If there’s one thing that headstrong conservative men are good at, it’s sticking their foot in their mouth — generally on Twitter, where everyone can see it.
Georgia’s newest abortion law, one of the most restrictive pieces of anti-abortion legislation in the country, makes abortion illegal as soon as doctors can detect a heartbeat. Understandably, the passage of the bill was met with dismay and fury on social media.
Actress Alyssa Milano was one of the most notable dissenters, calling for a well-intentioned but ill-informed “sex strike” — wherein women would refuse to have sex with men until their sovereignty over their own bodies was acknowledged and accepted.
Our reproductive rights are being erased.
Until women have legal control over our own bodies we just cannot risk pregnancy.
JOIN ME by not having sex until we get bodily autonomy back.
I’m calling for a #SexStrike. Pass it on. pic.twitter.com/uOgN4FKwpg
— Alyssa Milano (@Alyssa_Milano) May 11, 2019
Obviously, a sex strike is … well, kind of missing the point. Telling women to refrain from having sex is essentially what conservative lawmakers have been doing with anti-abortion legislation this entire time.
However, the call for a sex strike inadvertently produced some real gems from conservative men. Many men claimed that such a strike would be ineffective, since women don’t even LIKE sex, apparently.
And the women who claim to actually like sex? LIARS. ALL OF THEM.
Of course, it’s impossible to ignore the fact that making such claims about women really reflects more on one’s own sexual prowess (or lack thereof) than anything.
https://twitter.com/apignataro/status/1127791295571812352
oh shit, Scott found out about that inside joke the seven billion rest of us made up where we told him women can cum pic.twitter.com/BUS27oTQk1
— Johnny McNulty (@JohnnyMcNulty) May 13, 2019
Women: we love sex we’re dying to have sex we wish we were having more sex!!!
Men: no because all women who have sex with me HATE it!!!
Women: we’ll have sex with you but we want it to be consensual and safe w/a focus on us getting off too
Men: ….
….
WOMEN JUST HATE SEX!!!— LaneMoore➡️Minneapolis/Chicago/WashingtonDC🍉 (@hellolanemoore) May 13, 2019
Women: We enjoy sex too.
Men: In my experience, no you don’t.
Women: I don’t think you’re making the point you think you’re making.
— The Volatile Mermaid (@OhNoSheTwitnt) May 13, 2019
(Apparently, Brad Anderson realized he ought to be embarrassed, because his account hasbeen deleted from Twitter.)
So, just to be clear: a sex strike is not the answer to the nation’s current dismal track record on respecting women and their bodily autonomy — but the reason it isn’t the answer has nothing to do with the fact that women are “meh” on sex in the first place.
And any dude who thinks that’s the case might want to reexamine what he’s doing in the bedroom, maybe??