0:00:00.908,0:00:02.405 [br]“Mr. Trump...your presidency? 0:00:02.405,0:00:03.854 I love your presidency. 0:00:03.854,0:00:06.961 I call it “Disgrace the Nation.” 0:00:06.961,0:00:08.086 You have more people marching 0:00:08.086,0:00:09.726 against you than cancer. 0:00:09.726,0:00:11.798 You talk like a sign language gorilla 0:00:11.798,0:00:13.060 who got hit in the head. 0:00:13.060,0:00:14.376 In fact, the only thing your mouth 0:00:14.376,0:00:16.218 Is good for is being Vladimir Putin’s 0:00:16.218,0:00:18.981 [bleep] holster.” 0:00:23.674,0:00:24.513 Remember that time, 0:00:24.513,0:00:25.234 back in January, 0:00:25.234,0:00:27.464 when millions of Americans fired up Pinterest, 0:00:27.464,0:00:28.591 broke out their gluesticks, 0:00:28.591,0:00:31.208 and went arts & crafts wild like kids at camp? 0:00:31.208,0:00:32.991 Armed with thousands of colorful banners, 0:00:32.991,0:00:33.991 posters and signs, 0:00:33.991,0:00:35.620 an estimated four and a half 0:00:35.620,0:00:37.967 million people around the world took to the streets 0:00:37.967,0:00:41.937 on January 21, 2017 for the Women’s March.` 0:00:41.937,0:00:43.535 To remind ourselves of just a few of the reasons 0:00:43.535,0:00:44.995 why people were out that day, 0:00:44.995,0:00:46.045 let’s pause for a moment 0:00:46.045,0:00:47.309 and listen to some words from our 0:00:47.309,0:00:49.064 Commander-in-Chief that helped inspire this 0:00:49.064,0:00:50.911 tremendous event. 0:00:50.911,0:00:51.892 “I did try and fuck her. 0:00:51.892,0:00:52.668 She was married. 0:00:52.668,0:00:55.537 I moved on her like a bitch. 0:00:55.537,0:00:56.716 But I couldn’t get there. 0:00:56.716,0:00:58.212 And she was married. 0:00:58.212,0:01:00.167 You know, I’m automatically attracted to a 0:01:00.167,0:01:01.467 beautiful - I just start kissing them. 0:01:01.467,0:01:03.214 It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. 0:01:03.214,0:01:03.950 [laughter] 0:01:03.950,0:01:04.588 I don’t even wait. 0:01:04.588,0:01:05.219 And when you’re a star, 0:01:05.219,0:01:06.515 they let you do it. 0:01:06.515,0:01:07.824 You can do anything.” 0:01:07.824,0:01:08.396 “Whatever you want.” 0:01:08.396,0:01:09.500 “Grab them by the pussy. 0:01:10.280,0:01:13.965 You can do anything.” 0:01:14.567,0:01:16.556 Yeah, that’s our President 0:01:16.556,0:01:18.676 back in 2005 when he was 0:01:18.676,0:01:21.082 merely a billionaire reality TV show host, 0:01:21.082,0:01:23.670 proudly admitting how he abused his power and 0:01:23.670,0:01:25.146 celebrity to sexually harass and 0:01:25.146,0:01:26.866 assault vulnerable women. 0:01:26.896,0:01:27.686 And by the way: 0:01:27.686,0:01:29.680 this may be the most famous example of Trump 0:01:29.680,0:01:31.577 telling us what he considers to be the real 0:01:31.577,0:01:32.878 “Art of the Deal” 0:01:32.878,0:01:34.992 but it’s by no means the only one. 0:01:34.992,0:01:36.146 Even before Trump announced his 0:01:36.146,0:01:37.146 candidacy for President, 0:01:37.146,0:01:38.328 every news cycle about him 0:01:38.328,0:01:39.788 was like being stuck in a game of 0:01:39.788,0:01:42.082 Rape Culture Jumanji. 