Good morning!
From Quartz.com
HARASSER-IN-CHIEF
He’s confident, we’ll give him that. (Reuters/Stephen Lam)
Two things typically happen when Donald Trump speaks in public: Either he lies, or it becomes clear to everyone that he literally has no idea what he is talking about. Yet he seems to possess the ability to spread ignorance without facing consequences. For proof, we need only look at Trump’s blatant misogyny.
As with other topics, Trump’s opinions on sexual assault–which include alleging that all Mexican immigrants are rapists, blaming rape in the military on the presence of women, defending Mike Tyson, or just using inept metaphors–are deeply misguided and misleading. Meanwhile, a recent The New York Times article detailing decades of Trump’s sexist behavior towards women cited dozens of examples described in anodyne terms as “unwelcome romantic advances, unending commentary on the female form… and unsettling workplace conduct.”
The media has been inconsistent in its treatment of Trump’s flagrant sexism, sometimes criticizing it but other times reporting his statements with little pushback. Meanwhile, 70% of women view Trump unfavorably, up from 58% last summer, according to Gallup researchpublished in April. This reflects the fact that even women in Trump’s own party, particularly the married white women who could previously be relied upon to vote for the GOP candidate, reject him.
Trump is also deeply unpopular with women because most of us have had to deal with men like Trump all our lives.
Women are undoubtedly reacting to Trump’s unrepentant and explicit misogyny. But Trump is also deeply unpopular with women because most of us have had to deal with men like Trump all our lives. The fact that his misogyny has done little to hamper his success exposes the degree to which many Americans, especially men, continue to downplay the existence and impact of sexism and harassment.
Women hate Trump because he rubs our faces in just how little people care.
In recent polls, white men say they prefer Trump over Clinton by wide margins. A recent NBC/Wall Street Journal poll found that up to 20% of Bernie Sanders supporters—whose most ardent supporters are often white men—would vote for Trump over Clinton. That a nonpartisan gender divide such as this one exists is a testament to the deeply intimate and complicated nature of sexism.
The more sick things he does the more he normalizes it and gets away with it. Why? Because sadly, his actions are pretty darn normal. Oh…it’s just…Trump being Trump, a man being a man.
Trump is also deeply unpopular with women because most of us have had to deal with men like Trump all our lives.
It’s a function of cultural low expectations that many women don’t even realize that unwanted physical advances, sexually explicit remarks and lewd communications constitute legal harassment. However, in the past year alone, women in the field sciences, tech, philosophy, astronomy, economics, the financial sector, the political arena, the military, trucking, construction, sports, retail and restaurants, progressive spaces and conservative spaces have all come forward. Their stories of harassment spanned years, degrading their professional lives and opportunities and at times even tolerated by institutions.
In the workplace specifically, 75% of women reported being harassed by male coworkers, 49% by male clients or customers, and 38% by male managers. Harassment in America doesn’t come at the hands of a few “sick” outliers. These are our neighbors, friends, doctors, bus drivers, spouses, fathers and brothers. Our president. Harassment in America doesn’t come at the hands of a few “sick” outliers. These are our neighbors, friends, fathers, and brothers.
It’s a function of cultural low expectations that many women don’t even realize that unwanted physical advances, sexually explicit remarks and lewd communications constitute legal harassment. However, in the past year alone, women in the field sciences, tech, philosophy, astronomy, economics, the financial sector, the political arena, the military, trucking, construction, sports, retail and restaurants, progressive spaces and conservative spaces have all come forward. Their stories of harassment spanned years, degrading their professional lives and opportunities and at times even tolerated by institutions.
In the workplace specifically, 75% of women reported being harassed by male coworkers, 49% by male clients or customers, and 38% by male managers. Harassment in America doesn’t come at the hands of a few “sick” outliers. These are our neighbors, friends, doctors, bus drivers, spouses, fathers and brothers. Our president. Harassment in America doesn’t come at the hands of a few “sick” outliers. These are our neighbors, friends, fathers, and brothers.
The Times piece, “Crossing the Line: How Donald Trump Behaved with Women in Private,” illustrates the way that distinguishing between public and private sexual harassment has made it that much harder to identify and eradicate. Men frequently enforce heteronormativity in order to assert dominance, and they are just as likely to do it in the boardroom as they are on the street. The separation of the world into “public” and “private” is deeply patriarchal, stemming in part from the idea that “women’s issues” were not matters of public concern. There is no difference between the stranger who “accidentally” cups your breast on the subway, the boss who gives you a prolonged holiday hug, and the tipsy neighbor who gets a “little handsy” at a backyard barbecue. The social spillover costs are high.
Practically the only thing that sets Trump apart from your average street harasser is his brazenness.
I have written dozens of articles about street harassment. When I ask people who they think is most likely to harass women default images of construction workers, truck drivers and blue-collar workers are common. So are immigrants and minorities.
