WEBVTT 00:00:00.908 --> 00:00:02.405 “Mr. Trump...your presidency? 00:00:02.405 --> 00:00:03.854 I love your presidency. 00:00:03.854 --> 00:00:06.961 I call it “Disgrace the Nation.” 00:00:06.961 --> 00:00:08.086 You have more people marching 00:00:08.086 --> 00:00:09.726 against you than cancer. 00:00:09.726 --> 00:00:11.798 You talk like a sign language gorilla 00:00:11.798 --> 00:00:13.060 who got hit in the head. 00:00:13.060 --> 00:00:14.376 In fact, the only thing your mouth 00:00:14.376 --> 00:00:16.218 Is good for is being Vladimir Putin’s 00:00:16.218 --> 00:00:18.981 [bleep] holster.” 00:00:23.674 --> 00:00:24.513 Remember that time, 00:00:24.513 --> 00:00:25.234 back in January, 00:00:25.234 --> 00:00:27.464 when millions of Americans fired up Pinterest, 00:00:27.464 --> 00:00:28.591 broke out their gluesticks, 00:00:28.591 --> 00:00:31.208 and went arts & crafts wild like kids at camp? 00:00:31.208 --> 00:00:32.991 Armed with thousands of colorful banners, 00:00:32.991 --> 00:00:33.991 posters and signs, 00:00:33.991 --> 00:00:35.620 an estimated four and a half 00:00:35.620 --> 00:00:37.967 million people around the world took to the streets 00:00:37.967 --> 00:00:41.937 on January 21, 2017 for the Women’s March.` 00:00:41.937 --> 00:00:43.535 To remind ourselves of just a few of the reasons 00:00:43.535 --> 00:00:44.995 why people were out that day, 00:00:44.995 --> 00:00:46.045 let’s pause for a moment 00:00:46.045 --> 00:00:47.309 and listen to some words from our 00:00:47.309 --> 00:00:49.064 Commander-in-Chief that helped inspire this 00:00:49.064 --> 00:00:50.911 tremendous event. 00:00:50.911 --> 00:00:51.892 “I did try and fuck her. 00:00:51.892 --> 00:00:52.668 She was married. 00:00:52.668 --> 00:00:55.537 I moved on her like a bitch. 00:00:55.537 --> 00:00:56.716 But I couldn’t get there. 00:00:56.716 --> 00:00:58.212 And she was married. 00:00:58.212 --> 00:01:00.167 You know, I’m automatically attracted to a 00:01:00.167 --> 00:01:01.467 beautiful - I just start kissing them. 00:01:01.467 --> 00:01:03.214 It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. 00:01:03.214 --> 00:01:03.950 [laughter] 00:01:03.950 --> 00:01:04.588 I don’t even wait. 00:01:04.588 --> 00:01:05.219 And when you’re a star, 00:01:05.219 --> 00:01:06.515 they let you do it. 00:01:06.515 --> 00:01:07.824 You can do anything.” 00:01:07.824 --> 00:01:08.396 “Whatever you want.” 00:01:08.396 --> 00:01:09.500 “Grab them by the pussy. 00:01:10.280 --> 00:01:13.965 You can do anything.” 00:01:14.567 --> 00:01:16.556 Yeah, that’s our President 00:01:16.556 --> 00:01:18.676 back in 2005 when he was 00:01:18.676 --> 00:01:21.082 merely a billionaire reality TV show host, 00:01:21.082 --> 00:01:23.670 proudly admitting how he abused his power and 00:01:23.670 --> 00:01:25.146 celebrity to sexually harass and 00:01:25.146 --> 00:01:26.866 assault vulnerable women. 00:01:26.896 --> 00:01:27.686 And by the way: 00:01:27.686 --> 00:01:29.680 this may be the most famous example of Trump 00:01:29.680 --> 00:01:31.577 telling us what he considers to be the real 00:01:31.577 --> 00:01:32.878 “Art of the Deal” 00:01:32.878 --> 00:01:34.992 but it’s by no means the only one. 00:01:34.992 --> 00:01:36.146 Even before Trump announced his 00:01:36.146 --> 00:01:37.146 candidacy for President, 00:01:37.146 --> 00:01:38.328 every news cycle about him 00:01:38.328 --> 00:01:39.788 was like being stuck in a game of 00:01:39.788 --> 00:01:42.082 Rape Culture Jumanji. 