Woman Hatred, Fueled by Presidential Campaign, on the Rise
Much has been made of the rise in racist and xenophobic rhetoric, anti-Muslim attacks, and anti-Semitic trolling in the wake of Donald Trump鈥檚 ascent, and rightly so. But just as Trump鈥檚 promises to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border, block Muslim immigration, and restore 鈥渓aw and order鈥� have emboldened nativists and racists, so has his history of casual misogyny and alleged sexual assault (鈥済rab them by the pussy鈥�) energized an explicitly sexist element within the noxious 鈥淎lt-Right鈥� movement.
Though he is best known for his white nationalism, Alt-Right personality Richard Spencer has made it clear that women, too, would be marginalized in his fantasy world. During the first presidential debate of 2016, he tweeted that 鈥淸w]omen should never be allowed to make foreign policy. It鈥檚 not that they鈥檙e 鈥榳eak.鈥� To the contrary, their vindictiveness knows no bounds.鈥� Female citizens of his ideal white 鈥渆thno-state,鈥� he told The Washington Post, would stay at home and produce offspring.
And, according to Mother Jones, Spencer dismisses the idea that Trump鈥檚 alleged history of forcing himself on women, kissing and groping them without their consent, constitutes sexual assault. Indeed, he seems to endorse rape, writing, 鈥淎t some part of every woman鈥檚 soul, they want to be taken by a strong man.鈥�
Then there鈥檚 Stephen K. Bannon, chief White House strategist, who presided over far-right Breitbart News 鈥� which he called a 鈥減latform for the alt-right鈥� 鈥� when it featured headlines like, 鈥淏irth Control Makes Women Unattractive and Crazy鈥� and 鈥淲ould You Rather Your Child Have Feminism or Cancer?鈥� It also carried endless anti-feminist pieces by Alt-Right arch-troll Milo Yiannopoulos, who wrote in August, 鈥淚n terms of female happiness, women鈥檚 liberation was probably a mistake.鈥�
Misogyny, in other words, is making a comeback.
Celebrating Trump鈥檚 victory, self-declared 鈥渘eo-masculinist鈥� Daryush Valizadeh (alias 鈥淩oosh V鈥�) wrote: 鈥淚鈥檓 in a state of exuberance that we now have a President who rates women on a 1-10 scale the same way we do. 鈥� The president of the United States does not see the value in fat women who don鈥檛 take care of themselves, and neither should you.鈥�
Matt Forney, a racist blogger who claims women secretly want to be 鈥渞aped鈥� and 鈥渂eat[en],鈥� endorsed Trump because, as he wrote on Oct. 26, 鈥淭rump is showing the world that not only is the emperor naked, his d---聽is the size of a clit.鈥� He was apparently referring to mainstream conservatives who he sees 鈥渃uckolds鈥� who have sold white people out.
With misogynist Alt-Right personalities on the rise, day-to-day acts of anti-woman violence took on new significance. At the University of Arizona on Sept. 20, Dean Saxon, a street preacher best known for 鈥渟----shaming鈥� women and hollering 鈥淵ou deserve rape,鈥� was arrested and banned from campus for a year for allegedly kicking a woman in the chest.
On Oct. 13, Fox Business host Lou Dobbs 鈥渄oxxed鈥� Jessica Leeds, retweeting a post that included the address and phone numbers of the 74-year-old, who alleges that Trump sexually assaulted her on a plane in the early 1980s.
And on Dec. 9, a California judge sentenced to eight years in prison 鈥� the maximum 鈥� Alex Smith, a professional 鈥減ickup artist鈥� who, together with a fellow pickup 鈥渋nstructor鈥� and a 鈥渟tudent,鈥� gang-raped a woman who found out how she was attacked from Smith鈥檚 online profile.
