No Sex Please, We're Voting

[marmar]

from HuffPost:




Morra Aarons-Mele
No Sex Please, We're Voting
Posted December 5, 2007 | 06:12 PM (EST)



Want a sure-fire way to keep women away from the polls? How about calling large groups of them "single and anxious"?

I opened a blog post yesterday to the lede: "It's almost official. Single women are poised to be the "Security Mom" or "Soccer Mom" of the 2008 election. They even have their own easy to remember moniker: the "Single Anxious Female."

If you follow politics, you've no doubt heard that unmarried women represent a holy grail of voters: 50 million or so likely Democrats that year after year, flirt with voting and political activism, but don't commit. This cycle, they're dubbed the "Sex and the City voters." To woo these women, the establishment provides celebrities, and catchy spots laced with sexual innuendo--ooh, winking about their first time! Voting, that is.

My friend and Democratic pollster Margie Omero sent me the post about the Single Anxious Female frame. She noted to me, "Women, across marital status groups, vote at a higher rate than do men. But the coverage stemming from concern about "Single Anxious Women" (even called the "Sex in the City Voter") not only doesn't reflect the data, it trivializes women." Even in 2007, women are pitched civics lessons as if we can only relate to global affairs if the issues are dressed in sexy shoes, just folks style dishing, or are at lunch with Samantha, Carrie and the girls.

Margie writes that the frame "about single women and voting is not borne out by the data. There is indeed a "Marriage Gap" among women. Married people vote at a higher rate than non-married people. But the marriage gap is actually larger among men. According to Census reports from the 2004 election, married men are as likely to vote (63% turnout) as married women (65%). But unmarried men (which includes single, divorced, separated, and widowed) are substantially less likely to vote (46%) than unmarried women (55%). The marriage gap is 10 points among women, and is nearly twice that (18 points) among men.

"If you look specifically at single, never-married adults, this pattern holds. A majority of single women voted in 2004 (52%), compared to fewer single men (43%). This is even true with 18 to 24 year-olds (47% of single women in that group vote, compared to 40% of single men)."

So I guess single men are too busy playing Guitar Hero to vote. How come they don't have a stereotypical name to describe their supposed wont at the polls? .......(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/morra-aaronsmele/no-sex-please-were-voti_b_75401.html

[Lautremont]

1. These women are quite simply too busy trying on swimsuits

and then shouting "Aaaack!" into the mirror.