The XX Factor

Sean Duffy Wants You To Know He Doesn’t Have a Vagina

Sean Duffy brags about a life lived free of the stirrups.
“I’ve never used a tampon, either.”

Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images

Sean Duffy is extremely concerned that you understand that he does not have a vagina, so much so that clarifying this critical issue trumps other, more pedestrian concerns, like explaining his policy viewpoints when directly asked about them by constituents. At a town hall meeting last week, the congressman from Wisconsin and former holder of the slot for the “smug but clueless white guy” on The Real World responded to a question about his views on mandatory transvaginal ultrasounds for women seeking abortion by talking about what really matters, which is that one of those transvaginal thingamabobs will never violate the holy manflesh of Sean Duffy. 

Questioner: I’m wondering about whether or not Rep. Duffy if you would support the legislation that’s in the Wisconsin legislature called “Right To Know Your Unborn Child.” And if, because you’ve said in the past that you are 100 percent pro-life, would you support federal legislation to require trans-vaginal ultrasounds for pregnant women? And if not, then why?

Duffy: I don’t know what a trans-vaginal ultrasound is?

Questioner: You don’t?

Duffy: No … I haven’t had one. [Laughter from the room]

Questioner: It’s been in the news … [Inaudible]

Questioner: Right now it’s being discussed on the Wisconsin level, I realize you’re not involved in that but is this something that you would support on the federal level?

Duffy: I haven’t heard of it. And just like I told you I’m pro-life, and I know that you are too, but I’m not willing to say I’ll support what you’re talking about because I haven’t seen the bill, even though we’re probably in agreement on that issue.

As usual, the audio makes it all the more dazzling:

The questioner, whom Duffy identifies as pro-life, seems to be truly thrown for a loop by Duffy’s attempt to joke his way out of answering her question, and who can blame her? She thought they were all friends here, and now he’s fronting like he has no idea what she’s talking about. Still, if you parse his loopy answer, he seems to be saying that he’s all for mandatory transvaginal ultrasounds, but he doesn’t want to say so directly because he knows it’s unpopular. Of course, his strategy, to make jokes that imply he’s put upon by having to discuss the icky lady parts he dearly wants to regulate, has a track record of being an ineffective strategy to convince people that you’re motivated by anything other than hostility towards women.