Do the GOP/TPers focus on "control" 24/7/365? ~ ~ I strongly disagree with this take ~ divorce is difficult for almost everyone, definitely including children and maybe especially teens ~ but I believe it is far more damaging to children [and their future behavioral mindsets] to grow up in a home where parents are in a constant state of anger/hurt/unhappiness ~ Sooz

GOP Lawmaker: We Must Make It Harder To Divorce Or Teenage Girls Will Be ‘More Promiscuous’
By Annie-Rose Strasser on Mar 5, 2013 at 9:00 am

On Monday, the Iowa state House moved out of committee a bill that would make no-fault divorces illegal. That’s a huge relief for one state legislator, who fears that no-fault divorce will turn his 16-year-old granddaughter into a harlot.

State Representative Tedd Gassman (R) spoke emotionally about the legislation — which would require all parents of children under 18 to prove their spouse had committed a crime, abandoned the family, or committed adultery — saying that it related to the real-life scenario of his daughter’s divorce. That situation, he said, was at risk of turning his daughter into a hormonal trollop:


No-fault divorces allow unhappy couples to put an end to their marriages, so it is not at all clear that they are worse for a child than continuing a marriage where parents resent the kid for keeping them together against their will. And while it does not address the problems with power and economic disparity (PDF) between high-earning male spouses and low-earning women, no-fault divorce is a quick solution for a victim of domestic violence to escape an otherwise dangerous situation. Additionally, one study showed that fewer women committed suicide or were murdered by intimate partners in states with more liberal divorce laws.

http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2013/03/05/1670841/no-fault-divorce-promiscuity/

State Representative Tedd Gassman (R) spoke emotionally about the legislation — which would require all parents of children under 18 to prove their spouse had committed a crime, abandoned the family, or committed adultery —

Indirectly, that's age discrimination.
Unconstitutional, I should think.

Well, the guy's a babbling fool. He asks a question that pre-supposes the answer he wants: "There’s a 16-year-old girl in this whole mix now. Guess what? What are the possibilities of her being more promiscuous?”

What, her mom's going to take her out of school, send her out to work as a pole dancer now, to make ends meet? Five dollars says the guy tunes in to Pat Robertson every day, looking for life advice.

Nah. He's looking for the address of the strip joint.

Remember the old show "Kids Say the Darndest Things"?

I'm thinking we need something similar for Republicans.

Where's Art Linkletter when you need him?

I don't even see the logic flow here.

The parents are divorcing so the daughter will be more promiscuous? The father in the house was going to do what exactly???

The GOP lawmaker would have jealously made sure that he is the only one having sex with his daughter?

The parents are divorcing so the daughter will be more promiscuous? The father in the house was going to do what exactly???

Nothing that I know of but the mother...

Just more proof why anyone who votes Republican is so ignorant.

I think so Dee.

None of that even makes sense to me. They still have patriarchal mindsets is the best I can come up with.

I know its kind of off the planet, but what exactly is wrong with teenage girls being promiscuous?

I talked about this is class today when we were talking about sexism and patriarchy. Their consensus was not many people marry anymore anyway.

A student from the Bahamas said that it is VERY hard to divorce in the Bahamas. It took 6 years for her sister to get a divorce from her husband who was living with his girlfriend and new family in the interim.

“This basically is an attempt on my part to keep fathers in the home,” Gassman said. “I sincerely believe that the family is the foundation of this nation and this nation will go the direction of our families. If our families break up, so will this nation.”[...]

The Right says this often, but is it true?

It seems to me that when some say "family", what they are really saying is a married man and woman with their children.

They certainly don't see gay or lesbians as families. I'm not sure they even see a single mother and her 3 children as a family.

No, they don't, and they will tell you so. They see the mother with three children as an incomplete or broken family. An imperfect attempt at family. And they do not acknowledge any gay relationships as family. That's how they see it.

We talked about that in class today, too, gramps. Right wing politicians want to legislate families in their idealized image (think Newt and don't throw up). They don't have any desire to leave room for other definitions of "family".

the Vagina Police strike again

And how am I supposed to announce THAT to my wife?

LOVE this new tag! ~

Sooz

“There’s a 16-year-old girl in this whole mix now. Guess what? What are the possibilities of her being more promiscuous?” Gassman said

I didn't realize there were degrees of promiscuity. I take it Mr. Gassman (what an appropriate name!) was content with the level of promiscuity his granddaughter had reached. He just doesn't want her to be more promiscuous.

Another wrinkled old white guy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tedd_Gassman

You heathen! Girls are supposed to remain virgins until they get married, and then they're only supposed to have sex with their husbands in order to make babies. They aren't supposed to ENJOY sexuality!

Yeah! And I think that's one of the major reasons that we tend to be so F***** about sexuality in our culture.

What else would you expect when one of the most basic human drives at its peak is totally frustrated?