Can Kamala protect women?

[WandsOut]

Seems to be a lot of support for her from female friends but then what about her support for men in women's prisons...

How influenced is she by the current Biden administration? Will she be listening to Rachel Levine? What will she actually do for women if she can't define what a woman is?

OP wrt this of yours:

We are allowed to not blindly cheerlead to the point of ignoring creeping issues that can undermine the democracy we prize. It's called anticipating future issues.

Might be interested to read tbis on RFK jr and concerns about issues undermining democracy:

x.com/babybeginner/status/1827252696157712393?s=46&t=WHoOZ_3Kv5G6-FyQuvE0LQ

By keeping Trump and Vance out of the White House.
By keeping American democracy intact so that people can continue to have debates freely and vote in future.
By appointing justices to the Supreme Court who don’t think that Trump should be able to us the state to assassinate political rivals and be immune.
By protecting women’s bodily autonomy and access to reproductive healthcare.

This isn’t difficult stuff.

A few clarifications about where I'm coming at this from:

I'm one of the women who voted Sturgeon and was so excited to have a female first minister. This is why I'm asking. The disappointment and betrayal when you see what she has done to us and our children is terrible.

I've been dismayed by the Biden administration and WPath. My child has been directly affected by transgender issues to the point where she developed an eating disorder and ptsd.

I've had an abortion myself so the reproductive rights is important to me, it's not something I'm dismissing.

So if this is wittering so be it. I'm asking questions. I wished I had asked these questions before Sturgeon so that I could have kept an eye out and acted sooner when I saw she wasn't doing her job.

@Takoneko but what about women’s rights to safe single sex spaces, rights of daughters to participate and excel safely in single sex sports, inability to name what a woman is when you are a women. Diluting and misleading data and statistics on women by including men, misleading healthcare advice that airbrushed out that it applies to women, impacts on babies being breastfed secretions by men, healthy children being sent on a medicalised pathway for life ending up with surgical scars and infertility. Women’s rights are more than just abortion. Children’s rights also matter.

In fairness, Kamala Harris isn't making a big thing about her being "the first female president" if she is elected. It was a huge feature of Hillary Clinton's campaign and I think that was seen as a mistake. Kamala Harris obviously IS a woman, and has "used" it in the sense of talking about being a "momala" to her step children etc. But all American politicians use their families. She isn't really going for the "I'm good for women because Im a woman" angle.

Off topic, but does anyone else find the obsession with "political dynasties" odd - especially when its phrased in the way that certain families "represent" certain values/political ideas. Its presented as an accepted fact in that twitter thread that that would be the case. And its not just the Kennedys that happens with, although they are the most obvious example. Why not just have a Royal family if you are going to do that? That's weird too, but its honest.

Those are all valid things to hold her to account for in office but in this election with Trump and Vance on the republican ticket now is not the time.

Abortion isn’t just about your right to get an abortion it’s also about women being denied life-saving care because they happen to be pregnant and being treated as vessels rather than people.

I'm also coming at this from a place of jaded disappointment and not combative pro republican. I should have made that clear in the original post.

I've lived in various countries including America, but voted in England (Labour) and Scotland (SNP)

When I first voted I in my late teens/early twenties I was very either/or.
I didn't really know about anything but voted for what my friends voted for - very left leaning I didn't think to question anything really, hated Tories, went into it all fielding my thoughts out to the politicians.

Moving to America was interesting because I saw how different the Democrats vs Republicans were to Labour vs Tory, the Democrats were more like the Tories here and the Republicans were waaaayyy over to the right.

SNP has been a huge wake up, probably also getting older and paying more attention to the small print rather than the big speeches. It's in the small print where the policies get put through that take us years of dismantling to undo.

@Takoneko I don't disagree that she's the better choice in this election right now. I'm just asking about the small print.

I think maybe I’m just sensitive because the republicans use this sort of thing. Like Trump’s bizarre messaging about her race and the way that he carefully positions groups of African Americans so that they are in the main camera shots during rallies.

You see this kind of messaging a lot on women’s rights from republicans.

@biscuitandcake is it not more seen there as a legacy of a family working towards a political goal that aligns to their values?

I worded it badly too in the original post @Takoneko. I'm sorry if I've upset you.

It's all just so shit for women right now I feel like crying most days. I'm Indian mixed heritage and the stuff in India right now is making me really upset too.

I think also something that has just struck me about my discomfort - (and that's why it's worth having these conversations even if they get heated or awkward sometimes because we are all relying on typed words that can sometimes be inarticulate)

• is that I've automatically trusted that female politicians would be representing women's interests and see friends now cheering for them automatically but this recent awful shitshow of politics in the UK has shown how many female politicians will throw us to the wolves to center men.

Yes she was. This election is about the lesser of 2 evils in terms of women's rights IMO. The war will still go on. Trump is still the more terrifying beast I think.

