May 26, 2016

the fox news title read: does Trump have a problem with women?

It is barely even worth discussing, but it is a no brainer that Trump has a problem. He has effectively communicated his complete lack of respect for women in countless ways, ranging from his dismissal of their words, to the bullying belittling way he addresses even females he pertains to like. This is not news, as it is not new, and is not even, necessarily, hotly contested.
What is worth discussing is the lack of problem so many people seem to have with this. What IS an issue, what isn’t a no brainer, and what is sad and unforgiveable is the fact that a large population sees Trump, hears Trump, and follows him, not despite his despicable attitudes towards women, but with complicit support of these beliefs.
People ask: how can any woman vote for Trump?
I don’t know, how can any woman hate herself for gaining wait, or measure herself against her husbands success, or belittle another woman for being something other than a charming accessory.
The sexism, the passive violence against women is so ingrained in our society, so pervasive and often unquestioned, that a better question to ask is not how can anyone vote for this person, but how can anyone, of any gender, stand this kind of discrimination against half the human race?
And the answer is simple: many people, in their heart of hearts, even if they are taking strides address it, still view women’s as most valuable when they are a good accessory and subset companion. You see it in the most simple language: we “protect” women because they are “someone’s mother or child”. As if we need to justify the value of their human life in context to what they mean to a male. You rarely see a male’s value justified in similar fashion. You see it in the many ways rape culture actualizes: instructing women in the myriad of ways they might protect themselves, versus the obvious other solution: ingraining that violence is not an option, of any kind, to women.  And you see it in the way women speak to women as well, magazine upon magazine preying insecurities rooted the very notion that we are not earning our worth if we are anything less than delicious arm candy. And yes, we see it in the way Megyn Kelly went back to interview Trump again, cowtowing to his abusive and bullying language, and taking it like a champ, because secretly so many people believed she had overstepped her bounds by expecting respect, requesting rhetoric of equality and inclusion. The barely concealed subtext is clear: she wasn’t bullied or abused, she was punished, like a child, corrected, as she should have been, for challenging what many see as a given.
Look, I know this will all come off as across the board angry feminism to many, and I can live with that. And I actually do believe there are a great many who walk and talk a dream of respect and equality for the half of the human race consistly deprived of it. But it is hard to read essay upon essay of “why doesn’ Trump have such a problem with women” when the answer is so clear: because Trump is a product of a society that has the same problem. And that is why they accept it, and why they won’t even consider it when it is time to cast a vote. Because what he is saying is actually not nearly as controversial as we wish it were.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Excellent post. Many good points.