Yes, I said “war on reality.” It is a war on women, very much so. The attacks on women’s bodies, women’s rights, women’s lives, are all specifically aimed at women. I expect an effort to repeal the XIX Amendment giving women the right to vote (there’ve already been some hints). Misogyny runs rampant among Republicans, absolutely. They have been warned they are losing women’s votes with their increasing demands to stop all abortions and with the harm their laws have already caused women (and the doctors who care for them), but they don’t care. To them, it’s not a bug, it’s a feature.
But it’s also a war on reality generally. The latest case is the push to eliminate no-fault divorce.
The Next Front in the GOP’s War on Women: No-Fault Divorce (Rolling Stone, May 2, 2023)
Republicans across the country are now reconsidering no-fault divorce. There isn’t a huge mystery behind the campaign: Like the crusades against abortion and contraception, making it more difficult to leave an unhappy marriage is about control. Crowder’s home state could be the first to eliminate it, if the Texas GOP gets its way. Last year, the Republican Party of Texas added language to its platform calling for an end to no-fault divorce: “We urge the Legislature to rescind unilateral no-fault divorce laws, to support covenant marriage, and to pass legislation extending the period of time in which a divorce may occur to six months after the date of filing for divorce.”
The major target here is indeed women. But also men:
Researchers who tracked the emergence of no-fault divorce laws state by state over that period found that reform led to dramatic drops in the rates of female suicide and domestic violence, as well as decreases in spousal homicide of women. The decreases, one researcher explained, were “not just because abused women (and men) could more easily divorce their abusers, but also because potential abusers knew that they were more likely to be left.” [emphasis added]
More to the point, the argument for no-fault divorce is based on reality — on studies showing that it genuinely helps people. Just as the reality is that abortion is a necessary and safe medical practice that helps women who may be harmed or die as a result of their pregnancy. Just as the reality is that gender dysphoria is a medical condition that needs to be treated medically, which often means gender transition. (The attack is transgender is an attack on transgender men as well as transgender women.)
So the war on women is also a war on the realities of sex. But wait, there’s more. Two years ago, an Arkansas Republican introduced a bill allowing creationism to be taught in public schools. The battle over “critical race theory” is part of a campaign to erase the reality of the Black experience in the United States. The refusal to allow the federal government to study gun violence is a means to deny its reality. The right-wing news bubble is a general weapon in the war against reality everywhere.
Today’s Republican is someone standing in front of reality (often holding out a cross) and screaming, “Go away!”