00:01:42.082 --> 00:01:44.086 And partially in response to his blatant, abusive 00:01:44.086 --> 00:01:47.970 misogyny, upwards of 4.6 million people gathered 00:01:47.970 --> 00:01:51.360 in more than 550 cities in the United States alone, 00:01:51.360 --> 00:01:53.623 many of them wielding some seriously spectacular 00:01:53.623 --> 00:01:55.990 signs displaying messages of resistance to 00:01:55.990 --> 00:01:58.724 systematic racism, sexism, and other forms of 00:01:58.724 --> 00:02:00.168 oppression. 00:02:00.168 --> 00:02:02.128 But unfortunately, not all the images or chants 00:02:02.128 --> 00:02:04.288 back in January were inspirational. 00:02:04.288 --> 00:02:06.053 In fact, when you get right down to it, 00:02:06.053 --> 00:02:07.201 some of the signs and slogans 00:02:07.201 --> 00:02:08.768 didn’t just lack creativity – 00:02:08.768 --> 00:02:11.214 they actively reinforced precisely what the people 00:02:11.214 --> 00:02:13.541 holding them thought they were protesting. 00:02:13.541 --> 00:02:15.861 Punchy doesn’t always equal progressive, y’all. 00:02:15.861 --> 00:02:18.067 When you’re “joking” about the unusually small 00:02:18.067 --> 00:02:19.499 size of someone’s hands, 00:02:19.499 --> 00:02:20.863 or laughing at pictures of him in homoerotic 00:02:20.863 --> 00:02:23.720 scenarios, you’re actually feeding the same logic 00:02:23.720 --> 00:02:25.730 that encourages someone to think they can, 00:02:25.730 --> 00:02:28.757 well, “move on someone like a bitch.” 00:02:28.757 --> 00:02:30.030 Our culture tells us how a “real man” should think, 00:02:30.030 --> 00:02:32.337 what he should look like, 00:02:32.337 --> 00:02:34.040 and who he can dominate. 00:02:34.040 --> 00:02:35.607 These messages are toxic. 00:02:35.607 --> 00:02:37.946 They depend on a version of masculinity that says: 00:02:37.946 --> 00:02:39.882 “Real’ men use power to dominate. 00:02:39.882 --> 00:02:40.880 They take what they want, 00:02:40.880 --> 00:02:41.619 in business, 00:02:41.619 --> 00:02:42.427 or politics, 00:02:42.427 --> 00:02:44.706 or in their relationships with women. 00:02:44.706 --> 00:02:46.320 And yes, these messages equate having 00:02:46.320 --> 00:02:48.485 small hands -- or small anything 00:02:48.485 --> 00:02:50.272 with being less of a “real” man. 00:02:50.272 --> 00:02:52.174 Let’s look at some more examples to help us 00:02:52.174 --> 00:02:54.253 unpack how this works. 00:02:54.253 --> 00:02:55.732 In August of 2016, 00:02:55.732 --> 00:02:56.803 our last blissful, 00:02:56.803 --> 00:02:58.207 pre-election summer, 00:02:58.207 --> 00:03:00.186 a statue appeared in New York City’s Union Square 00:03:00.186 --> 00:03:02.184 of a very naked Donald Trump. 00:03:02.184 --> 00:03:04.319 The size of this statue’s genitals was clearly 00:03:04.319 --> 00:03:06.515 intended to be an insult to the man whose greatest 00:03:06.515 --> 00:03:08.624 leadership experience up to that point may have 00:03:08.624 --> 00:03:10.631 been the two times he fired Stephen Baldwin on 00:03:10.631 --> 00:03:11.631 The Celebrity Apprentice. 