March 11, 2012

Sandra Fluke: A Slut for All Seasons

postergrlfluke.jpg
Image by Rodger, Real King of France

Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. -- Benjamin Franklin

Reputation, reputation, reputation! O, I have lost my reputation! I have lost the immortal part of myself, and what remains is bestial. -- Othello

So far March has been a life changing experience for one Sandra Fluke. When the month began she was an obscure activist despairing of life: she was going to law school. Why? Well, on the one hand it was to get some sort of accreditation to do some sort of thing with her heretofore wasted life. On the other it was her chance to butt into the business and spiritual lives of her fellow students with her own half-baked theories of why some people should tell everyone else how to live. It was, as noted, a rather obscure and pointless existence.

Then Fluke testified before a sham congressional committee to exploit her own sex, lies and videorapes with absurd statistics. In the process she became, now and for the rest of her life, the woman who would always be thought of as the official Washington “slut.” She has now, no matter what the truth of her behavior is, firmly planted herself in the minds of her detractors or supporters as “that slut.” Her supporters won’t ever admit they think of her that way. They will always say, “She’s not a slut, she’s a champion of wymyns’ rights to do what they want with their bodies!” At the same time they will think..... “Slut.” Not because Rush Limbaugh had the innate honesty to call her a slut, but because even her supporters now know her to be a slut. When it comes to being honest about sex in this day and age everyone has been trained to say the kind and politically correct thing while thinking and meaning quite another.

In a real way Fluke’s slutitude is parallel to the famous catch phrase from Seinfeld about homosexuality: “Not that there’s anything wrong with that.” That phrase has entered the culture so deeply that you often still hear it mockingly said whenever homosexuality is discussed. In polite company it is meant to signal what it says, i.e. “Nothing wrong with gayness.” That’s how we’ve agreed, as a culture, to handle this topic in public. But what people actually think in the back of their minds, gay or straight, is that there really is something wrong with it. If this wasn’t the case, the phrase would not have persisted in American culture for the last 20 years since it was first uttered in 1993.

Another even more similar case was that of Anita Hill who testified against Justice Thomas in 1991. Hill is currently working in the kind of standard “distinguished” professorial positions reserved for good little progressives if they do what they are told , but she will always be associated with “Long Dong Silver” and a public hair on a Coke can. Her reputation and legacy were pretty much cemented into place when she testified against Thomas. She will never emerge from that shadow.

Then we have the “successful” self-degradation embodied by the career of Hillary Clinton. Clinton, it would seem, has become qualified for any political position you can think of by virtue of the fact that she became, following her husband’s harvesting of blow jobs from a zaftig intern, the most publicly humiliated woman in history. No matter what she’s done since and no matter what she will do from now on, Hillary’s decision to “stand by her man” in order to advance her own naked ambition will forever stain her reputation more indelibly than semen on a blue dress. It will forever be associated with her.

Fluke is in that same sort of degraded position now. Decades will pass and she will always be known as “that Slut woman.” She’ll go on in her life with appointments to some sort of law firm, think tank, or government bureau as a reward for being a good little apparatchik. She might even run for some sort of public office and win. It won’t matter. Fluke’s tarnished her own goods with her own testimony in the last few weeks. She’s hoisted herself with her own petard. She’s put the needle in and it will never come out. Just as Marlo Thomas will forever be known as "That Girl, " Fluke will forever be known in the back of everyone’s mind as “That Slut.”

For one week Fluke took the heat off of the president's war against religion and the constitution. She got a phone call from Obama out of it. I hope she thinks the damage she's done to herself was worth it, because to get it she made herself into the kind of “damaged goods” parents once used to warn their daughters against becoming. The rich irony is that she doesn’t even know it yet. But she will. She will.

Posted by gerardvanderleun at March 11, 2012 12:51 PM
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"It is impossible to speak in such a way that you cannot be misunderstood." -- Karl Popper N.B.: Comments are moderated and may not appear immediately. Comments that exceed the obscenity or stupidity limits will be either edited or expunged.

Let's not forget how Monica Lewinsky was also marked for life. Not even after she went on to earn a MSW from the London School of Economics, no one she sought a job from would touch her with a ten-foot pole.

Last time anyone checked, she lives in LA and has very few friends. No telling if she ever got a job yet...

Posted by: newton at March 11, 2012 1:55 PM

There might been a dignified way to proclaim to the world the need for $1,000 a year's worth of contraceptives, but having a last name like "Fluke" ain't it.

Posted by: Mike James at March 11, 2012 2:29 PM

Gerard: I think it's "hoist."

[And hoisted it is -- G.]

Posted by: ahem at March 11, 2012 2:51 PM

I was in my 20s when the feminist movement first started and have watched it transform itself into a movement that now leads women to degrade and humiliate themselves publicly. What is interesting and sad is that youngish women don't see themselves as degrading themselves when they act like Fluke or support her. I fear we will see many middle-aged female suicides in the future when these women grow up and finally realize what they have done to themselves.

