It can't get much more obvious than that.

There is definately a connection.  Its all in that same morbid morass of misogyny.  You nailed it here.  

I've been talking with my mother-in-law lately and we've both been seeing so many similarities with the witch trial era of early America.  It seems to us that we're heading straight toward that same ruinous time.  

As an anecdotal story of how far we have fallen:

One of my students (9th grade) asked an off-hand question about Bill Clinton.  I can't remember the first question but it sparked a follow up question from a latina girl in the front row:  "Do you think Hillary Clinton will become President?"

I responded, "Well, she will probably be running in the '08 election, but whether she will win or not is yet to be seen."

Her response was "I hope she looses. We shouldn't have a girl as President"

<....head....explodes...>
<...gather my wits about me...>

"Why?" I asked.
"A girl wouldn't do a very good job making decisions"

I looked at my aide (a woman) and we both stared at each other in earnest disbelief...I mean COMPLETE disbelief.

Here's some background:
The same student showed up to school last year with a huge shiner over her left eye, along with bruises on her throat.  We contaced the cops, CPS, counselor, parents.  Pictures were taken, etc.  She had ben preyed upon by a 17 year old drug addict who she had been "dating" for several months.  The mother had ZERO problem with her hanging out with that creep.  While we had the meeting with the mother it came out that the girl had been beaten on several occasions by this guy.

The mom's reponse: "Your not married yet and he beats you?!"
As in:  "Once your married, its understandable...but before?"

I was...needless to say...incredulous.

The story worsened when we found out she was pregnant.  Her mother did ZERO.  The girl finally had an abortion.  It kills me how she had/has no conception of what struggle and sacrifice it took to give her the right to have that safe abortion.

I must say that over the last couple of years I have been shocked...SHOCKED at the lack of feminist backbone or understanding in my female students.  They are so wrapped up with this misogynist culture that they only see themselves as objects to be slapped, fucked, or shown off like a gold chain.  The same latina girl that was abused wore a playboy bunny jacket to school earlier in the year.  She was (of course) told to remove it.  It turned out that her mother, not only bought it for her, but bought one for her 9 year old sister too.

I've had some girls come around.  Another girl came to school wearing a t-shirt that read "Girls Gone Wild" (A series of porn videos).  I took her outside and I gave her an earnest lecture about the problem of projecting one's self as a sexual object.  I'm proud to say that at the end of the year, when we were reading an article on the international sex slave trade, she slammed several of our boys on their giggles...she later said she understood now what I had talked about earlier, and how she had stopped wearing the shirt because she saw the truth in that.

4 years ago I had another girl.  She was 15 years old and had been prostituting herself out to older men (30+) when she first came to us.  After months of work by my former aide (who was the most amazing woman I have ever met, besides my wife), she had cleaned herself up (both drugs and sex), and moved east to live with an aunt.  She came back a year later and dropped by to say hello.  Her face was bright and her manner strong, and I believed then, as now, that she would be one of the ones that survive.  But my, how rare those success stories are.

Our society has really slid backwards...and I lay the blame firmly on two doorsteps:  The woman-haters within the Evangelical Christian movement, and the Self-hate-sellers on Madison Ave.  The Christo Facists are classic misogynists, hating women, the sexual power they can embody, and the self-determination they can hold.  They would rather create their own pseudo-end times than face the fact that their interpretation of Christ's teachings are fucking bullshit.  On the other hand, the Madison Ave corporatists are more modern misogynists, dedicated to systematically destroying any sense of NATURAL self-confidence within our girls (and boys).  Flooding their young minds with such FILTH that our young girls believe that they are nothing more than manequin's to be fitted with Abercrombe and Filth striptease costumes, Victoria Secret push up bras, Silicon implants, botox brains and crotchless panties...all by age 10.

We're caught between Religious Fascist Devils greedy for a false God, and Secular Corporatist Demons greedy for a buck (which is their own vesion of a false God).

The middle path is the way...secular or religious, it doesnt really matter. Children must be given the freedom to be, the freedom to explore, the freedom to choose, and the freedom to grow.  I KNOW, from all of my experience on this planet, that compassion, empathy, reasonable boundaries, safety, and explicit (developmentally appropriate) education is the ticket to healthy kids.  This is our only path forward, all the others are terminal.