0:01:42.082,0:01:44.086 And partially in response to his blatant, abusive 0:01:44.086,0:01:47.970 misogyny, upwards of 4.6 million people gathered 0:01:47.970,0:01:51.360 in more than 550 cities in the United States alone, 0:01:51.360,0:01:53.623 many of them wielding some seriously spectacular 0:01:53.623,0:01:55.990 signs displaying messages of resistance to 0:01:55.990,0:01:58.724 systematic racism, sexism, and other forms of 0:01:58.724,0:02:00.168 oppression. 0:02:00.168,0:02:02.128 But unfortunately, not all the images or chants 0:02:02.128,0:02:04.288 back in January were inspirational. 0:02:04.288,0:02:06.053 In fact, when you get right down to it, 0:02:06.053,0:02:07.201 some of the signs and slogans 0:02:07.201,0:02:08.768 didn’t just lack creativity – 0:02:08.768,0:02:11.214 they actively reinforced precisely what the people 0:02:11.214,0:02:13.541 holding them thought they were protesting. 0:02:13.541,0:02:15.861 Punchy doesn’t always equal progressive, y’all. 0:02:15.861,0:02:18.067 When you’re “joking” about the unusually small 0:02:18.067,0:02:19.499 size of someone’s hands, 0:02:19.499,0:02:20.863 or laughing at pictures of him in homoerotic 0:02:20.863,0:02:23.720 scenarios, you’re actually feeding the same logic 0:02:23.720,0:02:25.730 that encourages someone to think they can, 0:02:25.730,0:02:28.757 well, “move on someone like a bitch.” 0:02:28.757,0:02:30.030 Our culture tells us how a “real man” should think, 0:02:30.030,0:02:32.337 what he should look like, 0:02:32.337,0:02:34.040 and who he can dominate. 0:02:34.040,0:02:35.607 These messages are toxic. 0:02:35.607,0:02:37.946 They depend on a version of masculinity that says: 0:02:37.946,0:02:39.882 “Real’ men use power to dominate. 0:02:39.882,0:02:40.880 They take what they want, 0:02:40.880,0:02:41.619 in business, 0:02:41.619,0:02:42.427 or politics, 0:02:42.427,0:02:44.706 or in their relationships with women. 0:02:44.706,0:02:46.320 And yes, these messages equate having 0:02:46.320,0:02:48.485 small hands -- or small anything 0:02:48.485,0:02:50.272 with being less of a “real” man. 0:02:50.272,0:02:52.174 Let’s look at some more examples to help us 0:02:52.174,0:02:54.253 unpack how this works. 0:02:54.253,0:02:55.732 In August of 2016, 0:02:55.732,0:02:56.803 our last blissful, 0:02:56.803,0:02:58.207 pre-election summer, 0:02:58.207,0:03:00.186 a statue appeared in New York City’s Union Square 0:03:00.186,0:03:02.184 of a very naked Donald Trump. 0:03:02.184,0:03:04.319 The size of this statue’s genitals was clearly 0:03:04.319,0:03:06.515 intended to be an insult to the man whose greatest 0:03:06.515,0:03:08.624 leadership experience up to that point may have 0:03:08.624,0:03:10.631 been the two times he fired Stephen Baldwin on 0:03:10.631,0:03:11.631 The Celebrity Apprentice. 0:03:11.631,0:03:14.227 "You're fired." 0:03:14.227,0:03:15.625 From public art and social media 0:03:15.625,0:03:17.110 to protests and marches, 0:03:17.110,0:03:19.201 renderings like this statue are everywhere. 0:03:19.201,0:03:21.280 It’s impossible to avoid the memes about 0:03:21.280,0:03:23.991 hand size, poorly-executed spray tans, 0:03:23.991,0:03:25.591 and combovers that are are meant to offend 0:03:25.591,0:03:27.171 a certain thin-skinned individual 0:03:27.171,0:03:28.704 who has a tendency to rage on Twitter and also 0:03:28.704,0:03:31.704 has access to the nuclear codes. 