It Continues to Be a Real Mystery Why Republicans Aren't Connecting with a Majority of Female Voters

[Content Note: Misogyny; objectification. NB: Not only women can get pregnant and breastfeed.]

Republican Alaska state representative Shelley Hughes has apologized after sending out a press release promoting her resolution encouraging hospitals to promote breastfeeding under the subject line: "Smart and Sexy: Legislature Encourages Hospitals to Promote Breastfeeding."

"My intent was to draw attention to this incredibly important issue. Unfortunately, this is not the kind of attention I hoped to receive. I take full responsibility for the headline. I apologize for the poor choice of words, and am sorry if I offended anyone," she said in a statement.

The "poor choice of words." She's sorry "if" she offended anyone. Perfect.

Amanda Coyne, who first noted the press release, writes: "It's unclear if either of the two press secretaries, who are both men, wrote the release or if it came directly from Hughes's office. The press office wasn't available late Monday night, and nobody at Hughes's office answered the phone. It's also unclear for whom breastfeeding is supposed to be sexy: The baby? The mother? The viewer?"

So, basically, this is the Republican position on reproduction (which disappears people who aren't women from the reproductive process altogether): Women's bodies are nothing more than "hosts" to incubate babies, and the breasts they use to nourish babies are nothing more than titillating sex objects. Cool.

All of which is to say nothing of the fact that this legislation seems to imply that new mothers are selfish nincompoops who refuse to breastfeed (much like how abortion-seeking women are selfish nincompoops who refuse to take responsibility for their slutty ways), ignoring the structural barriers for many new mothers, like a lack of paid family leave from jobs that provide no meaningful accommodations for breastfeeding women.