Palumbo, Elizabeth

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Butler University Digital Commons @ Butler University Fall 2019 FYS 101 Women Writing the World Fall 2019 If Donald Trump was a Feminist Elizabeth Palumbo Butler University Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.butler.edu/fys_ww_f2019 Recommended Citation Palumbo, Elizabeth, "If Donald Trump was a Feminist" (2019). Fall 2019. 35. https://digitalcommons.butler.edu/fys_ww_f2019/35 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the FYS 101 Women Writing the World at Digital Commons @ Butler University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Fall 2019 by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ Butler University. For more information, please contact digitalscholarship@butler.edu.  Palumbo 1 Elizabeth Palumbo If Donald Trump was a Feminist Perhaps, electing a failed businessman and reality television star who shows no respect towards women was the worst decision that America, as a whole, has ever made. Donald Trump, now the 45​th​ president of the United States of America, made international headlines during his 2016 presidential campaign. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie touches on her views of the matter in her book, ​We Should all be Feminists​. The role of stereotypes and how they are broadcasted by political figures and other people of power are thoroughly discussed. Now, Trump continues to marginalize women of all races, religions and socioeconomic statuses despite his role as president. However, if President Trump was willing to treat all women as equals with men, there would be a national change in the treatment of women and their standing in America as equals.  One of the first times that Trump’s dirty laundry was aired out to the public was during the 2016 political campaign. During the campaign, he made countless outward comments about his opponent, Hillary Clinton. One of the main topics in Adichie’s novel regarded the traditional role of women to serve their partner by sacrificing a piece of themselves. For example, the idea of compromise is that the men may give up going out every day, but a woman may give up a dream or a career in order to please her husband (Adichie, 31). In itself, this idea is outdated and when Trump adheres to this idea by saying, “If Hillary Clinton can’t satisfy her husband, what makes her think she can satisfy America” (Bahudar, 2016), the population is forced to recognize that the president is living in a misogynistic past where women are subservient to their partners rather than finding joy in their own life. By forcing this thought into the minds of easily  Palumbo 2 impressionable adults and children, Trump is tarnishing the future of America and perpetuating the problem of gender inequality and outdated gender roles.  One outraging tweet that Trump posted in 2013 involved sexual assault in the military. He felt that the 26,000 unreported sexual assaults were bound to happen and even posed the question, “What did these geniuses expect when they put men and women together?” (2013). As the leader of the armed forces as commander in chief, one wonders why he was allowed to show such blatant disregard for the women in our military. Instead of claiming that the obvious choice for men is to rape their female counterparts, the support of the president would make women of all ethnicities feel empowered to share their story. In order to feel that those in power, such as Trump, are willing to listen to women who have been disregarded and broken, there must be a change in the core of our society. As Adichie so perfectly stated, ‘“We must raise our daughters differently. We must also raise our sons differently’” (25) in order to create a safer space for young minds.  Another time that Trump was disrespectful towards a woman in a tweet was regarding the former Secret Service Director, Julia Pierson. He took, once again, to his social media in order to air his opinion on her saying, “‘The woman who is the Secret Service Director looks like she is way over her head. Why can’t the president appoint the best and the brightest?”’ (2014). By saying this, Trump not only slandered a woman in power but also challenged her ability to work in such a fast-paced and vital job that protects those who live in America. Adichie wrote about a similar experience in which although she was the highest scorer on an exam, a male classmate would gain the reward (12). By saying that the “best and the brightest” should get the position, Trump assumes that a man is better suited for the job than the woman.   Palumbo 3 One of the biggest controversies regarding Trump was his alleged abuse of women and the disregard he showed for those who have been assaulted. Amanda Carpenter, a reporter for TIME magazine, described Trump as “someone who believes that some people’s lives matter less than others” (2019). By placing himself and other men at a place where they can be exempt from treating others with respect, he is doing a disservice to America. This describes Adichie’s exact motive for speaking out about feminism. Since the inception of gender stereotypes and roles, females have been oppressed and starting at very young ages, “we make them feel as though by being born female, they are already guilty of something” (33) which causes an irreversible change in self-worth. If there is a change in how the world views females, there is a chance for women to become equal to their male counterparts in all aspects of society. The idea that men are put on a pedestal over women is the sheer reason that there must be a change in order to allow females to be able to achieve as much as any man.  Although the outward sexism that Trump displays towards women has been overtly apparent since his 2016 presidential campaign launched, American society is either unwilling to accept the fact that men must be taught to behave differently or unwilling to change the masculine driven society that women have been forced to accommodate since the origins of gender roles. Adichie, at the end of her book, makes it evident that the only way to change the cycle of oppression that women face around the globe is to work on empowering women to do whatever they choose despite barriers that are placed in front of them by men. In order to fuel a feminist world in which all are equal, despite gender, race, religion and socioeconomic status “all of us must do better” (Adichie, 48) and the president must do better.   Palumbo 4 Works Cited Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi.  ​We Should all be Feminists​. New York: Anchor Books, 2014.  Bahudar, Nina. “18 Real Things Donald Trump Has Actually Said About Women.” ​HuffPost​, 10  Oct, 2016, https://www.huffpost.com/entry/18-real-things-donald-trump-has-said- about-women_n_55d356a8e4b07addcb442023. Accessed 4 Nov. 2019.  Carpenter, Amanda. “Trump’s Treatment of Women Was His Original Abuse of Power.” ​Time​,  30 Oct, 2019, https://time.com/5714064/trump-abuse-of-power-women/. Accessed 4  Nov. 2019. @realDonaldTrump. “The woman who is the Secret Service Director looks like she is way over  her head. Why can’t the president appoint the best and the brightest?” ​Twitter​, 1 Oct. 2014, 3:08 a.m., https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/517254712618672128 @realDonaldTrump. “​26,000 unreported sexual assults in the military-only 238 convictions.  What did these geniuses expect when they put men & women together?” ​Twitter​, 7  May. 2013, 4:04 p.m., https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/ 331907383771148288 

If Donald Trump was a Feminist

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If Donald Trump was a Feminist

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