0:03:31.704,0:03:33.631 In addition to the sea of miniature members, 0:03:33.631,0:03:34.542 tiny hands, 0:03:34.542,0:03:36.511 and aggressively orange bouffants, 0:03:36.511,0:03:39.001 criticism in public spaces has included numerous 0:03:39.001,0:03:41.440 images of Trump and Putin taking their diplomatic 0:03:41.440,0:03:43.751 intimacy to the physical level. 0:03:43.751,0:03:45.586 Valentine’s Day proved to be a pretty great 0:03:45.586,0:03:48.084 opportunity for artists intending to defy Trump, 0:03:48.084,0:03:49.945 to use some homoerotic imagery 0:03:49.945,0:03:51.355 to get in some jabs. 0:03:51.355,0:03:52.355 But in this case, homoerotic 0:03:52.355,0:03:54.654 equates to homophobic. 0:03:54.654,0:03:57.156 If you use gay imagery to insult someone, the 0:03:57.156,0:03:59.554 implication is that homosexuality is itself 0:03:59.554,0:04:01.004 something shameful. 0:04:01.004,0:04:03.013 These images don’t just criticize a political 0:04:03.013,0:04:03.992 relationship. 0:04:03.992,0:04:06.106 They emasculate Trump by using make-up, 0:04:06.106,0:04:08.174 pregnancy, and even his position as 0:04:08.174,0:04:11.665 the “little spoon” to suggest his effeminacy. 0:04:11.665,0:04:13.725 These images also mock the notion of two men 0:04:13.725,0:04:15.444 being together sexually or romantically, 0:04:15.444,0:04:17.968 which communicates to all onlookers that, 0:04:17.968,0:04:21.952 in 2017, intimacy between two “real men” is 0:04:21.952,0:04:23.116 laughable. 0:04:23.116,0:04:24.924 People who would consider themselves LGBT 0:04:24.924,0:04:26.894 allies are deploying the kind of rhetoric that implies 0:04:26.894,0:04:30.070 that anything other than stereotypically masculine 0:04:30.070,0:04:33.317 or heterosexual behavior is wrong or absurd. 0:04:33.317,0:04:35.757 What do we mean when we say “stereotypically 0:04:35.757,0:04:36.697 masculine”? 0:04:36.697,0:04:38.052 Well, the media we create and engage 0:04:38.052,0:04:40.035 with too often depicts aggression, 0:04:40.035,0:04:42.077 physical strength, pride, protectiveness, 0:04:42.077,0:04:44.685 and even short tempers as “manly.” 0:04:44.685,0:04:47.342 We’ve elevated those traits from “manly virtues“ 0:04:47.342,0:04:49.325 to masculine requirements – 0:04:49.325,0:04:50.339 and any deviation from 0:04:50.339,0:04:52.313 them makes a man suspect. 0:04:52.313,0:04:54.715 The end result is that at times our entire culture 0:04:54.715,0:04:56.587 seems like a backslapping locker room full of 0:04:56.587,0:04:58.678 chuckleheads, and we get a President who learned 0:04:58.678,0:05:00.790 diplomacy from The Little Rascals. 0:05:00.790,0:05:04.763 “And what do you say if we form a new club...and 0:05:04.763,0:05:11.125 call it the ‘He-Man Woman Haters’ Club’?” 0:05:11.125,0:05:11.860 These images are so pervasive, 0:05:11.860,0:05:13.541 And so socially entrenched, 0:05:13.541,0:05:15.477 that we’ve come to accept them as natural and 0:05:15.477,0:05:17.629 true, like the sun rising in the east or every 0:05:17.629,0:05:20.815 odd-numbered Star Trek movie being total crap. 0:05:20.815,0:05:22.415 But there’s nothing objectively true about the way 0:05:22.415,0:05:24.559 our culture dictates how to be a man. 0:05:24.559,0:05:27.041 In fact, this version of masculinity is only 0:05:27.041,0:05:29.136 recognizable because we contrast it with its 0:05:29.136,0:05:31.067 opposite: weakness, humility, and vulnerability: 0:05:31.067,0:05:35.383 in other words, “femininity.” 