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Bette Midler called 'secret conservative' for touting sex strike to protest Texas abortion law

Bette Midler was slammed as people thought she was pushing abstinence to fight Texas' anti-abortion law

Ancient Athenian playwright Aristophanes’ comedy ‘Lysistrata’ saw the eponymous character find an unorthodox solution to end the Peloponnesian War — she convinced the women of Athens and Sparta to withhold sexual contact until the war ended. While Lysistrata was successful, nearly 2,500 years later, American singer-songwriter and actor Bette Midler’s similar solution to end Texas’ war on women’s bodies — their right to choose — was met with a less than enthusiastic response. 

A new Texas law that practically bans abortion after six weeks went into effect this week, with the passive assent of the US Supreme Court. Texas’ law, SB 8, permits “any person, other than an officer or employee of a state or local governmental entity in this state” to file a lawsuit against an abortion provider or anyone who “aids or abets the performance or inducement of an abortion.” 

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As has been reported by a number of medical and news organizations, six weeks into a pregnancy is often very soon after a pregnant person misses their first menstrual period. In all likelihood, women may not even be aware that they are pregnant until it is too late. Abortion providers who are suing to block SB 8 claim that at least 85 percent of abortions in Texas take place after the sixth week of pregnancy.

So, what is Bette Midler’s solution to this law that is worthy of Margaret Atwood’s fictional Republic of Gilead? Midler tweeted, “I suggest that all women refuse to have sex with men until they are guaranteed the right to choose by Congress.”

Midler’s solution, while well-meaning, is problematic. And it was pointed out by many on Twitter. “So Bette Midler the secret conservative preaching abstinence,” read one response, that seemed to be a central theme of the criticism. Another tweet read, “Did Bette Midler become conservative? This tweet is suggesting abstinence and that’s basically what conservatives have been preaching for years.”

A paper published in the Journal of Adolescent Health in September 2017 saw researchers argue the inefficacy of such programs that typically advocate monogamous, heterosexual marriage. Laura Lindberg, a coauthor of the report and a research scientist at the Guttmacher Institute, a reproductive health research group that supports abortion rights, argued that abstinence-only sex education is "not just unrealistic, but it leaves our young people without the information and skills that they need.” She said, "we fail our young people when we don't provide them with complete and medically accurate information."

The paper’s analysis confirmed previous public health findings that abstinence-only education programs don't succeed in reducing rates of teen pregnancies or STDs/STIs. Public health data also indicate that such programs "have little demonstrated efficacy in helping adolescents to delay intercourse.” Promoting abstinence until marriage as the only legitimate option for young people "violates medical ethics and harms young people," Lindberg argued. 

Of course, Midler was also cheered by many. But criticism was more abundant in her replies and in quoted tweets. “What is a sex strike going to do besides reinforce patriarchal notions that women have sex only to please men?” asked one person. “Lysistrata is not an effective organizing tool. Instead, fuck whomever and support abortion funds.”

Another tweet said, “This implies that women don’t have sex for their enjoyment, that sex is something we do for men and that sex is something done to us, not with us. It is the antithesis of bodily autonomy, which should be at the center of these conversations.”

Others pointed out, “This would work if conservatives actually cared about consent. The fact that they passed this law in the first place confirms it.” One tweet said, “Bette Midler. I think the problem with a sex strike is that the men you are trying to hurt with the sex strike are already bastards to begin with and aren't the type of people who ask for consent for sex or anything else in the first place, so the lesson would be lost on them.”