(C) Daily Kos
This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .
Republican tries to derail professor with snide questions, but she teaches the whole room a lesson [1]
['Daily Kos Staff', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags']
Date: 2022-07-12
In a typical condescending, patronizing, and faux pearl-clutching tone, Hawley launches into a transphobic line of questioning. He tries to get Bridges to say abortion isn’t only about women’s rights in order to twist her words. It’s an effort to distract and confuse people on both sides of the aisle, all the while demonizing trans people who do indeed seek this important health care.
Luckily, Bridges holds her own and makes her point brilliantly and smoothly. She names the anti-trans framing and rhetoric for what it is and rejects the idea that using inclusive language takes anything away from women. Instead, inclusive language protects and acknowledges more people, not less.
Here is the clip going viral on Twitter.
x Bridges to Hawley: I want to recognize that your line of questioning is transphobic pic.twitter.com/rCeVaB3XJY — Acyn (@Acyn) July 12, 2022
“You’ve used several times a phrase, and I want to understand what you mean by it,” Hawley says. “You’ve referred to people with a capacity for pregnancy. Would that be women?”
“Many women, cis women, have the capacity for pregnancy,” she replies. “Many cis women do not have the capacity for pregnancy. There are also trans men who are capable of pregnancy, as well as nonbinary people who are capable of pregnancy.”
“So this isn’t really a women’s rights issue,” he says. “It’s uh, it’s a what?”
“We can recognize that this impacts women while also recognizing that it impacts other groups. Those things are not mutually exclusive, Senator Hawley.”
“So your view is that the core of this right is about then, what?”
“So I want to recognize that your line of questioning is transphobic. It opens up trans people to violence by not recognizing …”
“Wow,” Hawley says, full of faux surprise. “So you’re saying I’m opening up people to violence by asking whether or not women are the folks who can have pregnancies?”
“I want to note that 1 out 5 transgender persons have attempted suicide. So I think it’s important— ”
“Because of my line of questioning? So we can’t talk about it?”
“Because denying that trans people exist, and pretending not to know they exist---”
“I’m saying trans people can’t exist by asking you if you’re talking about women having pregnancies?”
“Are you? Are you? Are you? Do you believe that men can get pregnant?”
“No,” he admits. “I don’t think men can get pregnant.”
“So you’re denying trans people exist. Thank you.”
“Is this how you run your classroom? Are students allowed to question you? Or are they also treated like this? Told they’re opening up people to violence just by asking questions?”
“You should join. You might learn a lot.”
Zing! Hawley’s attempts at mocking an expert just make him look uneducated and self-satisfied with his own little attempts to stir hate and outrage.
You can watch the full video below.
[END]
---
[1] Url:
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/7/12/2109924/-Republican-tries-to-derail-professor-with-snide-questions-but-she-teaches-the-whole-room-a-lesson
Published and (C) by Daily Kos
Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified.
via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/