00:03:11.631 --> 00:03:14.227 "You're fired." 00:03:14.227 --> 00:03:15.625 From public art and social media 00:03:15.625 --> 00:03:17.110 to protests and marches, 00:03:17.110 --> 00:03:19.201 renderings like this statue are everywhere. 00:03:19.201 --> 00:03:21.280 It’s impossible to avoid the memes about 00:03:21.280 --> 00:03:23.991 hand size, poorly-executed spray tans, 00:03:23.991 --> 00:03:25.591 and combovers that are are meant to offend 00:03:25.591 --> 00:03:27.171 a certain thin-skinned individual 00:03:27.171 --> 00:03:28.704 who has a tendency to rage on Twitter and also 00:03:28.704 --> 00:03:31.704 has access to the nuclear codes. 00:03:31.704 --> 00:03:33.631 In addition to the sea of miniature members, 00:03:33.631 --> 00:03:34.542 tiny hands, 00:03:34.542 --> 00:03:36.511 and aggressively orange bouffants, 00:03:36.511 --> 00:03:39.001 criticism in public spaces has included numerous 00:03:39.001 --> 00:03:41.440 images of Trump and Putin taking their diplomatic 00:03:41.440 --> 00:03:43.751 intimacy to the physical level. 00:03:43.751 --> 00:03:45.586 Valentine’s Day proved to be a pretty great 00:03:45.586 --> 00:03:48.084 opportunity for artists intending to defy Trump, 00:03:48.084 --> 00:03:49.945 to use some homoerotic imagery 00:03:49.945 --> 00:03:51.355 to get in some jabs. 00:03:51.355 --> 00:03:52.355 But in this case, homoerotic 00:03:52.355 --> 00:03:54.654 equates to homophobic. 00:03:54.654 --> 00:03:57.156 If you use gay imagery to insult someone, the 00:03:57.156 --> 00:03:59.554 implication is that homosexuality is itself 00:03:59.554 --> 00:04:01.004 something shameful. 00:04:01.004 --> 00:04:03.013 These images don’t just criticize a political 00:04:03.013 --> 00:04:03.992 relationship. 00:04:03.992 --> 00:04:06.106 They emasculate Trump by using make-up, 00:04:06.106 --> 00:04:08.174 pregnancy, and even his position as 00:04:08.174 --> 00:04:11.665 the “little spoon” to suggest his effeminacy. 00:04:11.665 --> 00:04:13.725 These images also mock the notion of two men 00:04:13.725 --> 00:04:15.444 being together sexually or romantically, 00:04:15.444 --> 00:04:17.968 which communicates to all onlookers that, 00:04:17.968 --> 00:04:21.952 in 2017, intimacy between two “real men” is 00:04:21.952 --> 00:04:23.116 laughable. 00:04:23.116 --> 00:04:24.924 People who would consider themselves LGBT 00:04:24.924 --> 00:04:26.894 allies are deploying the kind of rhetoric that implies 00:04:26.894 --> 00:04:30.070 that anything other than stereotypically masculine 00:04:30.070 --> 00:04:33.317 or heterosexual behavior is wrong or absurd. 00:04:33.317 --> 00:04:35.757 What do we mean when we say “stereotypically 00:04:35.757 --> 00:04:36.697 masculine”? 00:04:36.697 --> 00:04:38.052 Well, the media we create and engage 00:04:38.052 --> 00:04:40.035 with too often depicts aggression, 00:04:40.035 --> 00:04:42.077 physical strength, pride, protectiveness, 00:04:42.077 --> 00:04:44.685 and even short tempers as “manly.” 00:04:44.685 --> 00:04:47.342 We’ve elevated those traits from “manly virtues“ 00:04:47.342 --> 00:04:49.325 to masculine requirements – 00:04:49.325 --> 00:04:50.339 and any deviation from 00:04:50.339 --> 00:04:52.313 them makes a man suspect. 