I was thinking about the stink the Republicans have been raising over contraception when something occurred to me that I thought might be worth sharing.
As we all know by now, the Republicans have been complaining loudly about requiring health insurance policies to cover contraception. I will continue to oppose their efforts for the sake of other women, but I realized yesterday this has no direct effect on me, although I am a sexually active, and presumably fertile, woman. That is because I do not like monogamy. I usually keep that fact under wraps because it is so socially unacceptable. However, I like sex. Consequently, the use of condoms is automatic. Since condoms also prevent pregnancy, I have no need for prescription contraception.
Who uses prescription contraceptives? Married heterosexual couples and other people in long-term committed relationships. I don't have any hard statistics on that, but that's my impression.
It's odd. Usually when Republicans want to get the general public riled up about sex they invoke images of sexual activity that they believe many people frown upon, like teen sex. When I was a teenager, my friends and I used condoms.
This subject may be about women's health, but it is also about the happiness of men and women within marriage. Do the married heterosexual men and women out there want to sleep in twin beds like Ricky and Lucy? This isn't about promiscuous sex or teenage girls holding an aspirin between their knees. It seems to me that we're so unused to this group, committed heterosexual couples, being attacked that it hasn't really sunk in who's being attacked this time. This is the Republican War on Marriage.