Misogyny: Alive and well in this American presidential election

October 26th, 2024 by Tom Lynch

The British did it. So did the Germans. Add to that Sri Lanka, Iceland, Pakistan, Norway, Ireland, France, Canada, and Israel. And there are more, many more.

What do these countries have in common? They have all democratically elected women to be heads of state, Prime Ministers.

What country has not done this? Well, you know which one. Ours.

In every reputable Poll, and there are 17 of them gathered by RealClear Polling, Americans view Donald Trump unfavorably. His highest “favorable” rating is 49%—from Fox News’s poll conducted between 10 and 16 October. His average “spread” between favorable and unfavorable is a negative 7.2%.

This is not to suggest his opponent, Kamala Harris is viewed favorably in the same polls. but her spread is only a negative 0.6%.

You would think  from that, alone, Harris would be torching the king-of-sleaze, convicted felon Trump. But, as we all know, she’s not.

I can only surmise from this that misogyny runs deeper in the American soul than anywhere else on the globe. Why is that? Is it a deciding factor in this year’s election? And why does the misogyny disease seem to afflict women as much, or more, than men?

Writing for the Washington Post over the last weekend, and tried to answer those questions.

In their head-scratching column, they quote 38-year-old Nevada resident Sarah White, who said, “I don’t think I would ever vote for a woman to be president. Women are kinda all over the place.”

In an interview with the reporters, White added about Kamala Harris, “She seems pretty tough. I don’t know, though, if she’s breakable. Women — we have emotions, we have compassion and we have all these other feelings that men don’t have. You know?”

How typical is White’s opinion?

Reston and Parker suggest four challenges Harris faces that a man, even Donald Trump, doesn’t:

The likability tightrope — where a woman must constantly demonstrate she is strong enough to be commander in chief, but she can’t appear too tough for fear that she will come off as unlikable.

The résumé bar — where it is often enough for a male candidate to have potential, but his female counterpart must have already met hers.

The motherhood bias — where if a female candidate has young children, voters question how she will care for them while serving.

And the ethical pedestal — where women candidates are believed to be more honest and trustworthy than their male counterparts, but if they’re knocked off the pedestal, it’s often harder for them to climb back up.


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