CONTENT WARNING: This opinion piece contains potentially triggering topics and language. Please use discretion when proceeding.
As most United States citizens know, we live under a representative democracy. However, the actual government is not very representative of the citizens in which it governs.
In July 2022, there were 165 million males in the United States and 168 million females. This means that the population by sex is split nearly 50%. So why is our representative government not split this way as well?
In Congress, there are 535 seats available, only 151 of those seats are currently held by women, which is only 28%. Even female Governors make up 12 of the 50 positions in the USA. As far as the United States President goes, there has not, in the entire 235 years since George Washington was sworn in, been a woman as the U.S. head of state.
That is not to say that women have not attempted to run for the position. There have been many attempts, mostly after the year 2000.
In 2008, after nearly 220 years of presidential elections, Hillary Clinton made history as the first woman to be on every ballot for the presidential primary and caucus in every state. Although, in 2016 she won the nomination and the popular vote by almost 3 million votes in the presidential election. Still, she did not win the electoral college and lost the presidency to Donald Trump.
Throughout her campaign, Clinton was called a slew of derogatory words. Many of the jokes were overtly sexual as well, some mocking her for her husband’s infidelity because that was somehow “her fault.” However, the most common insulting phrase was the infamous “nasty woman” title given to her by Trump during the third presidential debate.
A “nasty woman.” An interesting choice of words that may seem fairly harmless in the grand scheme of all that had been said about Clinton up to that point. But Trump had instantly tapped into centuries of sexism and misogyny with those two words.
For hundreds of years, women have been expected to be “likable.” How a woman is supposed to achieve that depends on and often follows a double standard that few can reach. If you are assertive, you are bossy and aggressive. If you are amenable, you are weak and a pushover.
Calling Clinton nasty implies that her assertiveness and ambition is a negative thing and transforms those words into bossy, aggressive and power-hungry. Trump has also called Kamala Harris “nasty” as well.
Harris is the current Democratic nominee for president as well as the Vice President of the United States. And just like Clinton, she faces the same types of insults.
When Harris announced her candidacy for president, Brand24, a social media analyzer that reviews millions of posts to find trending topics, found uses of the term “b—-” increased over 2,000% on social media platforms throughout August and September.
Many have also questioned how Harris rose through the ranks, insinuating that she “slept her way to the top.” This has resulted in bumper stickers, shirts, stickers, buttons, etc. that say “Joe and the h–.” If Harris were a man, jokes of this nature would never even be thought of or considered.
Women and their sexuality is such a taboo subject and it is regularly assumed that a woman could never achieve any sort of power without a man’s help. Everything down to even our menstrual cycles are questioned.
I vividly remember when I was in middle school, a boy in my class said to me, “A woman could never be president. What would she do if she got her period? Start World War III?” That is funny to me now, considering both World War I and II were started by men.
There is also the issue of how men and women in politics interact. During the 2020 Vice Presidential Debate, Harris was the only person who had worked in law enforcement. Still, Republican vice presidential candidate Mike Pence attempted to lecture her on “law and order.”
In 1984, Geraldine Ferraro was the first woman on a major party presidential ticket when Walter F. Mondale chose her to be his Vice Presidential running mate. Ferraro faced nearly the same problem during a vice presidential debate when George H.W Bush would refer to her as “Mrs. Ferraro” instead of “Congresswoman Ferraro.” “But let me help you, Mrs. Ferraro, with the difference between Iran and the embassy in Lebanon,” Bush said.
Titles themselves are an issue for women in politics as well. Is it not strange that when most people refer to Harris while speaking they almost always call her by her first name, but that rarely happens with Donald Trump or Joe Biden?
I myself have had trouble with this, to the point that I am actively trying to say “Harris” instead of “Kamala.” When I do refer to Harris by her last name only, most people do a double take.
I regularly think about what it would be like if Trump were a woman named Donna who acted exactly the same and said the same things. The answer is, if everything down to the colors Harris wears could make or break her campaign, Donna Trump would have never made it onto the ticket during the presidential primary in 2016 in the first place.
Be kind. Be likable. Be courteous. Be accommodating. Be willing to handle the most abhorrent verbal abuse with a smile on your face. Be a lady… but also be strong. Be assertive. Prove your intelligence and capability more than any man will ever need to. And most importantly never let them see you cry. That is what they want from women in politics.
But if being confident, independent and comfortable in your femininity makes you a nasty woman, then I suppose I am “nasty” as well.