00:04:52.313 --> 00:04:54.715 The end result is that at times our entire culture 00:04:54.715 --> 00:04:56.587 seems like a backslapping locker room full of 00:04:56.587 --> 00:04:58.678 chuckleheads, and we get a President who learned 00:04:58.678 --> 00:05:00.790 diplomacy from The Little Rascals. 00:05:00.790 --> 00:05:04.763 “And what do you say if we form a new club...and 00:05:04.763 --> 00:05:11.125 call it the ‘He-Man Woman Haters’ Club’?” 00:05:11.125 --> 00:05:11.860 These images are so pervasive, 00:05:11.860 --> 00:05:13.541 And so socially entrenched, 00:05:13.541 --> 00:05:15.477 that we’ve come to accept them as natural and 00:05:15.477 --> 00:05:17.629 true, like the sun rising in the east or every 00:05:17.629 --> 00:05:20.815 odd-numbered Star Trek movie being total crap. 00:05:20.815 --> 00:05:22.415 But there’s nothing objectively true about the way 00:05:22.415 --> 00:05:24.559 our culture dictates how to be a man. 00:05:24.559 --> 00:05:27.041 In fact, this version of masculinity is only 00:05:27.041 --> 00:05:29.136 recognizable because we contrast it with its 00:05:29.136 --> 00:05:31.067 opposite: weakness, humility, and vulnerability: 00:05:31.067 --> 00:05:35.383 in other words, “femininity.” 00:05:35.383 --> 00:05:37.887 If being a “real man” means being stoic, strong, 00:05:37.887 --> 00:05:38.770 and rational, 00:05:38.770 --> 00:05:40.911 then being a “real” woman wins you a lifetime 00:05:40.911 --> 00:05:43.602 supply of timidity, weakness, and hysteria. 00:05:43.602 --> 00:05:46.098 Bonus round: the word “hysteria” comes from the 00:05:46.098 --> 00:05:48.623 Greek word for “uterus.” 00:05:48.623 --> 00:05:50.478 Associations of compassion, vulnerability, and 00:05:50.478 --> 00:05:53.504 emotion with femininity are no more intrinsically 00:05:53.504 --> 00:05:55.537 true than associations of aggression and 00:05:55.537 --> 00:05:57.329 dominance with masculinity. 00:05:57.329 --> 00:05:58.459 But in setting up this contrast, 00:05:58.459 --> 00:05:59.459 and by defining 00:05:59.459 --> 00:06:01.077 behaviors, bodies, and appearances 00:06:01.077 --> 00:06:03.175 as either masculine or feminine, 00:06:03.175 --> 00:06:05.153 our culture says that men should exhibit masculine 00:06:05.153 --> 00:06:07.715 attributes, and conversely, women should exhibit 00:06:07.715 --> 00:06:09.730 recognizably feminine traits. 00:06:09.730 --> 00:06:11.907 Cross or blur that culturally-defined line, 00:06:11.907 --> 00:06:13.741 and you’ve got a real problem on your hands 00:06:13.741 --> 00:06:16.550 – no matter how big or small. 00:06:16.550 --> 00:06:18.687 The truth is that cultural ideas about masculinity 00:06:18.687 --> 00:06:21.034 and femininity limit all of us to one degree or 00:06:21.034 --> 00:06:21.770 another, 00:06:21.770 --> 00:06:23.931 though people who identify as men and people 00:06:23.931 --> 00:06:25.764 who identify as women are impacted 00:06:25.764 --> 00:06:27.084 in very different ways. 00:06:27.084 --> 00:06:29.190 In our culture, the attributes associated with 00:06:29.190 --> 00:06:31.959 femininity are deeply shameful for “real men” to 00:06:31.959 --> 00:06:32.901 possess. 