Posted by: Gloria at March 11, 2012 3:47 PM

...she made herself into the kind of “damaged goods” parents once used to warn their daughters against becoming. The rich irony is that she doesn’t even know it yet. But she will. She will.

I blame Bush.

Posted by: Morgan K Freeberg at March 11, 2012 4:12 PM

Hers?

Posted by: Talnik at March 11, 2012 4:38 PM

The Seven Princes of Hell have their sacrifice.

Posted by: David McKinnis at March 11, 2012 4:48 PM

Good read! I wanted to pass along my humble contributions to this sordid mess:

http://teresainfortworth.wordpress.com/2012/03/01/pay-to-play-or-no-i-dont-want-to-subsidize-your-sex-life/

http://teresainfortworth.wordpress.com/2012/03/09/fisking-flukes-fables/

My guess is that she is getting a (very) small taste of what Sarah Palin has gone through. The difference is that Ms. Palin has never seen herself as a victim....

Posted by: Teresa in Fort Worth at March 11, 2012 5:03 PM

Teresa, I love it when you begin with "Sandra Fluke’s parents must be so proud."

I wanted to say that but I couldn't work it in.

Posted by: vanderleun at March 11, 2012 5:47 PM

Is Monica Lewinsky still a spinster? Is Sandra most likely doomed to remain one? Sweet karma.

Posted by: Grizzly at March 11, 2012 8:50 PM

She will be surprised when she achieves her not-really goal to have taxpayers subsidize her libidinous activities. John Taxpayer will be surprised, not really, to be find himself double-tapped by paying for her time in some future public sector patronage appointment to screw with his life.

Posted by: at March 11, 2012 9:33 PM

I recently read on a baseball site about a girl at Duke University ($40,000 per annum) who wrote her thesis about her experience having sex with several athletes at the school in all the lurid details. I'm thinking what's her major, skankology?
There are girls in my town getting their thesis in that subject for $10 and a crack rock.

Posted by: bill at March 11, 2012 9:51 PM

She might actually think that this would be an improvement to her social life. She's wrong, of course, but that never stopped anyone before.

Grizzly said: "Is Monica Lewinsky still a spinster? Is Sandra most likely doomed to remain one? Sweet karma."

Men want to date a fast girl; but few want to marry one.

Posted by: Mikey NTH at March 12, 2012 7:40 AM

A Women's Studies major who's going to law school.

One would have thought this would be the only birth control necessary.

Posted by: Rob De Witt at March 12, 2012 7:57 AM

Gloria,

Just think of it as evolution in action.

Posted by: pdwalker at March 12, 2012 9:17 AM

When I first saw her on TV, I was reminded of that photo of Cindy Sheehan alone in her tent selling her book. Useful idiot #455,798 for the Democrats and media.

Posted by: halfacarafe at March 13, 2012 2:37 PM

Ummm, as much as I'd LOVE to agree with your analysis, I simply can't. Where do you live? If you live in the major cosmopolitan cities where most people are diehard liberals, you would know that people who favor your analysis are FEW AND FAR BETWEEN. Her reputation is rock solid anywhere she cares to be. Everywhere she travels in this particular world, she will be hailed as a heroine, a champion for women's rights. She will get the job she always wanted and because of her ‘exalted’ deeds, enjoy job stability for life. Do you think she was looking to work at the Heritage Foundation post graduation, for the Republican Party? Do you think she cares what you think? Do you think your derision affects her in the least? I wish it did but it doesn’t. She is not Monica Lewinsky or Hilary--while her campaign does rest on a sort of victimhood, she is actually the warrior, the alpha in this situation, not the victim who overcomes adversity. Hilary and Monica never meant to gain fame through their humiliation, they never sought to change policy or hearts or minds. They never intended their private shame to go public or political. If they tried to make the best of it, good for them I guess. Who should judge a woman for standing by her husband--she took vows did she not??? It always seemed to me that Hilary and Bill had some sort of friendship. Most people with successful marriages know that friendship provides a rock solid foundation. However, I don't know this any more than I know whether she stayed with Bill for her personal ambitions. What I do know is that she is an incredibly educated and intelligent woman. Whether I agree with her politics or not, her talents should not be undermined. That would be pathetic, stupid, and petty. Lemme tell ya she wasn’t gonna be working at the local Dollar General or Red Lobster, with or without Bill. Hasn’t anyone heard that smart, talented people are attracted to each other. Power couple, anyone? Jealousy doesn't win elections and it certainly doesn't make Hilary Clinton any less capable in her own right. Would you have been happier if she had married Bobby Brown or a blue collar guy? Shame on her for having preferences and savvy. I'm sure no parent in America wants their daughter to grow up to be First Lady...

Love the poster by the way.

www.ideniselustafter.com

Posted by: www.ideniselustafter.com at March 26, 2012 8:11 PM