Repeal of 'Woman Slander' Law Sought

[Kire]

Repeal of 'Woman Slander' Law Sought
Mon Jan 24, 2:47 PM ET

By REBECCA COOK, Associated Press Writer

OLYMPIA, Wash. - Go ahead, call state Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles a scurvy wench, a wanton strumpet, a shameless hussy. She probably won't like it, but she doesn't want you to be prosecuted for it.

The Seattle Democrat is sponsoring a bill to repeal a 1909 Washington state law that makes "slander of a woman" a crime.

It is not that Kohl-Welles, a women's studies lecturer at the University of Washington, wants to hear women slandered. But she believes the law is a relic of a time when men put women on a pedestal and denied them basic rights.

"This is one of those old laws that is really irrelevant now," Kohl-Welles said. She added that it almost surely violates the state and federal constitutions.

More: http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050124/ap_on_re_us/slander_of_women

[rodeodance]

1. keep it on the books and add other genders-

[Vektor]

2. Good idea!!!

Make slander against anyone a crime. Then maybe next election, we can talk about the real issues instead of being subjected to the Swift Boat Maggots for the Right Wing and all their drivel.

[no_hypocrisy]

4. There isn't a male equivalent for "bitch" or "cunt".

What do you suggest? "Asshole" is rather universal.

This discussion is moral, ethical, etc., not legal. The law should either be repealed or struck down by a court.

[lectrobyte]

5. You never hear a guy referred to as a "prick" ?

[AngryAmish]

6. Plenty of males get called cunt

More popular in the UK, but can be applied to both genders.

[gtp1976]

7. wouldn't "bastard" = "bitch?"

Not sure about "cunt" but "prick" might be close. And if you call someone a "son of a bitch" are you insulting them, their mom or both? :-)

[Deja Q]

3. Slander a crime... nice. But the repukes will use trickery to ensure

(a) they never get in trouble.

(b) everybody else does get in trouble, even for the slightest hint of slander. Look at DUers' understandable attitudes toward the neocons (which are not the same as republicans; I know three, possibly four, who ain't so happy right now about how things are going... )

[Raised_In_The_Wild]

8. All bets are off when it comes to language, the vice retard has

approved usage of the word fuck in the United States Senate, and if that big ugly heartless dick can say whatever he wants wherever he wants, so can the rest of us. (BTW, even his mother called him dick.)

[Raised_In_The_Wild]

9. Chaney_Tourettes Syndrome, I like to call it. n/t