Quote of the Day: Ashley Judd is just like Todd Akin

In the latest conservative attempt to discredit Ashley Judd before she’s even said she’s running for the Senate, the Daily Caller points to her history of “bizarre” feminist comments:

By getting in the race with this sort of baggage, Judd runs the risk of being portrayed as a Todd Akin-esque candidate – meaning voters simply decide she’s unqualified to serve as a senator, because her comments are so outrageous and extreme that people can’t bring themselves to vote for her.

LOL. Yep, recognizing that sexism exists and believing that is a problem is “outrageous” and “extreme.” Totally the same as taking the fringe position of opposing abortion in cases of rape and making offensive–and scientifically ignorant–comments suggesting that women regularly lie about being raped or that some kinds of rape aren’t that bad.

As Tim Murphy notes, it’s possible that Judd’s outspoken commitment to gender equality could make her too liberal for Kentucky, “but there’s nothing ‘bizarre’ about feminism.” Besides, two recent surveys found her trailing Sen. Mitch McConnell by just a few percentage points. So maybe Kentuckians aren’t as averse to this outlandish feminism thing as conservatives would like to believe.

St. Paul, MN

Maya Dusenbery is executive director in charge of editorial at Feministing. She is the author of the forthcoming book Doing Harm: The Truth About How Bad Medicine and Lazy Science Leave Women Dismissed, Misdiagnosed, and Sick (HarperOne, March 2018). She has been a fellow at Mother Jones magazine and a columnist at Pacific Standard magazine. Her work has appeared in publications like Cosmopolitan.com, TheAtlantic.com, Bitch Magazine, as well as the anthology The Feminist Utopia Project. Before become a full-time journalist, she worked at the National Institute for Reproductive Health. A Minnesota native, she received her B.A. from Carleton College in 2008. After living in Brooklyn, Oakland, and Atlanta, she is currently based in the Twin Cities.

Maya Dusenbery is an executive director of Feministing and author of the forthcoming book Doing Harm on sexism in medicine.

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