Are You Kidding?
If taking away our reproductive rights wasn’t enough, now they want to take away our voting rights? In case you missed it, one man, John Gibbs, a conservative running to represent Michigan in the U.S. House of Representatives, argued that the U.S. has “suffered” from women’s suffrage. He was also once against giving women the right to vote.
While attending Stanford University in the early 2000s, Gibbs founded the Society for Critique of Feminism, where he posted sentiments that argued against women being able to govern and even claimed that men were smarter than women. His reasoning for these thoughts was that “men can think logically without having to rely on their emotions.” In addition, on his college personal page, where he initially hosted the Society for the Critique of Feminism, he also praised an organization that attempted to repeal the 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote. This organization, known as the Christian Party, also claimed that women’s suffrage hurt the U.S. and made the country a “totalitarian state.”
Once news leaked about Gibbs’ past beliefs about women, he didn’t apologize. He tried to defend himself by claiming that he was young and in college. When asked about his past sentiments regarding women on a Michigan radio show, he retorted, “I was in college. It was 23 years ago. And this was made as a satire of trolling against the liberals on campus after we had a discussion about what freedom really means.”
To be clear, Gibbs never formally apologized for his past comments on women. He simply defended himself and argued that he now believes women should work and vote. Yet he is running for office in the U.S. House of Representatives? Well, this response is just unacceptable. Instead of apologizing and owning up to his past comments on women, he defended himself.
It is also worth noting that on this same personal site, Gibbs argued that women essentially should not be allowed to work since, in his opinion, “having women in the workplace affects workplace chemistry and leads to less qualified employees.”
A female spokesperson for the Gibbs’ campaign, Anne Marie Schieber, told CNN that Gibbs believed women should be allowed to vote and work. Come on, women. It’s 2022, for crying out loud! Is this someone we want in a government office representing us? Someone who subconsciously still believes women should not have any rights, but has a woman out doing the dirty work of cleaning up the mess he has made with his personal views?
Can you imagine having him in office and representing women? Knowing that women make up around 51% of Michigan’s population, if he wins, what will this mean for the over 5 million women in Michigan? Will he challenge their right to vote? We see that Gibbs believes women are incompetent even in the workplace. So, what would that mean for women nationwide?
We’ve already experienced what it’s like to have some of our rights taken away. The controversial overturning of Roe. v. Wade has caused women all over the U.S. to fear what else can be taken away from us by those we’re supposed to trust. If we continue to let men who share similar views as John Gibbs or even Gibbs himself take on important official positions and “represent” us, who knows when and if all our rights will be taken away? So, for our Michigan women out there, before you cast your vote for John Gibbs, ask yourself, is it worth it? Will you regret it? If there is even a 1% chance that Gibbs has those beliefs about women hidden in the back of his mind, you better consider your rights before casting a yes vote. Because if Gibbs had it his way, your yes vote could be the last vote you ever cast.
Welcome to the Penalty Box
We’re introducing a new section called “The Penalty Box” for our other readers. The Penalty Box is where we put certain people in a timeout. They are asked to take several seats. Like hockey, they need to calm down and think about their words and actions. For all his comments on women, we think John Gibbs will fit in quite nicely.
What do you think? Does John Gibbs belong in the U.S. House of Representatives, where he will represent the over 5 million women of Michigan if he wins? Check out the links below for more information, and send us your feedback.
Link to CNN article: https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/21/politics/john-gibbs-womens-suffrage-19th-amendment-kfile
Link to John Gibbs’ response to CNN “attack” article: https://www.votejohngibbs.com/post/john-gibbs-responds-to-cnn-attack-article-on-women-s-suffrage
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