Michigan state Rep. Laurie Pohutsky told a crowd of protestors at the Michigan state Capitol building earlier this week that she had elective surgery to remove her reproductive organs out of concern about contraception access.

State Rep. Laurie Pohutsky’s account was cheered by the left-leaning protestors and condemned by right-wing social media accounts.

The 36-year-old Democrat said the surgery was a personal decision she had been considering for a few years and was finalized by Trump’s election. She wanted to validate the fears other women might have about access to contraception by sharing it.

She told The Associated Press that she has received threats since speaking this week, referring at least one of them to Michigan authorities. The Associated Press reached out to Michigan State police for comment.

“I don’t fully grasp the level of animosity that people have about this,” Pohutsky said.

  • PhilipTheBucket@ponder.cat
    4·
    1 month ago

    Yeah.

    I don’t really know, but what it looks like to me is that humans have some ugly wiring to figure out who’s “supposed” to be a boss, and who’s supposed to be a peon. And they’ll get upset if someone is behaving outside of their assigned role.

    It’s why the Trump people think it’s normal for them to bully or harass or silence someone, but it’s all of a sudden a crisis when someone does it to them. It’s why no one really minds if someone is getting bullied in school, but then if they start fighting back, it’s a crisis.

    I won’t say that the wiring did not originally have a good purpose, but it feels like in the modern environment (with less urgent threats to our safety which demand tight-knit cohesion and organization to the tribe, and more loose interactions with a wider world of millions where there’s no opportunity for checks and balances to come into who’s “supposed” to be treated like the boss), it needs to go.