. That kind of language suggests that women are fundamentally less human than men, and women are subservient. Charitably, I can say that this kind of comment is snide and doesn’t get it anywhere. Frankly, it’s misogynistic and demeaning. Sometimes, when we are on social media and the mask slips, we get to see what people really believe.
Also speaking, prior to Senators Louise Lucas and Mamie Locke, were Senators Barbara Favola and Janet Howell, who similarly blasted Martin for his “demeaning” comments towards women. Unfortunately, I tuned in a bit too late to record Senators Favola and Howell, but I presume that video will be available later today…
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