I feel really good this morning, having (finally) subscribed to DK, and also having taken TBOGG up on his suggestion to donate to Planned Parenthood and have the "In Honor Of" card sent to Karen Handel at Komen.
It’s rare when you see such a high profile organization shit the bed so spectacularly particularly in the case where people can not only refuse to donate to the Komen Foundation, but also boycott all the products that carry the Komen Pink Ribbon of Caring logo, for which the Komen people are paid handsomely.
We’ve done this before, but you can make a donation to Planned Parenthood and request a thank you card be sent to
Karen Handel
Senior VP of Fail
c/o Susan G. Komen Foundation
P.O. Box 650309
Dallas, TX 75265-0309
Link: Planned Parenthood Honorary Giving
So now we hear Komen has issued a fake back-pedaling non-apology. Well, color me pink: I'm even madder and more committed to supporting Planned Parenthood as well as actively working to help Komen in their efforts to destroy their own brand.
This episode has hit home for me in multiple ways and on multiple levels.
First, as a father of five girls ranging in ages from 2-1/2 years to 15 years, the issue of women's health is near and dear to my heart. It also so happens that I am married to a woman, and also, too, my mother was one. And even though it is an icky thought for a lot of people, my daughters are in the process of growing into people who -- hopefully - will enjoy sex. I don't know if my mother enjoyed it, but I believe she did it at least six times since she had five kids (two of each and me) plus one miscarriage that I know of. And I certainly know that my wife at least pretends to enjoy it with me.
The point is, for all these godbots and wingnuts who claim to care so much about the babies and about stopping the evil abortionists -- where is the "Hey, Guys, Keep It In Your Pants" campaign? Because that's at least half of the equation in the babymaking department. And I do not see why my daughters should not have free and easy access to health services -- with or without my knowledge and permission -- to keep themselves safe from STD's, cancer, and unwanted babies. I don't care if abortion is 3% (which I hear it is) or 80% of what PP spends its money on: if boys are encouraged by this culture of ours, awash as it is in hetero pornography and machismo, why not girls? And why shouldn't girls have the same freedom to indulge their sexuality without the fear that they have no backstops and do-overs, no way to stop a small mistake or prophylactic fail from derailing their lives.
Secondly, I am noticing a growing trend in the politicization of non-profits. Whether or not it is some kind of coordinated strategy, right-wing 1%ers are using their power in high-profile non-profits to hijack and manipulate the organizations' brands for their own ends. Among those ends are the giving of legitimacy to right-wing challenges to legitimate progressive causes (Komen vs PP), undermining workers' rights to organize (the charter school movement has at its heart a frontal assault on teachers' unions), and assaulting public services such as free education and government government workers (one example is Indiana's Project Lead the Way, which is an expensive for-fee curriculum and teacher certification racket masquerading as a STEM education cause).
If they were doing this in support of progressive causes, I would not mind in the least of course. Progressive causes are often what these organizations pretend to be about anyway.
And finally, I feel sort of cheated and stupid: I have supported a number of friends who did various fundraisers for Komen. I have been blind! I used to think it was neat that the NFL wore the pink, and that there was all kinds of pink ribbon swag which I assumed, as probably mostly everyone did -- before this fiasco -- was all about consciousness about women's health and raising funds to fight cancers of the breast and other lady parts.
Well, color me pink with embarrassment. Color me pink with the righteous anger of one who has been had. Color me pink with a promise to stand up for a real women's health organization -- Planned Parenthood -- with my body and with my dollars.
I won't get fooled again.