I think we may have a chance here to pick up one of these crazy rumors as it is being spawned and pushed. This one is being sent around the Web with this text:
In recent weeks, the GOP attack on contraceptives and women’s rights has been returning to the legislative tables, and causing a stir among women’s rights activists and media outlets nationwide.
Now it seems that many within the Republican party who strive to ban contraceptive use also see it as a necessity to prohibit the use of tampons, and seek to ban the sales of these and similar products as soon as possible.
Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) recently put together an all male panel for discussion at the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform hearing on the contraceptive coverage rule and excluded women from the conversation. It seems that he is set to establish a similar group of men to discuss the use of tampons within a woman’s vagina.
It is unnatural for a woman to insert a foreign object into her body for the sake of stopping the menstrual flow. I, as well as several others seek to eliminate the sales of such objects. Women should let nature take care of itself the way that our Almighty Creator intended. To try to manipulate and control such an occurrence goes against God’s plan for women.
Initial drafts of this new legislation have already been brought before Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), and several other GOP Congressmen. It is likely to come to a vote as early as next month. If passed, tampons will no longer be available to sell or purchase, and women will have to find an alternative means to alleviate menstrual excreta.
Several Democratic Congresspeople are already petitioning in dissent of this new piece of legislation, and will not give up without a fight to preserve a woman’s right to take care of her own body as she deems most effective.
This is pretty much a classic urban legend: it cites no sources, but it has a lot of little details intended to give artistic verisimilitude to an otherwise bald and unconvincing narrative. But then some of those details are … off. Like “Congresspeople petitioning in dissent.” I don’t know that I’ve ever seen that phrase in print, and it immediately raises questions like “petitioning whom?” Googling for that phrase brings up — this same report, repeated over and over. In fact, this complete text appears to be the only place in which this story appears, and it’s not on news sites — although if previous experience is any guide, it will be, reported as “there is a story that” or “it is reported that”.
All in all, this is a pretty fresh one. Steaming.
Update: Okay, so I was a little too subtle, in that the site I cite is a satire site and the probable source. But google for a sentence from the story and see how many times it’s being referenced as true.
Update 2: At 4:33PM PDT, Google gives me 2600 hits of sites reporting it as true. See, for example, here, where it’s now attributed to the Republican Party Platform.
next they will find a sympathetic “victim” and put her in front of the cameras, weeping about why she cant afford tampons and why the government should provide them for free.
they will claim that the mormon religion prohibits the use of tampons, so a vote for romney will mean “turning back the clock” to the days when women used kotex pads.
how sexist! how insensitive to women! if only men had to wear kotex pads, they would understand how uncomfortable and inefficient they really are!
obamaphones today, otampax tomorrow! forward!
(i just couldnt resist)
I think you’re onto something with the drive to make feminine hygiene supplies an “entitlement” like everything else; they’ve already tried it with diapers. (Me, I’d allow people to purchase toilet paper, tampons, soap, and toothpaste with food stamps and disallow soda and candy, because I’m not as “caring” as the proggs who run the program…)
Meanwhile, when the left complains about Republicans doing something, you can bet they’re doing it (or planning on doing it) themselves. And Eco-fascists have proposed banning disposable feminine hygiene items for the same reasons they propose banning disposable diapers–plastic, landfills, Teh Planet. Obamacare was going to tax tampons as “medical devices” and I’m not sure anyone knows yet how that’s going to pan out.
And don’t forget Obama’s domestic policies–skyrocketing energy costs, inflating the money supply–have driven up the cost of tampons and pads since 2009, along with food and clothing and cat litter and everything else.
there isn’t a great deal of plastic in a tampon. where I come from they’re pure cotton, and no ‘eco-terrorist’(!) (lol at american paranoia. omg. there’s terorisms everywhere! quick! panic!)
americans are insane, but I’d like to thank you for being so entertaining whilst your country combusts into a third-rate third-world hell-hole! cheers!