0:05:35.383,0:05:37.887 If being a “real man” means being stoic, strong, 0:05:37.887,0:05:38.770 and rational, 0:05:38.770,0:05:40.911 then being a “real” woman wins you a lifetime 0:05:40.911,0:05:43.602 supply of timidity, weakness, and hysteria. 0:05:43.602,0:05:46.098 Bonus round: the word “hysteria” comes from the 0:05:46.098,0:05:48.623 Greek word for “uterus.” 0:05:48.623,0:05:50.478 Associations of compassion, vulnerability, and 0:05:50.478,0:05:53.504 emotion with femininity are no more intrinsically 0:05:53.504,0:05:55.537 true than associations of aggression and 0:05:55.537,0:05:57.329 dominance with masculinity. 0:05:57.329,0:05:58.459 But in setting up this contrast, 0:05:58.459,0:05:59.459 and by defining 0:05:59.459,0:06:01.077 behaviors, bodies, and appearances 0:06:01.077,0:06:03.175 as either masculine or feminine, 0:06:03.175,0:06:05.153 our culture says that men should exhibit masculine 0:06:05.153,0:06:07.715 attributes, and conversely, women should exhibit 0:06:07.715,0:06:09.730 recognizably feminine traits. 0:06:09.730,0:06:11.907 Cross or blur that culturally-defined line, 0:06:11.907,0:06:13.741 and you’ve got a real problem on your hands 0:06:13.741,0:06:16.550 – no matter how big or small. 0:06:16.550,0:06:18.687 The truth is that cultural ideas about masculinity 0:06:18.687,0:06:21.034 and femininity limit all of us to one degree or 0:06:21.034,0:06:21.770 another, 0:06:21.770,0:06:23.931 though people who identify as men and people 0:06:23.931,0:06:25.764 who identify as women are impacted 0:06:25.764,0:06:27.084 in very different ways. 0:06:27.084,0:06:29.190 In our culture, the attributes associated with 0:06:29.190,0:06:31.959 femininity are deeply shameful for “real men” to 0:06:31.959,0:06:32.901 possess. 0:06:32.901,0:06:34.722 There’s nothing more insulting a man can say to 0:06:34.722,0:06:36.599 another man than to question his masculinity or to 0:06:36.599,0:06:39.837 call him some colorful synonym for woman. 0:06:39.837,0:06:40.598 Why? 0:06:40.598,0:06:43.190 Because as we continue to perpetuate this strict 0:06:43.190,0:06:46.098 system of only two gender options, femininity 0:06:46.098,0:06:49.167 continues to be regarded as something negative. 0:06:49.167,0:06:50.737 “Well, what am I then? 0:06:50.737,0:06:54.218 “What are you? 0:06:54.218,0:06:57.793 You are my bitch. 0:06:57.793,0:06:58.673 That’s what. 0:06:58.673,0:07:02.137 My own, personal bitch.” 0:07:02.137,0:07:04.069 “I’m gonna make you my bitch’s bitch. 0:07:04.069,0:07:06.226 You’re gonna be my grandbitch.” 0:07:06.226,0:07:07.501 “Stop being such a pussy!” 0:07:07.501,0:07:08.423 “You fucking shot me!” 0:07:08.423,0:07:11.054 In actuality, people of any gender can possess any 0:07:11.054,0:07:12.460 personality trait, 0:07:12.460,0:07:13.697 and can find themselves within 0:07:13.697,0:07:15.147 the binary of male and female, 0:07:15.147,0:07:16.547 somewhere in-between, 0:07:16.547,0:07:18.783 or outside of it entirely. 