When I started this blog last month, it was a way of dealing with the coming reality of a Trump presidency. I chose to focus on issues of feminism in nerd culture and popular media because it seemed like an area where small changes might affect bigger changes in the greater cultural landscape. It doesn’t seem to be enough right now.
This past Saturday there were millions of men and women who marched all across the world in protest. On Facebook and Twitter, I saw others asking what was being protested. What rights did women lose with Trump’s election? I think to ask this question misses the point. The point of protest is not always because specific rights have been lost. Sometimes, it is simply to voice concern in order to ensure that rights are not lost.
The heart of feminism is choice. It is the belief that women are equal to men and should be afforded to the same level of agency over their lives. Women should be able to decide if they want to be wives and mothers or if they don’t. It is just as acceptable for women to have children as not have children. Women can be stay-at-home wives or mothers or have full-time careers. Women can be sexual beings without it being solely for the gratification of men. Women should be paid equally to their male counterparts for the work they do.
But some people have questioned what this has to do with Trump. Donald Trump has, for his part, participated in the objectification of women by his own admission. One needs only listen to his past interviews with Howard Stern when he spoke about he was allowed to enter the dressing room of young beauty pageant contestants while these girls were in various degrees of dress to “inspect” the girls because he was the owner of the pageant. It’s not just his lack of regard for the privacy of these girls that is disturbing. It is the language that he used: inspect. It’s as if they are nothing more than prized cattle at a state fair. He once said of his daughter Ivanka that if she were not his daughter that he would perhaps be dating her. During the campaign, he insulted his opponent Carly Fiorina based on her looks rather than her own qualifications or lack thereof. Then comes the notorious Access Hollywood incident where Trump described his pursuit of a married woman, how he treats beautiful women in that he would kiss them without consent, and that he could anything because he was famous including “grab them by the pussy.” This incident was described by Trump as “locker room talk.” Concern over this matter were dismissed as being too sensitive. It was simply “boys being boys.” Yet, he continued to maintain that he respected women though his past actions and words told a different story.
If only this were the only problematic things that our President once said. During the campaign, he once remarked that there should be punishment for women who had abortions. He walked this back and said that he meant the doctors performing the procedures should be punished. This is still difficult to many women. The issue of the legality of abortion is still a hot topic among women. It is a divisive issue between feminists. There are those who consider themselves feminist but also identify as pro-life. Is it possible to be pro-life and feminist? The answer to this question is not an easy one and something that the feminist movement wrestles with.
These are all things of which most people are keenly aware. I could go on, but that seems to be beating a dead horse as it would not change the fact that Donald Trump, a man who bragged about sexual assaulting women, talked about punishment for women getting abortions, treated young women like cattle as part of his beauty pageant, is our President. However, the Women’s March was not about changing the result. It was about standing up and saying that we will not be silent. We refuse to accept this type of behavior as status quo. Yes, we are more privileged than women in other countries, but that doesn’t mean that everything is perfect. I have more privilege as a white, middle class, cisgender, straight woman than others who do not fit into one or more of those categories. But that doesn't mean that I should just accept what happens to women who don't have my privilege or the small challenges I do face due to my gender because it could be worse.
To be silent in the face of injustice is to be complicit. We’ve seen where the silence of good people leads if we look back at history, not just world history but our own as well. Because I can speak, I must.
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