It's Springtime for Sex Offenders

Watch Your Back: Looking Out for Women and Girls in America #2

Welcome back to Watch Your Back! I don’t know about you, but I’ve lost count of the number of perverts and alleged sex offenders Donald Trump has picked to fill key positions in his next administration.

There’s (1) Matt Gaetz, who withdrew his name from consideration for Attorney General—the highest law enforcement position in the land—after CNN dug up additional evidence of his penchant for “sex with minors.” (Okay, let’s stop there for a moment. There is no such thing as “sex with a minor” under the age of consent. It’s called STATUTORY RAPE. And a seventeen-year-old is a GIRL, not a woman. The fact that the media refuses to use the proper terms makes abuse seem acceptable. We need to call them out every time they do this.)  

Then we have Defense Secretary nominee, (2) Pete Hegseth, who’s been desperately spinning a sexual assault claim against him. Seems back in 2017, an ER nurse contacted the police after treating a woman who said she’d been drugged and raped by the Fox News host. The victim later received a settlement from Hegseth. 

(3) RFK Jr. has been accused of groping his children’s 23-year-old nanny and let’s not forget the man himself, (4) Donald Trump, an adjudicated rapist whose list of accusers is long enough to merit its own Wikipedia entry. Both Trump and RFK Jr. are also known to have spent quality time with the man who made me so f**king mad I had to write a whole book to vent my rage, Jeffrey Epstein.

(5) Elon Musk, who has a history of creepy behavior, is now being sued by eight former SpaceX employees for unwanted conduct and comments of a sexual nature. Apparently, he also thinks exit interviews are an appropriate time to ask an employee to have his baby. Very normal.

And just yesterday, I was disgusted to learn that (6) Linda McMahon, WWE wrestling evil empress and Trump’s pick to head the Department of Education (WTF) has been accused of turning a blind eye while multiple “ring boys” age 12-15 were sexually assaulted by WWE announcer Melvin Phillips Jr.

Gee, that sounds familiar, you might be thinking. Yes, Jim Jordan, the Ohio congressman who will be one of the most powerful GOP members of the House this session, has been accused of turning a blind eye to the sexual assault of young men during his time as a wrestling coach at Ohio State.

One might reasonably ask, what the f**k is going on? I guess a sex offender or two in the Trump administration could be passed off as coincidence. Birds of a feather, am I right? But six? I’m not saying there’s a conspiracy afoot, but Georgia congressperson Marjory Taylor Greene sure thinks so. Upset there was talk of releasing the report detailing Matt Gatz’s STATUTORY RAPE of GIRLS (see how easy that was?), she sprang to his defense with the following Tweet. (Yeah, TWEET.)

So Marge has evidence that GOP senators and congressmen have been abusing women and girls—but she just doesn’t give a f**k as long as they support her BFF. Is that what she’s saying? I’m pretty damn sure it is. All those religious types looking for evidence of evil in the world are wasting their time with drag queens.

What does this all add up to? Aside from the extreme danger members of the upcoming administration pose to the young of both sexes? It shows an utter contempt for women and girls—and a commodification of our bodies.

Here’s something to ponder. We will soon be led (again) by a gross old man who once thought nothing of popping behind the scenes at Miss Teen USA to check out the undressed talent. The man he nominated for AG was known by the DOJ to rape teenage girls (though they’ve yet to do anything about it). That same man, while in congress, repeatedly and enthusiastically voted to take away those girls’ bodily autonomy. That’s right. Matt Gaetz, who reportedly shared naked pictures of his sexual partners with fellow congressmen, received an A+ rating from SBA Pro-Life America, one of the largest anti-abortion organizations in America.

The next time you hear anyone claim the #MeToo movement went too far, please remind them that NONE of the offenders mentioned have faced serious consequences. We even made one of them president.

SO WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO ABOUT VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND GIRLS THIS WEEK?

1. Let’s stop allowing people (especially those in the media) to get away with using phrases like “sex with minors” and “seventeen-year-old woman.” Make them use the proper terms.

2. I believe gossip can be a force for good in the universe. Know the Trump administration sex offenders’ stories—and share them whenever possible.

