<w many of you know who Wendy Davis is? For those of you who are friends, followers, or supporters of Wendy, I applaud you. If you don’t know who she is, get a twitter account and start watching CSPAN because this state senator is quite impressive.
Last summer, Wendy delivered an 11-hour filibuster to block the Texas State Senate Bill 5, which would be one of the most restrictive abortion bills passed in the nation. Quick summary: her filibuster was stopped just three hours short of the midnight deadline when the State Senate couldn’t vote anymore but it still passed the next day, so that sucks. She awed the country, democrats and republicans alike, with her tenacity and dedication to women’s rights in Texas. Obviously, she’s my number one personal hero because who doesn’t love a woman who will stand for 11 hours in pink sneakers and a back brace just to defend women’s health rights?
Anyway, shortly after gaining national attention for this, she announced that she intended to run for governor of Texas. That would be fine; Texas has a history of female governors so no big deal, right? Yeah, that’s what most people thought but unfortunately not the case. Recently, it was revealed that since July, she has raised over 12.2 million dollars for her campaign compared to her male running mate, who had raised something like 11.5 million dollars. Soon thereafter, people (i.e. Republican males and similarly minded conservative critics) started to pay closer attention to her political movements. By this, I mean that they started to tear apart her interviews and over reacted like a bunch of middle school girls tearing apart the cool new kid in school to her personal life.
It was revealed that Wendy was divorced at age 21 rather than age 19, as she had previously stated in various interviews. Also, apparently more details regarding the reason for her divorce and the reasons why her daughter chose to live with her father (Wendy’s ex-husband) surfaced, which critics jumped all over to point out that she was not a perfect mother. Not. A. Perfect. Mother. SCANDALOUS.
But seriously, why was this even news? Why are a bunch of middle-aged white men getting their little lacy panties in a knot because Wendy Davis is a perfect reflection of the modern woman? So what- she’s been divorced and her teenage daughter picked a fight with her, big deal. THIS MEANS NOTHING IN REGARDS TO HER QUALIFICATIONS AS A CANDIDATE. If she were a man, this would not have made a single person or critic blink. For men, to create a true political scandal, one has to hang out with a lot of prostitutes and be repeatedly adulterous or have a coke addiction. But even then, people don’t give a shit if you were not the ideal father or had inconsistencies in the reporting of your age when you were first divorced.
In conclusion, sexist men (or women, too) are freaking sexist in the dumbest ways possible. Can you please grow up? Also, move past this? She’s going to be a great candidate and this political race will truly be worth watching closely. So leave her mothering and wifey skills out of it because it’s sexist and petty as fuck.