Elite white men rarely come to mind, making them the community most likely to get away with it. The demographics of class and labor mean that actual streets and sidewalks might indeed have disproportionately higher numbers of men of color, immigrant or ethnic minority men. However, in other public spaces where women are routinely harassed (corporate environments, digital spaces), harassers are more likely to be white and more affluent.
Trump brags about a lot of things—his business acumen, his personal fortune, his sexual prowess. But he is also an example of the way harassment can be scaled. Men like Trump hold sway over women as individuals, and they also dominate the media and the C-suite. When it comes to media, entertainment and tech, Trump is, demographically speaking, the average American business owner, investor, senior manager and decision-maker. What these “deciders” do in private matters to the public. And what they believe constitutes harassment influences what the public believes.
Meanwhile movies, video games, reality TV, professional sports, and pornography leverage objectification, racist tropes, and the eroticization of gender-based violence to the tune of millions and millions of dollars. It turns out sexism is quite lucrative.
Women compartmentalize our experiences in order to create a dissociative buffer.
And women are left to find our own coping mechanisms. We make distinctions between public and private, between “street” harassment and “work” harassment and “home” harassment. Compartmentalizing our experiences this way allows us to create a dissociative buffer between ourselves and contemporary gender and power dynamics.
The “art” of being Donald Trump is nothing but an ugly and age-old story about the consequences of fragile masculinity. If he is elected, the media, fully immersed in a “teach the controversy” approach to sexism and its impacts, will be at least partially culpable. Even if most men don’t express themselves the way Trump does, their silence—and their millions of votes—are revealing. Trump is just arrogant enough to reveal his structural privilege with his words.
Trump’s fans love him for his honesty, in all its sexist, racist, xenophobic glory. But what that really means is they love what he represents. Every day he makes their own behavior seem just a little less sexist and a little less racist by comparison. Every time Trump says something degrading about women on CNN and gets away with it, he creates a little bit more breathing room for all the employers who deep down want to require their female employees to wear high heels to work. If we elect him president, we will prove that despite the efforts of activists, America remains incapable of comprehensively and effectively confronting the harassment in our midst.
*****
Readers: This entire article is well written, but it is the last paragraph that I have had conversations about over the past few months with quite a few of my girlfriends. When someone, Trump, makes sexism and misogyny OK, and promotes it like it is no big deal, it gives young men and boys permission to do the same.
It sends a strong message to men and boys, that when a powerful public figure is running for office of the president and commits sexual assaults on women, and there is no consequences, then it is OK. It is not OK.
But men who prey on women, men who are just looking for an excuse to be disrespectful toward women, take advantage of or objectifying women, treating them as just a piece of meat, or a baby machine, can now think, “Hey, if America is going to accept Trump’s behavior, if America is going to let him get away with it, cool, I bet I can too.”
It is truly sickening. And I can only imagine the ripple that is traveling throughout the minds of men in our country as we all witness just what is happening in this political environment and how accepted this sick behavior is by so many.
But what disturbs me the most is that although Trump’s declining with women, there are still many who are voting for him. Yes, I know that I shouldn’t be surprised over the dumb as a box of rocks white women, but as I’ve said before, the logic escapes me. We used to say here that white women will go kicking and screaming to their freedom. I still believe that. I also believe they’ll go kicking and screaming through the glass ceiling too.
I’m seeking solidarity with the women of this country, because really, are you that stupid to vote against your own best interest or put your wellbeing and livelihood in the hands of a man like Trump? Evidently some women do.
So imagine what is going through the minds of young women and girls when they see their mothers, their aunts, their grandmothers, sisters, and girlfriends, defend Trump, vote for Trump?
It is truly disgusting. And I can only imagine the ripple that is traveling throughout the minds of women in our country as we all witness just what is happening in this political environment and how accepted this sick behavior is by so many.
Women and young girls already have to deal with the sexism and misogyny that is rampant in our society. But when the female role models in their lives side with a man such as Trump, and accept his behavior as just “locker room talk,” what does that say? How does it make them feel about their self worth? Who knows how deep this will penetrate into their subconscious and how it will affect our society.
As we get closer to election day and I hear about all of the votes coming in, the poll reports, she’s ahead, he’s ahead, I feel uneasy. Florida is looking good for us though, and that is a huge deciding factor in which candidate will reach 270. As much as Trump knows he’s defeated, he’s still pushing it like he’s winning. Why would I expect him to be truthful even to himself when he’s delusional and living in a fantasyland?
So we need to keep that in mind and keep going until there is no more hours left to vote. It’s not only the presidential race that matters, it’s getting back the Senate so we have the power to get stuff done, like appoint a new SCOTUS.
Vote early and vote Dem all the way. It is the only way.
Danielle: I like the way you think.
Alycedale: Thanks for posting that link. Unfortunately I got a 404 message -page is missing. I looked it up though and this is the place to go for that app: https://www.aclu.org/feature/aclu-apps-record-police-conduct
Janet: I got the same thing with your link. What’s going on? Here’s the correct link: http://866ourvote.org
Peace & Love & Good Health
Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.
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michelle
Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)
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