3. Do not let this shit be normalized, because . . .

IT’S ALL PART OF THE WAR ON WOMEN’S BODIES

As of August 2024, 9 states have total abortion bans and no exception for rape or incest: AL, AR, KY, LA, MO, OK, SD, TN, and TX. Can you imagine telling your 2014 self that this would be the state of women’s rights just 10 years in the future? A sex offender president and an alleged sex offender Supreme Court justice made it possible for states to force women to have their rapists’ babies. Even in states that have exceptions for rape, going through legal channels can prove extremely onerous as this recent NPR report illustrates.

Let’s be perfectly clear: there are only two reasons the shit hasn’t hit the fan: mifepristone and misoprostol—the “abortion pills.”

As I mentioned last week, the number of abortions in the US has gone up since the Dobbs decision. All but three states that ban the procedure (TX, ID and OK) saw the number of abortions rise. How is that possible? Some women have traveled to other states—often at great expense. But an increasing number have gotten the pills they need through the mail.

(Who hasn’t been able to access the pills? Research suggests that it’s Black and Native American teenagers. The rising teen pregnancy rate in Texas supports this conclusion. I can’t express how angry that makes me.)

Bans aside for a moment—I’m convinced that the move to abortion pills has been a net positive for women—perhaps one of the few silver linings of the current era. Pills are less invasive, less expensive, less time consuming, more private and highly effective. And I think we can all agree that stirrups and speculums should be avoided whenever possible.  

Who made the switch to pills possible? The Biden administration. Thanks to our current president, women no longer need to visit a doctor in person to be prescribed abortion pills. (And don’t have to endure the dreaded vaginal ultrasound.) Instead, you can have a perfectly dignified telehealth visit and receive your meds through the mail. In states with abortion access, patients can even fill their prescriptions at a retail pharmacy.

Women in states where abortion has been banned are able to receive care from doctors in states where it remains legal. As of November 2024, eight glorious states have abortion shield laws that protect abortion providers from legal action regardless of where the patient is located: CA, CO, ME, MA, NY, RI, VT, and WA.

Two of the most popular resources for medication abortions are Plan C Pills and Hey Jane There are also reliable services based overseas that perform the same function, Aid Access being the best known.

However, as we discussed last week, abortion pills are at the top of the Project 2025 hit list. And make no mistake, given the number of women who have relied on them over the past two years, severely restricting access to abortion pills will effectively be a nation-wide abortion ban.

JUST FEW THINGS THE GOP IS PLANNING—OR ALREADY TRYING:

• Revoking FDA approval of mifepristone

• Reclassifying abortion pills as Schedule IV controlled substances (like fentanyl)

• Using the Comstack act to make it illegal to send pills through the mail

• Employing drug dogs to sniff out pills in the mail

• Banning websites that provide abortion information

• Monitoring women’s medical histories and travel across state lines

You probably won’t be surprised to hear that Texas is leading the way on many of these efforts. I think it’s safe to say they are going to try everything possible to make abortion pills inaccessible. Women suffering from miscarriages are going to be under heightened scrutiny going forward, which likely means more women will die when doctors and hospitals are too intimidated to provide care. And the Supreme Court has made it perfectly clear that they DGAF.

The sad fact is, pregnancy is much more dangerous than it was before Dobbs. I’ll write about that soon. But for now . . .

SO WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO ABOUT REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS THIS WEEK?

1. Be prepared to fight like hell. We have not even begun to imagine the pain and suffering women across America will endure if access to abortion pills is restricted.

2. A ban will be extremely unpopular, even in red states. Make sure everyone you know is aware that it’s coming.

3. Donate to organizations leading the legal fight against abortion bans, including Planned Parenthood and the excellent Center for Reproductive Rights.

4. If you want to know everything (and I mean everything) about the fight for reproductive rights, follow Jessica Valenti on social media (@jessicavalenti on IG).

Next week, I’ll focus on our new overlords’ plans for contraception, including the emergency contraception given to rape victims. (Do we see a pattern here?) Stay strong.

Kirsten