[Cross-posted from the ProgressMass blog. Like ProgressMass on Facebook and follow on Twitter.]
A little over a month ago, on Mother’s Day, this question was posed:
With today being Mother’s Day and this time of year being high school prom season, it seems an appropriate time to ask this question of the moms across the Commonwealth. Imagine your daughter’s prom date talked to her like this:
“You can pound those pretty good. Sit down. Try this one. I’ve seen you [at the parties] before, don’t act like you’ve never been to a [party],” he said, sliding over a stool. “We’re gonna have her dancing in the back of the truck.”
Imagine your daughter’s date continued with this exchange:
Your Daughter’s Date: “Wanna try another one?”
Your Daughter: “No.”
Your Daughter’s Date: “One more. One more.”
Wouldn’t you be concerned about the behavior of your daughter’s date? Would you want your daughter going out on another date with this person?
Well, if that type of talk leaves you a little disturbed, you might be surprised to learn that this is exactly how Republican Scott Brown talked to a female reporter at a campaign stop just one month ago. And you’re right to be disturbed and concerned.
Saying “we’re gonna have her dancing in the back of the truck” isn’t the way a prom date should be talking to your daughter, and it certainly isn’t the way a U.S. Senator should talk about a reporter.
The same question goes out to the fathers out there on Father’s Day. Especially you dads with daughters, would you want to hear some guy say about your daughter, “We’re gonna have her dancing in the back of the truck”? How would you react to hearing that language uttered by some guy talking about your daughter?
Moreover, dads with daughters and wives, would you want someone telling your daughter or wife that it’s OK if she makes substantially less than a man for doing the same work? Because that’s what Scott Brown said with his vote against the Paycheck Fairness Act. Would you want your daughter’s or wife’s boss denying her health care coverage? Because that’s what Scott Brown would allow bosses to do under the Blunt Amendment that he co-sponsored.
On Father’s Day, it’s important to recognize that Scott Brown’s record and rhetoric aren’t just lousy for women – they’re also lousy for the men who love them.
(And, hey, if Scott Brown thinks it’s OK to pander to women by pretending to fold laundry, then surely it’s OK to remind men on Father’s Day that Brown wanted to kick the Boston Red Sox out of Fenway Park and out of Boston.)
