Huckabee & the "Scourge" of Single Motherhood: A Personal Story

"Most single moms are very poor, uneducated, can’t get a job and if it weren't for government assistance, their kids would be starving to death and never have health care. And that’s the story that we’re not seeing, and it’s unfortunate that we glorify and glamorize the idea of out of children wedlock.[sic]"     --Former Gov. Mike Huckabee

I was 25 years old when it became clear to me that my (now ex) husband didn't have the maturity, desire, or will to fight his severe drug addiction.  But it was the night he called me, high as a kite, and threatened to rape and murder me in front of our daughter that my decision was made for me.  I didn't want my daughter to grow up thinking that that's the way women are supposed to be treated, so I became a single mom.

Even so, it was an agonizing decision.  Not because of my ex-husband--his addiction and abuse had long since killed any positive emotion I had toward him--but because I was terrified of the prospect of becoming a single mother.  Growing up in the Bible Belt, I had been socialized since I was very young that women were incapable of raising a child on their own.  Becoming a single mother was not an easy decision to make, even if the alternative meant a lifetime of pain, abuse, misery, and neglect.

She Was Asking For It: HR 3 and the Sexual Assault of Lara Logan

More than 60% of rapes go unreported. Given how our
society blames the victims, it's no wonder why.

Between 1 in 4 and 1 in 6 women will be sexually assaulted in their lifetime; only 39% report the crime (Source: National Crime Victimization Survey, 1999).

The reason that more than 60% of rapes go unreported is because many women are too scared.  Some of them are scared of their attacker, but most are more afraid of being labeled, libeled, and left longing for justice and feeling like it's their fault.

Sexual assault, "victim blaming" and sexism go hand-in-hand.  No matter how heinous the crime or how clear the circumstances, women are constantly blamed for their misfortune in allowing themselves to become a victim.  If she's attractive, she should have been more careful.  If she was dressed provocatively, or even if she was wearing anything short of a burka, she was asking for it. If she had a healthy sex life, she was a slut and therefore her "claim" of assault is suspect.  If she was a woman in a predominately male profession or doing a particularly risky job, then she was just a silly girl who should have known her place.

All of these accusations have been thrown at the incredibly brave, exceedingly talented Lara Logan.