FEAR AND LOATHING: A Tribute to Rush Limbaugh
Louise Annarino
March 9, 2012
Have you ever been sexually assaulted? Have you had a man put his hand up your skirt an drag you along by pulling on your pubic bone? Have you been walking along campus with 2 friends and been pulled away and thrown to the ground by a group of young men; your friends escaping while you were held down kicking and screaming as 3 of the 6 men tried to rape you? Have you been stopped at a red light when a man runs up and jumps into your car and reaches for you, running the light at top speed to dislodge him from your front seat? Have you been cornered, shoved and punched by a man when you were alone doing research in the library stacks? Have you been hunted down like prey until you were running through the streets walking home from the law library at 3 a.m. where you had been preparing for moot court the next day; saved by a neighborhood dog who attacked the man so you could reach your apartment door? Have you been warned by a judge that your client’s husband is asking how to find you, has a gun, and is threatening to rape or kill you? Have you been called a “f…ing bitch” by a defendant whose deposition you are taking? Do you carry the photo of a rapist in your purse and look at it daily to memorize his face because prison officials and police have warned you his letters threatening to rape and kill you upon his release from prison are deadly serious? No? well, I have. The climate of hate against women is strong; and Rush Limbaugh increases its strength every day.
To all those who describe his most recent verbal attacks against specific women as a matter of “free speech”, you are dead/rape wrong. I am a writer, a teacher, a lawyer. Words are my trade. Free speech is the love of my life. What Rush has done is NOT protected by the U.S. Constitution. Assault “placing another in fear of bodily harm” is not protected speech. It is a crime. Mr. Limbaugh has placed Ms. Fluke and American women under threat of bodily harm. Those of us who have experienced the results of misogyny, are well aware that sexual attacks are not based on lust, but on anger, anger directed against women. People like Rush Limbaugh use women as targets for anger because they see us as “the weaker sex”, easy victims. Rush stoked that anger for several days, and continues to do so despite an apology for 2 words. He has not apologized for stoking hatred against and causing fear in women. He has given people license to attack, threaten, rape and even kill women. For years he has done so, in a more general way, using words to describe strong women who defy his perception of what a woman should be like (weak and easy to manipulate) as “feminazis”. But, in this case he has directed his threat at a very specific woman; lying about her to make her weaker and easier to victimize. His followers have taken up his cause. Even Barbara Walters tells us to “just change the channel” because people could come after her and those on THE VIEW. Really? Rush Limbaugh’s behavior is nothing like what Ed Schultz, Bill Maher, Roland Martin, or Keith Olbermann were disciplined for. Too strong for you? Read my 1st paragraph.
Am I sensitive? Of course, and you should be also. you should be sensitive for the sakes of your daughters, grand-daughters, wives and girlfriends, mothers and sisters, cousins and aunts, even your grandmother. Most disturbing to me are the women who defend Rush Limbaugh. I can understand that men may not feel the fear of a Rush-triggered assault; but, women? Thank Goodness we have a president with empathy who can cross the divide between men and women, as he crosses so many divides in this country. For his daughters and his wife, he tried to ease the fear and the pain Rush Limbaugh caused Ms. Fluke. He understood that Rush assaulted her and all women when he asked Ms. Fluke, “Are you OK?”
I have shared my fear and disgust, hoping that when you listen or participate in a discussion of free speech and Rush Limbaugh you will feel what I and millions of women feel…utter disgust that our lives are held so cheaply! But not by President Obama; never by President Obama.
annarino writes 
I AM A SLUT
I AM A SLUT
Louise Annarino
3-2-2012
Sandra Fluke, I stand with you. I am a proud “slut”. If I had a dollar for every slur against womanhood I have heard I would be a very rich woman. All women would. From my earliest memories I was aware that no one should “throw like a girl”, “cry like a girl”, or “complain” like a girl”. These comments were not simply illustrative, but derogatory. I felt such sadness hearing them, as I wondered why being a girl was “no good”; why just being “like” a girl was cause for ridicule. How much worse was it to actually “be” a girl?
High school taught me little was expected of me. Called into the Principle’s office one afternoon, I leaned that I would not be the class Salutorian, even though my grades were tied to the 4th. decimal place, and higher carried to the 5th decimal place, when compared with those of a male classmate. Father explained that being a young man such an accomplishment would help him in life; and, since I was a girl, it would mean nothing. It had been decided my accomplishment would not be acknowledged.