00:06:32.901 --> 00:06:34.722 There’s nothing more insulting a man can say to 00:06:34.722 --> 00:06:36.599 another man than to question his masculinity or to 00:06:36.599 --> 00:06:39.837 call him some colorful synonym for woman. 00:06:39.837 --> 00:06:40.598 Why? 00:06:40.598 --> 00:06:43.190 Because as we continue to perpetuate this strict 00:06:43.190 --> 00:06:46.098 system of only two gender options, femininity 00:06:46.098 --> 00:06:49.167 continues to be regarded as something negative. 00:06:49.167 --> 00:06:50.737 “Well, what am I then? 00:06:50.737 --> 00:06:54.218 “What are you? 00:06:54.218 --> 00:06:57.793 You are my bitch. 00:06:57.793 --> 00:06:58.673 That’s what. 00:06:58.673 --> 00:07:02.137 My own, personal bitch.” 00:07:02.137 --> 00:07:04.069 “I’m gonna make you my bitch’s bitch. 00:07:04.069 --> 00:07:06.226 You’re gonna be my grandbitch.” 00:07:06.226 --> 00:07:07.501 “Stop being such a pussy!” 00:07:07.501 --> 00:07:08.423 “You fucking shot me!” 00:07:08.423 --> 00:07:11.054 In actuality, people of any gender can possess any 00:07:11.054 --> 00:07:12.460 personality trait, 00:07:12.460 --> 00:07:13.697 and can find themselves within 00:07:13.697 --> 00:07:15.147 the binary of male and female, 00:07:15.147 --> 00:07:16.547 somewhere in-between, 00:07:16.547 --> 00:07:18.783 or outside of it entirely. 00:07:18.783 --> 00:07:20.100 But, as long as our culture maintains and 00:07:20.100 --> 00:07:23.161 normalizes rigid expectations related to gender – 00:07:23.161 --> 00:07:25.365 like, continuing to prize masculinity while 00:07:25.365 --> 00:07:27.001 denigrating femininity – 00:07:27.001 --> 00:07:28.983 these ideas about gender will contribute to the 00:07:28.983 --> 00:07:31.067 oppression of particular groups of people, 00:07:31.067 --> 00:07:32.718 including women, trans folks, 00:07:32.718 --> 00:07:34.800 and non-binary people. 00:07:34.800 --> 00:07:36.339 Ok, so you may be asking, 00:07:36.339 --> 00:07:38.779 what does all this have to do with insults hurled 00:07:38.779 --> 00:07:40.014 at Donald Trump? 00:07:40.014 --> 00:07:42.210 Let me be very clear about this: 00:07:42.210 --> 00:07:44.771 I AM NOT defending Donald Trump. 00:07:44.771 --> 00:07:47.702 This is about recognizing that “jokes” about who is 00:07:47.702 --> 00:07:49.665 and isn’t a real man are the kinds of things that 00:07:49.665 --> 00:07:52.318 Trump himself would laugh at. 00:07:52.318 --> 00:07:54.068 Yeah, we know that this kind of stuff drives Trump 00:07:54.068 --> 00:07:55.470 up the wall. 00:07:55.470 --> 00:07:56.643 But that’s not a good excuse to participate in 00:07:56.643 --> 00:07:57.284 it. 00:07:57.284 --> 00:07:58.409 We’re better than that. 00:07:58.409 --> 00:07:59.932 We’re certainly funnier. 00:07:59.932 --> 00:08:01.468 We need to challenge what many of those 00:08:01.468 --> 00:08:03.722 criticisms and insults are actually saying about 00:08:03.722 --> 00:08:06.481 men, women, gender, and sexuality, 00:08:06.481 --> 00:08:08.298 because they reinforce harmful patriarchal ideas 00:08:08.298 --> 00:08:10.689 that actually benefit people like our current 00:08:10.689 --> 00:08:11.543 president. 00:08:11.543 --> 00:08:14.123 Sure, it can be gratifying to carry a sign or share 00:08:14.123 --> 00:08:15.812 a Facebook post that would get under the skin of 00:08:15.812 --> 00:08:17.603 our quick-tempered, fast-tweeting, 00:08:17.603 --> 00:08:19.888 rarely self-reflecting President. 