Military Women’s Groups Push To Pull Limbaugh From Armed Forces Radio

At least two military servicewomen’s groups are pushing to have Rush Limbaugh pulled from the military’s radio stations. SWAN, the Service Women’s Action Network, and a group of women veterans operating through Vote Vets are demanding American Forces Network radio drop Limbaugh for his misogynistic attacks against Sandra Fluke, two women journalists, and reproductive rights.

Fortunately, they’re getting some high-level support from Democratic Senator Carl Levin, the Chairman of the powerful Senate Armed Services Committee, who, as The New Civil Rights Movement reported yesterday, called Limbaugh’s show “offensive” and supports dropping Limbaugh from AFN radio.

“Service Women’s Action Network (SWAN) applauds Senator Carl Levin’s endorsement to remove the Rush Limbaugh show from Armed Forces Radio,” Anu Bhagwati, SWAN Executive Director and a former Marine captain said in a statement to The New Civil Rights Movement. “SWAN urges Secretary of Defense Leon Panatta and General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to join more than 46 advertisers who have pulled their ads from the Rush Limbaugh show. The backlash to Mr. Limbaugh’s regrettable misogynistic name calling of Sandra Fluke, a Georgetown University law student reflects a growing consensus in America that bigotry in any form is not acceptable. Out of respect for service women, SWAN believes Armed Forces Radio should remove the show immediately.”

And The Huffington Post reported this week:

“A group of female military veterans issued a statement on Monday calling for Limbaugh’s show to be pulled from the airwaves of the American Forces Network. AFN is a government-run media service that provides television and radio programming to American service members overseas.

“When many of our female troops use birth control, for Limbaugh to say they are ‘sluts’ and ‘prostitutes’ is beyond the pale,” the women wrote. “It isn’t just disrespectful to our women serving our country, but it’s language that goes against everything that makes our military work.”

The statement was issued through VoteVets, a progressive veterans organization. Miranda Norman, a veteran of the Oklahoma National Guard who now advises VoteVets, told The Huffington Post that the comments were “offensive” to women in the military and “downplays the role that we serve.” She argued that birth control can be vital to women in uniform, saying “women in the military use [contraception] when they’re deployed to make smart decisions for their family, to make smart decisions about being a soldier.”

As The New Civil Rights Movement also mentioned yesterday, we feel there is a clear relationship between the high incidence of rape and sexual trauma in the military, and the hostile environment for women the Rush Limbaugh show breeds and perpetuates. All the more reason to pull Limbaugh from the air.