Let's Talk About: AHCA and Respectability Politics
I had a different article planned for this week. And don’t worry, it will be written but I’ve realized something this week. It’s something I’ve been aware of for some time, but it recently came into harsh reality as I read the bill passed by the Republicans in congress. This bill strips away many hard fought protections that we have thanks to the affordable care act. It would allow health insurance companies to charge women more for insurance, and not cover maternity or prenatal health. A woman would have to purchase an expensive additional pregnancy “rider” for that coverage. Which, if it goes back to the way it was in 2008, you can be turned down for if you purchase that rider when you find out that you’re pregnant. (Previously I’ve stated that about 50% of pregnancies are unplanned so…) It would allow insurance companies to raise the rates on women who have had C-Sections in the past. There are a whole host of other Pre existing conditions” that this bill would allow an insurance company to jack up the rates of a person’s insurance plan. It also defunds planned parenthood and severely cuts into medicaid funding, especially the parts of medicaid that go to services for children with disabilities.
There’s a saying that’s been circulating since about 2000, not sure who said it first. “If you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu”.
It wasn’t the horrible bill they passed that struck me. It’s not a surprise that the Republican party would want to strip away the protections the American people have won against insurance companies. It wasn’t that the bill directly targeted so many things that would affect women, or that it would directly harm under served communities such as communities of color or poorer communities. It wasn’t the absolute heartlessness of make childhood cancer a “Pre-existing condition” so that growing up survivors could find themselves unable to get care, or paying far more than is reasonable for the care they may get. None of that was a surprise, the Republican party has never really hid their intentions to ensure that the rich stay rich and the poor should know their place.
No, what shocked me was the absolute glee with which they did it. The Republican leadership gathered for an after- party at the white house, after barely passing a bill that will hurt the American people.
The party that beats its chest about “Fiscal Responsibility” passed a bill before the congressional budget office could even review it. Before the Congressmen and women had even read it themselves. They laughed, smiled for the camera, and toasted their own cleverness.
I realized that it’s not just that they don’t care about the American people. It’s not some sort of ambivalence or lack of empathy. It’s not just that they’re out of touch with what it’s like to be a regular American these days. It’s that they hate so many of us. This was not a bill made to better the lives of the American people. This was a bill made to increase corporate profits for health insurance companies on the backs and graves of the American people and our elected officials couldn’t even be bothered to read the damn bill.
If you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu.
Looking at images of the gleeful Republicans it’s fairly obvious who was left out. Not pictured: People of Color. Women. The Middle Class. Disabled people.
And now the Senate is crafting its own bill. 13 wealthy, middle aged, white men are going to be writing it.
If you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu.
Some people think that we’re being conned. This horrible bill was passed so that anything the senate can come up with will look nearly acceptable by comparison. We’ll have to resist that too.
I’ve been told from the time I was young to be respectable. To be a respectable woman I needed to look a certain way. I needed to act a certain way. I needed to dress and speak and say the things that made other people comfortable so that my intelligence wouldn’t be seen as a threat to those around me. I was raised by a woman who used men’s expectations of her as a cloak and dagger. She dressed the perfect, polished, professional part. Smiled broadly. Offered help. Did everything right in terms of respectability, and was still disrespected, ignored, talked over, and was constantly competing against men who were in no way her equals. This was the lot of smart women. This was the lot of strong, driven women. To be painfully aware that everyone is looking for a reason not to take you seriously. At all times.
If you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu.
I was coached in respectability politics from childhood. Except I’ve never been very good at it. I can dress like respectability but it will always be a poorly tailored suit borrowed from my mother. I will always be in costume. Unlike my mother, I never quite grasped respectability politics. I’ve learned to fly under the radar. To smile. To not cringe at the sexist joke. To let it be water off a duck. To use my education, my pretty face, my white skin to set people at ease. To be the image that others want to see. But I never forget. I know first hand what happens in a workplace where a smile and a laugh is taken as submission and groping hands are supposed to be over looked because I don’t want to be “up tight” now do I? I don’t want to be one *those* women do I?
Those were the men I picture every time I see our president, who bragged about sexually assaulting women.
If you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu.
The time for respectability politics is over. If appeals to the logic and better nature of the people in charge worked, we would already have won. People in power are not going to share their power with people not in power simply because it is the right thing to do. They will demand that we speak calmly and rationally then they will shout us down. The revolution will not be comfortable and polite. The revolution will not sit politely and wait its turn to speak.
If you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu.
My mother is a feminist. She’s kind of a second wave feminist. She’s an 80’s career woman, in her prime with big shoulder pads and pant suits. From an era when femininity was synonymous with weakness and being told “you’re not like other women” was considered a compliment. She’s the feminism of women being paid $0.78 on the dollar for every man. She was out to prove that a woman can have a career and be every ounce as successful as a man. Shattering glass ceilings and breaking down boardroom doors.
Except it’s not really a glass ceiling. It’s more like a poorly lit room filled with funhouse mirrors and glass walls that move and shift. Corridors where the ceilings slowly get lower and lower until you’re crawling on your belly to try to get through and people are looking down at you wondering why you don’t just stand up. We know this now.
And although White Feminism cites the figure of $0.78 to the dollar for women’s wages, we know now that it’s more bleak than that. Intersectional feminism tells us that African American women make $0.64 and Latinas make $0.55 to the dollar paid to every White man. Intersectional feminism demands that we close all of the wage gaps.
Intersectional feminism, intersectionality demands that we all work together. That those of us who can lend a hand, do.
I don’t know how to fix our problems. I don’t know how to convince the people with real political party that the needs of the many outweigh the campaign contributions of the few. I don’t know how to get us into the room where it happens and a seat at the table.
If you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu.
Here are some things you can do:
Visit 5Calls.Org, make phone calls to your senators, your congresspeople. If they’re on the side of the American people, thank them. If not, tell them what you demand. Demand that they listen to their constituents.
Look into primary elections. Many districts are so deeply Gerrymandered that it’s almost impossible for one party to lose their seat, look into the party’s primary. Find out who is challenging a congressperson or senator who is unfriendly to their constituents. Meet with them. Volunteer with their campaign. Make a donation if you can. Vote. Tell your friends to vote.
Aggressively call out bullshit anywhere you see it. You might get called a special snowflake. You might be shouted down. But do it anyway. Especially if you are a Cishet, white, male. You are the only people the GOP cares about. For everyone else, do the same. If someone tells you an unfunny racist/sexist/bigoted joke, ask them to explain it to you rather than laughing it off and pretending that you weren’t bothered.
Let’s make sure that none of us are on the menu.
Until next week, take care of yourself. You are worth protecting.
Erin