00:08:19.888 --> 00:08:22.599 And because Trump buys so fully into deeply sexist 00:08:22.599 --> 00:08:25.351 ideas about masculinity and power himself, 00:08:25.351 --> 00:08:27.660 questioning his masculinity can seem like an easy, 00:08:27.660 --> 00:08:29.937 effective way to knock him down a peg. 00:08:29.937 --> 00:08:31.105 But we have to think about the message we’re 00:08:31.105 --> 00:08:33.367 sending when we insult anyone using the idea that 00:08:33.367 --> 00:08:35.044 small hands are unmanly, 00:08:35.044 --> 00:08:37.412 or that two men loving each other is embarrassing 00:08:37.412 --> 00:08:39.643 - even a president who was leaving a bad taste in 00:08:39.643 --> 00:08:42.003 people’s mouths with his personal line of steaks at 00:08:42.003 --> 00:08:44.474 the Sharper Image...long before he was offending 00:08:44.474 --> 00:08:47.248 and embarrassing us as Commander-in-Chief. 00:08:47.248 --> 00:08:49.536 If we rely on patriarchal ideas of masculinity to 00:08:49.536 --> 00:08:51.476 insult and protest against someone who clearly 00:08:51.476 --> 00:08:54.038 benefits from patriarchy and misogyny, 00:08:54.038 --> 00:08:56.507 and from his own position as a straight, white, 00:08:56.507 --> 00:08:58.141 tremendously wealthy man, 00:08:58.141 --> 00:09:00.863 then we help to perpetuate these same norms. 00:09:00.863 --> 00:09:02.792 These are the very norms that help enable 00:09:02.792 --> 00:09:05.208 someone to laugh off their own history of sexism 00:09:05.208 --> 00:09:07.595 and sexual assault, and still get elected to the 00:09:07.595 --> 00:09:09.458 highest office in the land. 00:09:09.458 --> 00:09:11.027 What would actually be transgressive and 00:09:11.027 --> 00:09:13.553 challenging to Trump is a resistance that works to 00:09:13.553 --> 00:09:15.887 dismantle the very notions of patriarchy and power 00:09:15.887 --> 00:09:18.250 that helped propel him to the presidency. 00:09:18.250 --> 00:09:20.472 A resistance that defies rigid notions of 00:09:20.472 --> 00:09:23.316 masculinity and femininity and loudly embraces 00:09:23.316 --> 00:09:26.383 people of all genders and all gender expressions. 00:09:26.383 --> 00:09:29.010 So let’s stop resorting to body shaming or 00:09:29.010 --> 00:09:31.127 homophobia when what we’re really trying to do is 00:09:31.127 --> 00:09:32.293 critique the misogyny, 00:09:32.293 --> 00:09:33.990 the history of sexual assault, 00:09:33.990 --> 00:09:36.597 and the abuse of political power by someone who 00:09:36.597 --> 00:09:38.366 should have done us a huge favor and 00:09:38.366 --> 00:09:40.261 disappeared from the public sphere 00:09:40.261 --> 00:09:42.255 following his cameo in Home Alone 2. 00:09:42.255 --> 00:09:43.594 "Excuse me, where's the lobby?" 00:09:43.594 --> 00:09:45.794 "Down the hall and to the left." 00:09:45.794 --> 00:09:47.924 "Thanks." 00:09:51.004 --> 00:09:53.077 This is our brand new Feminist Frequency show! 00:09:53.077 --> 00:09:54.321 If you like what we’re doing here, 00:09:54.321 --> 00:09:55.766 please share it with your friends, 00:09:55.766 --> 00:09:57.362 subscribe for more videos, 00:09:57.362 --> 00:10:00.035 and donate to help us continue making them!