In law school I was chided for too much “color” in my voice, and using my body and hands to communicate during oral argument, even though I “won” the case. My male opponent was praised for gripping the podium and never changing his inflections, remaining “professional”, even though he lost the case.
Practicing law brought its own set of put-downs. After the first day in trial, I carried a photocopy of my Ohio License which I routinely placed in the judge’s hands as I introduced myself. The first day, as both attorneys and our clients stood before the bench,I had introduced myself to the judge stating, “Good morning, your honor, my name is Louise Annarino. I am an attorney with Columbus Legal Aid Society. This is my client Ms. X, the petitioner in this matter.”
The Judge responded, “Young lady, you can’t just waltz in here and represent yourself. you need an attorney.” I then reintroduced myself as the Judge an opposing counsel smirked knowingly to one another. The judge responded, “Well, little lady, you need a real attorney.” This happened two more times as those awaiting to be called for their case and their respective attorneys began laughing. My client leaned close and whispered, “Should I go get a real attorney?” We won the case, despite such outrageous treatment to my client and to me.
Such belittling, dissembling, sarcastic, disgruntled behavior in response to sharing power with women has got to stop. Yet, Rush Limbaugh uses his power, licensed over our airwaves, to attack women as “feminazis” and now “sluts”. Ms. Fluke did not deserve such an attack;no woman does. Mr. Limbaugh continued again today to abuse her publicly for exercising her constitutional right address congress.
In July 1848, Elizabeth Cady Stanton (who kept her name when she married) wrote teh following in the “Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions” presented at the Seneca Falls Convention:
“all men and women are created equal” and “are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights…” (man)”has usurped the prerogative of Jehovah himself, claiming it as his right to assign for her a sphere of action, when that belongs to her conscience and to her God.” (result?) “the establishment of an absolute tyranny over her.”
It is clear Rush Limbaugh and his supporters have more in common with men of 1878 than with fair-minded men and women of 2012. Sex sells in America and Rush and his ilk are using sex to sell oppression of women. This is not a new tactic. Too often, religions and armies use sex to oppress and maintain power. Rush asked for tapes of Ms.Fluke engaging sex. He equated a stated expectation that women’s health care needs should be covered under insurance plans with asking for “paid for sex”, making Ms. Fluke a “prostitute”. He said her parents “would not be proud” of her. He called her a “slut”. Well, if she is all women are; because, all women expect to be treated equal to men in the United States of America. President Obama knows this and is fighting to protect women’s rights. And, after thanking her for speaking on behalf of women’s rights, he told Ms. Fluke in a personal phone conversation that her “parents should be proud” of her.
I once served briefly on a joint task force of women attorneys from across Ohio, sponsored by the Ohio Supreme Court and The Ohio State Bar Association,to address sex discrimination in Ohio’s legislation, law schools and courts. At the first meeting, I listened to the women who spearheaded the effort speak, followed by the male president of the Ohio Bar Association, and finally the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Ohio. At the close of remarks I felt myself rising to my feet unbidden to contest a comment from one of the men (I paraphrase since it has been so long ago):
“Be gentle with the men as you proceed, ladies. Any negative comments are very hard on the men and you don’t want to create a backlash. So take it slow as you petition for change, and be mindful of the men’s feelings.”
That is when I leapt to my feet announcing that it was Malcolm X’s birthday that day and if he were alive he would remind us that, “Nobody can give you freedom. Nobody can give you equality or justice or anything. If you’re a man, you take it.” And I added, “We women are not petitioning for freedom,equality, and justice; we are taking them. I have a hard enough time handling my own grief and anger over the injustice of sexism and racism to be asked to handle yours,too. Men need to take responsibility for themselves and handle their own feelings for a change.” And, I added, “if you have trouble with that, recall another comment of Malcolm’s, ‘If you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem.’ If you can’t handle yourself, and you can’t handle us then, at least, get out of our way.” One woman clapped and pins dropped throughout the room. No more.
Today, I ask women to take justice and seize your equal rights. Don’t ask for them from men. They don’t own your rights; you do! Stick together. Today, I am a proud “slut”.
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