Send the sluts away

The more things change…this comes my way (thanks, Feministing) from the enlightened state of Colorado:

A state lawmaker used a derogatory term Wednesday to describe unmarried teen parents as sexually promiscuous and complained that society condones premarital sex.
"In my parents' day and age, (unmarried teen parents) were sent away, they were shunned, they were called what they are," Republican Rep. Larry Liston said during a GOP legislative caucus meeting in Denver. "There was at least a sense of shame."
Liston continued: "There's no sense of shame today. Society condones it ... I think it's wrong. They're sluts…"

I think of all the girls who were indeed sent away a generation ago, shunned and disappeared, and I shiver at how easily those days could be repeated. It makes me want to grab hold of my daughter and tell her I’ll never send her away and that I’ll keep bad men like Liston far away from her.

Liston did follow “they’re sluts” by saying “And I don't mean just the women. I mean the men, too." Like that shows he’s not a misogynist. Hah—the boys were never sent away. Although come to think of that crazy fundamentalist Mormon group that still practices polygamy and whose practice of ousting many of its young men was covered in the New York Times, if you take misogyny far enough you start having to treat not only your girls as disposable but your boys too.

I think we all owe Liston a thank you. I do appreciate it when misogynist right-wingers show their fangs and clue us in to what's really at stake.

Lest readers from Colorado feel smeared, I will confess that a state legislator from my state once spoke in favor of a bill to make English the official state language by saying, “If it was good enough for Jesus, it’s good enough for us.” Right-o. Learn Aramaic, buddy, if you're going to live in this state.