I think I have got considerably less tribal since realising what has been happening with trans ideology and women's and children's rights. I follow all sorts on Twitter and appreciate different viewpoints. I felt politically homeless during the last election but eventually voted Labour. I listen to people's voices from different parts of the political spectrum much more than I used to.

What was the worst thing you think he did last time he was president?

Was there anything positive you thought he did as president?

Personally, think he's all mouth......but when it comes down to it he's not that extreme when in office.

I thought her speech was very powerful. It was nice to hear someone actually talking about women (not 'people with ovaries', etc) and she sounds like she cares.

I feel like this is a shift from Biden.

Stirring up violence over the election result was pretty scary. I think he is unstable and unpredictable. I am hoping that Kamala Harris will gather some reasonable advisors around her. Rachel Levine gives me the absolute creeps though. Very dangerous individual.

Is Kamala going to just continue the Biden administration or do something radically different is another question I have. Biden has been a disappointing shocker for me too. I'd bought into him being something entirely different when he was with Obama.

Really I should have called this thread "disappointing with politicians even if the speeches are great"

Will she keep Levine? Actually is there USA feminist websites or people to follow on this that aren't only pro Republican that people can recommend?

Well, he packed the supreme court with right wingers who overturned Roe Vs Wade, completely messed up America's COVID response and set in motion the US withdrawal from Afghanistan which lead to the current situation where women can't have any public presence. (The actual withdrawal is on Joe Biden but Trump definitely doesn't care about foreign policy unless it means more money for the USA). He then tried to overcome the result of a legitimate democratic election by inciting violent uprising and pressuring elected officials to deny votes cast for the democrats.

Where to start?

Attempting to overthrow the election result.
Trying to pressure overseas governments into pursuing criminal charges against his political opponents.
Appointing Supreme Court justices who overturned Roe and who ruled that he’d be immune from prosecution for anything he does as president which could be incredibly dangerous if relected.
Having his Secretary of State declare that Israeli settlements on the West Bank are not illegal under international law. (They are)
Moving the US Embassy to Jerusalem on the anniversary of the Nakba, resulting in violence in which thousands of people were hurt.
Suggesting that injecting disinfectant was a was to deal with covid.
Pardoning Stone, Manaford, Flynn and Papadopoulos to protect himself.
Withdrawing from the Paris agreement.
Trying to ban people from Muslim countries from entering the US.
Attempting to repeal the affordable care act.
Sharing classified information with Russian officials that put US servicemen and women in danger.

Those are just the ones I can think of.

If I were an American voter I’d be abstaining. Wouldn’t be able to bring myself to vote for a Trump supporting Republican party or a Democratic one that supports affirmative care for gender confused young people and children and quite evidently won’t prioritise the rights and safety of women. I suspect there will be a lower turnout this time by women voters.

I can vote in the States (dual citizen). Can't bring myself to vote Democrat, for all kinds of reasons, which is a shame as it's about time there was a female president. The Dems are lost. Won't vote Trump, though as bad as he is I honestly think he's better than the alternative. How to throw away my vote this election cycle? Hmmmm. We could do worse than the Prohibition Party: www.prohibitionparty.org/platform

Some things I like about them:

• A non-interventionist foreign policy
• Pro-choice
• Anti death penalty
• Abolition of the Federal Reserve
• Strict laws against usury. Definitely down with usury.
• A fully funded Social Security system
• Increased spending on public works projects
• Job training programs paid for by tariffs
• Free college education for all Americans
• Want to abolish state lotteries
• Opposition to testing on animals, and the use of animals in sport
• Fair trade
• Use of human rights considerations in determining most favored nation status
• Opposition to pornography. I think we could at least use a little pushback at this point.

Things I don't mind about them:

• They want so-called blue laws prohibiting employers in all fields except public safety from requiring employees to work on the Sabbath, aka Sunday for us heathens. Sure, why not.
• Campaigns to promote temperance. Good luck with that! But I admire the sheer implausibility of it. The fact that I don't drink actually didn't enter into my decision-making process.
• Opposition to physician-assisted suicide

Things I'm not so keen on:

• A strict interpretation of the Second Amendment
• Opposition to attempts to remove religion from the public square
• Prohibition of all non-medicinal drugs, including alcohol and tobacco. Let's see how that temperance campaign goes first, shall we?
• Frankly their name is a bit of a downer
• Free college education for all Americans. I don't rate a college education at all these days, so this would be a huge waste of money.

Their presidential nominee this year is a guy called Michael Wood. I don't know who that is and am not even going to bother googling.

Given that she did part of her publicity/campaigning on Ru Pauls Drag Race and the "Drag Queens for Kamala" campaign, I think it's pretty clear where her loyalties will lie and what demographic she is aligning herself with.

Just my opinion.

Some could. Removal of sex-based rights by giving them to transwomen is a lot worse than what Trump thinks about abortion or Vance about older women - neither of which are in the POTUS remit to do anything about - abortion, e.g., is a state matter, not federal.