I don’t know about terrorists everywhere, but there certainly are high concentrations of cretins everywhere.
I’m also willing to bet that the tampons in your country are manufactured by a company based in mine.
Here in the developed world, tampons have plastic applicators. And they’re made of rayon, not cotton, for improved comfort and absorbtion.
Had a good laugh at your ignorant snotty flame post, though, and please don’t come back when you’re done leaking all over your knickers.
Perhaps if the ecojihadists get out of the way (of drilling, pipelines, nuclear, coal, cars, etc), then perhaps we would not be sliding so fast. Normal Americans are concerned with how to heat their homes and get to work and buy groceries. I don’t know what country you are in, but there is a good chance you are mooching off of American in one way or another. Guess who pays for our international welfare… the middle class. Keep pushing to necessarily skyrocket energy costs and Joe taxpayer isn’t going to tolerate sending money or military strength to bail out other countries anymore. If anything, we are going broke because of the international mooches.
I think Zombie once posted a photo from an OWS camp of a menstrual cup promoting occupier.
This satire should have been a harmless bit of comic relief in an otherwise deadly serious campaign. I can’t imagine anyone could fall for it. To hear that people are attributing to the GOP platform just floors me!
OMG, people who are that gullible are out walking around unsupervised? Maybe the Left will put several million dollars into campaign ads featuring teary women whose life has been ruined by the heartless denial of tampons. Now that would be hysterical.
Fairly sure it’s a joke… just like everything else on that site
Google a full sentence from it: if it’s a joke it’s getting a lot of circulation.
Well yeah that is true and depressing. But ironically the site you linked to was clearly a joke site which hardly reinforces your point.
“News that’s almost reliable”
They have stories with title like “Ann Romney: Big Bird ‘Better Look Out Come Thanksgiving’”
These are the same people who think that questions about The Newspaper’s birth are a sign of moronic gullibility, yes?
That’s an Onion wannabe site.
Yeah, and? A lot of the Palin rumors were started as “obvious jokes”. But see http://www.topix.com/forum/city/cape-girardeau-mo/TGE5DEL130I5FJCRH
http://iunia-kallistrate.tumblr.com/post/33042054723/it-is-unnatural-for-a-woman-to-insert-a-foreign
http://cuddlesandkiddens.tumblr.com/post/18629238903/typicalxtori-this-be-drifter
And a comment at Free Wood tells us why ‘jokes’ become the truth for a lot of people: “The trick to good satire is to write something absurd yet plausible. Considering the propensity of the right wing to ban contraception, it really doesn’t seem too much more to ban tampons”
What is absurd here is that he thinks this is actually plausible.
It’s more than plausible to the progs… it’s ironclad confirmation of what they’ve always believed. Only a cartoon character could match the fantasy conservative they carry around in their heads to argue with. So naturally a satirical caricature fits their template exactly.
Tell progressives today that Sarah Palin never claimed she could see Russia from her house and after a brief pause, they will invariably respond with “Well, it doesn’t matter, everyone knows she’s stupid.”
Actually, if Palin’s house was on Little Diomede Island USA, she COULD see Russia – in the form of Big Diomede Island, Russia – from her house. The strait between these two islands forms part of the border between Alaska and Russia. It is only 2.4 miles from Little Diomede to Big Diomede. Barring a heavy fog, you should easily be able to see one from the other.
..which is pretty close to her actual comment, that from the westernmost Aleutian Islands (in the state she governed yada yada), you can see Russia.
The sad thing is that there are so many who will swallow this hook, line and sinker. In the real world, legislation like this would literally be mocked out of the chamber. The only people who want the GOP to “ban contraception” are liberals, because they can’t argue with our actual policy positions so they make ours up for us.
This is the foundation for the “Romney lied during the debate!” defense of Obama’s performance. They accuse Romney of “lying” because he refuses to concede to their description of HIS policies.
