How Patriarchy Enables Trump’s Dangerous Attitude Toward American Womanhood
By: Alisa Burris
Tags: Governance, Culture, Sexism, Justice, Misogyny

In this intensive, often troubling journey to Election Day, I’ve closely watched Donald Trump’s vicious rhetoric on the subject of women. To be blunt, the entire experience fills me with horror and dread due to his slew of disturbing contradictions and obvious misrepresentations. From loud moans of victimhood against Lesley Stahl of “60 Minutes” to declarations of heroism for fixing suburban housewives’ dishwashers, the paradoxes are almost comical. If this man weren’t such a threat to women’s autonomy, I’d almost be amused by the evident conflicts.

But none of his ferocious deviations, where he seamlessly moves from demanding praise for getting husbands back into the workforce to disrespecting Vice Presidential-hopeful Kamala Harris for possibly becoming a “female socialist president,” are the least bit funny. In fact, they’re quite alarming. That’s because every scenario, no matter the circumstance or where it lands on the spectrum of the absurd, always paints women as villainous ingrates who fail to recognize this president’s value to our lives. Within the deepest corners of his narcissistic mind, we’re just ornaments to enhance his ego, not separate individuals with the right to breathe the same air as him, to expect fair treatment and equal opportunities.

Yet we should still be grateful for his attention, for whatever morsels of recognition he can spare. In the real world, the reason this showman of a “leader” consistently slips out of any responsibility for his reckless distortions about American womanhood is plain and simple. Patriarchy provides a convenient cover that shields him from any accountability. So he can say anything, however damaging and demented, without repercussions, while putting our well-being at constant risk.

The dangers that Trump stirs up, wildly random at times, range from insinuations of physical harm to an overall cultural havoc, which make living as women in contemporary America more difficult than ever. No woman is immune from this injury, whether famously singled out for ruthless criticism such as Michigan’s governor Gretchen Whitmer, leading to a thwarted plot of domestic terrorism, or part of a diverse population simply seeking equal pay, affordable healthcare, and the right to make choices about our own bodies, we must all endure the abuse in some form or another. And because Trump belongs to the highly entitled, quite exclusive class of the wealthy, White, male, Christian, heterosexual, he enjoys the unfettered ability to mistreat with continuous exemptions from punishment.

That’s the benefit of a patriarchal backing. He has the power to utter any thought whatsoever, to express uninformed, misogynistic, tone-deaf ideas that have no factual basis, thereby causing trauma to women from every conceivable background, while always enjoying impunity in the process. Not a single Republican lawmaker, for instance, challenged Trump’s unfounded claim to have saved communities for suburban women as if he were the embodiment of a chivalric superhero. The GOP legislators’ collective silence on this incident and numerous others only reinforces the ongoing mendacity about American womanhood’s helplessness, its dependence on the gentlemanly consideration that Trump somehow incorporates into our political system. While roughly two-thirds of the country see through Trump’s lies as blatant attempts to woo women voters, the remaining third absorb a warped view of womanhood that sets us back as powerless and at the mercy of prominent men’s gallantry. In other words, our destiny only exists in the shadow of patriarchal acknowledgment, not our own rightful assertions and proper demands.

The hazards this attitude inspires potentially undermine our progress, the advancements we’ve made over a period of many decades. So if this president somehow gets another term, I’m terrified that American womanhood will suffer dire consequences that are too painful to imagine. Still, I cannot help but feel hopeful. As I await the election results, which will evolve over the coming days, I rely on the fierce energy of resistance that has blossomed in women voters since the day after Trump’s 2016 inauguration. Although women just like me may silently watch the disdainful way this president treats various representatives of our gender, we share a mutual intuition about his political fate and a powerful call to action. According to Pew Research Center, more women than men have taken the time to vote in presidential elections since 1984. If that pattern continues through the 2020 elections, then I believe President Trump will finally face some much-deserved consequences.