The real problem with Limbaugh

It's not the "slut" and "prostitute" slurs or the insinuation that Miss Fluke offer the world free pornos in exchange for subsidizing her contraceptive fix. And it's not even that Limbaugh, on the face of it, is just a nasty, narrow-minded, clueless goon of a man desperate for ratings (and perhaps a roll in the hay). No, it goes even deeper.

Limbaugh's rise to media power -- especially during an age when so many of my peers are flailing about as unemployed, unpaid or just as bad underpaid scribes/broadcasters/etc. -- points to what's really wrong with society. It's called Misogyny.

Left unchecked, it allows for everything from the JFK mistresses to the wink from the boss who gives his 22-year-old waitress more hours than her gray-haired counterparts. Misogyny is the father who urges his daughter to quit competing so hard on the soccer team, and just settle down and have kids. It's the uncle who scolds his niece for a ten-pound weight gain on the same day she shows him her A+ on the Chemistry paper.

Misogyny is so pervasive in society that I dare say, we are all to blame. Everyone who's cheered on a Miss USA pageant contestant or bought the Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition is guilty of perpetuating this stereotype: that women are commodities. Much like sugar, oil and gold, the commodities are valued, but only in the sense of what they can bring to the buyer.

So no, Mr. Limbaugh, it was not Miss Fluke who was the prostitute in this scenario. But you know that now. And all the riches in the world cannot undue the damage due to the billions of women who've walked this earth, only to find their intoxicating scent far more compelling than the ministrations of their minds.