That’s exactly right – the real Romney at the debate was so obviously not the ludicrous straw man Obama has been demolishing that many viewers are right now wondering what else they know is wrong.
Explain to people who believe this that the GOP has taken the word “gullible” out of all dictionaries and have them look it up to see for themselves.
I once taped a piece of paper with the word “gullible” written on it to the ceiling in my living room. I’d point to it and say “Hey who wrote gullible on the ceiling?”. Most people didn’t look, but would laugh out loud later on when they snuck a peek.
Goes to show that liberals have no idea what conservatives are like.
Oh, they have a very good idea what conservatives are like. They also have a good idea of what vampires and unicorns are like.
Finally! Someone has explained why we need to “vote with our lady parts”.
It is from The Free Wood Post is a satire site. It publishes humor pieces, not news
stories.
http://www.freewoodpost.com/2012/02/29/newest-gop-attack-on-women-just-say-no-to-tampons/
Leaving aside the satire or black propaganda operation question the only places I can think of that have had a tampon ban (de facto and not de jure) was the former Soviet Union and today’s (or, at least, a few years ago) oligarchic Russia because incompetent supply never kept pace with demand. Hello, Irony.
Nah, the Gop doesn’t want to regulate tampons, on the other hand, the neocoms are regulating food, gas prices, energy prices, healthcare and internet access.
Nice Gilbert & Sullivan reference. Reinforces the fictional character of the rumor.
Little known fact: Tampons are a headache for sewage treatment plants, and a company called Muffin Monster makes a shredding device for sewage plants to shred floating solid objects. The word “muffin” was originally a euphemism for tampon.
So if anyone wants to ban tampons, it’s the government workers at the sewage treatment plants.
Prolly the anti-paper Greenies too.
“GOP Wants to Ban Tampons”
“No, we just think 21st-century feminists like Sanda Fluke should by their own tampons. But while you’re here, lets talk about getting reproductive rights for men…”
OK, I did get the hits with “Congresspeople petitioning in dissent” + tampons. And yes, many pinks are taking it seriously.
Male reproductive rights? Like men should be able to get birth control because that would be great, so women don’t always have to pay for contraceptives. It makes more sense to unload a gun than to shoot a bullet proof vest.
Sadly, the Misogynist Democrats have already created a new Tampon tax.
Washington Times 10/7/2009 http://www.washingtontimes.com/weblogs/back-story/2009/oct/07/a-new-mommy-tax/ — Max Baucus proposes taxing medical devices and specifically includes class 1 medical devices, including tampons. It was struck down at the time but ultimately included in Obamacare.
A thoroughly cited review by Lori Ziganto over at Red State http://www.redstate.com/snarkandboobs/2010/03/25/democrat-health-care-bill-is-sexist-and-anti-mom/ details the new Democrat/Obamacare tampon tax, breast pump tax etc (her column includes the links to the specific section of Obama Care creating the tax as well as the official list of class 1 medical devices).
No Joking.
Obambacare will in fact, create penalty taxes for the everyday necessities of womanhood, as well as ration cancer screenings for some of the most common and dangerous cancers that strike women.
You know how we’re always told that when you tax something you will get less of it. Well I for one, don’t want less women, but it sure seems like Obamacare does.
Their narratives fail even in when they’re trying to be funny.
That needs to get more play. I had no idea tampons were considered medical devices. Do those men think when we bleed we are wounded, or what? Bizarre.
Well, I understand that the Nanny State does want to ban tampons because they are associated with Toxic Shock Syndrome, which leads to excess health-care expenses. Buy pads—it costs society less.
If they’re conceded about toxic shock syndrome, please feel free to tell me how many women die of that a year. In what case have the death rate of toxic shock syndrome been higher that smoking and obesity. I think they should ban tampons, seeing that pads, are extremely uncomfortable and fill up land fills. As where tampons can be broken down in the sweets area, and don’t cause as much harm.
I don’t know. When I google the exact phrase, the only hits are this article. Without the exact phrase constraints, I get a lot of legal cases where “congress petitions” is the key.
Overblown.
https://www.google.com/search?q=It+is+unnatural+for+a+woman+to+insert+a+foreign+object+into+her+body+for+the+sake+of+stopping+the+menstrual+flow.&oq=It+is+unnatural+for+a+woman+to+insert+a+foreign+object+into+her+body+for+the+sake+of+stopping+the+menstrual+flow.&sugexp=chrome,mod=1&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
Extra Funny, since it’s Obama that wanted to tax tampons to pay for his healthcare monstrosity! Everyone knows that if you tax a behavior, you get less of it…..
Help spread this, it is a problem for Obama and his pals.
As Obama’s cover story comes down, the curtain goes up on the USAO’s cover-up of J.J., Jr.’s role in the Blago story
http://illinoispaytoplay.com/2012/10/05/as-obamas-cover-story-comes-down-the-curtain-goes-up-on-the-usaos-cover-up-of-j-j-jr-s-role-in-the-blago-story/
Ok, it’s official.
The Left has gone completely off the rails. AND they’re insane.
(But we knew that.)
haha! so much bitterness from the losing side!
Probably, but I prefer not to contaminate my computer by surfing to DailyKos and HuffPo.
I’ve thought it strange that during “Conservative Christian” George Bush’s eight years, there was no war on women. That would have been the perfect time to wage such a war. However, once a liberal Democrat takes office, there’s suddenly a war on women. Somehow, it doesn’t pass the sniff test for me.
Romney/Ryan…. pull the ripchord!
Just remember one of the rules of Journalism:
“If it bleeds, it leads.”
Don’t forget the Dems wanted to tax tampons (and condoms0 to pay for Obamacare – until they were ridiculed into exempting them by Repubs…http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32974002/ns/politics-health_care_reform/t/condoms-tampons-shielded-proposed-tax/#.UHMViVHZ1yI
If someone retweets garbage like this as being true, they should automatically lose their voting rights and have their mental capacity evaluated. Actually, I heard that this very thing is in the Democratic Platform, now. But, I don’t know if it’s true.
You all seem completely insane. No one wants the government to pay for our tampons. If you’re for less government, stay the hell away from OUR vaginas. Jesus, it’s not the complicated.
What the hell…. If they ban fucking tampons, do they really want to see women running everywhere with bloody spots on their pants… what the hell. seriously it is our damn bodies… not the fucking governments… they can’t tell us what we can and can’t put in our bodies…. Give me a fucking break….
Oh dear, you don’t know about the “green” alternative, do you? It’s called the “diva cup”. oog
Calm down honey. It’s called satire, that means the story is a joke. Take a deep breath, think with your brain not your vagina.
This was from a satire website and completely untrue.
Why are people retarded, oh my dear lord.
The Evas and Lilas of the world have abandoned their brains for their vaginas. The (not so) funny thing is that they truly believe that the GOP wants to ban tampons and contraceptives, but can’t comprehend what life without coal or oil or cars would be like. If they are the norm, we have already lost.
Romney could use this in his favor. Next debate, when Obummer uncorks another egregious lie, Romney turns to the camera, gives a little chuckle and says, “You know, if you believe that, you probably even believe the Republican party wants to ban tampons.”
I actually had some guy shove a microphone at me and ask me what I thought of the fact that “Romney has stated that once he gets in office he plans on banning tampons” while his friend filmed it. I was so stunned at the stupidity and absurdity of the question that I could only say “What” while my family and I just walked away. Looked like they were probably doing it for some “documentary” or youtube video. The sad thing is that there are plenty of people who will take it as the truth.
If this Guy wants to ban Tampons for them to not be put in a womans vagina. Then A mans dick should not be allowed into either because it causes scaring in the vigina and Men should be ban also.