0:07:18.783,0:07:20.100 But, as long as our culture maintains and 0:07:20.100,0:07:23.161 normalizes rigid expectations related to gender – 0:07:23.161,0:07:25.365 like, continuing to prize masculinity while 0:07:25.365,0:07:27.001 denigrating femininity – 0:07:27.001,0:07:28.983 these ideas about gender will contribute to the 0:07:28.983,0:07:31.067 oppression of particular groups of people, 0:07:31.067,0:07:32.718 including women, trans folks, 0:07:32.718,0:07:34.800 and non-binary people. 0:07:34.800,0:07:36.339 Ok, so you may be asking, 0:07:36.339,0:07:38.779 what does all this have to do with insults hurled 0:07:38.779,0:07:40.014 at Donald Trump? 0:07:40.014,0:07:42.210 Let me be very clear about this: 0:07:42.210,0:07:44.771 I AM NOT defending Donald Trump. 0:07:44.771,0:07:47.702 This is about recognizing that “jokes” about who is 0:07:47.702,0:07:49.665 and isn’t a real man are the kinds of things that 0:07:49.665,0:07:52.318 Trump himself would laugh at. 0:07:52.318,0:07:54.068 Yeah, we know that this kind of stuff drives Trump 0:07:54.068,0:07:55.470 up the wall. 0:07:55.470,0:07:56.643 But that’s not a good excuse to participate in 0:07:56.643,0:07:57.284 it. 0:07:57.284,0:07:58.409 We’re better than that. 0:07:58.409,0:07:59.932 We’re certainly funnier. 0:07:59.932,0:08:01.468 We need to challenge what many of those 0:08:01.468,0:08:03.722 criticisms and insults are actually saying about 0:08:03.722,0:08:06.481 men, women, gender, and sexuality, 0:08:06.481,0:08:08.298 because they reinforce harmful patriarchal ideas 0:08:08.298,0:08:10.689 that actually benefit people like our current 0:08:10.689,0:08:11.543 president. 0:08:11.543,0:08:14.123 Sure, it can be gratifying to carry a sign or share 0:08:14.123,0:08:15.812 a Facebook post that would get under the skin of 0:08:15.812,0:08:17.603 our quick-tempered, fast-tweeting, 0:08:17.603,0:08:19.888 rarely self-reflecting President. 0:08:19.888,0:08:22.599 And because Trump buys so fully into deeply sexist 0:08:22.599,0:08:25.351 ideas about masculinity and power himself, 0:08:25.351,0:08:27.660 questioning his masculinity can seem like an easy, 0:08:27.660,0:08:29.937 effective way to knock him down a peg. 0:08:29.937,0:08:31.105 But we have to think about the message we’re 0:08:31.105,0:08:33.367 sending when we insult anyone using the idea that 0:08:33.367,0:08:35.044 small hands are unmanly, 0:08:35.044,0:08:37.412 or that two men loving each other is embarrassing 0:08:37.412,0:08:39.643 - even a president who was leaving a bad taste in 0:08:39.643,0:08:42.003 people’s mouths with his personal line of steaks at 0:08:42.003,0:08:44.474 the Sharper Image...long before he was offending 0:08:44.474,0:08:47.248 and embarrassing us as Commander-in-Chief. 0:08:47.248,0:08:49.536 If we rely on patriarchal ideas of masculinity to 0:08:49.536,0:08:51.476 insult and protest against someone who clearly 0:08:51.476,0:08:54.038 benefits from patriarchy and misogyny, 0:08:54.038,0:08:56.507 and from his own position as a straight, white, 0:08:56.507,0:08:58.141 tremendously wealthy man, 0:08:58.141,0:09:00.863 then we help to perpetuate these same norms. 0:09:00.863,0:09:02.792 These are the very norms that help enable 0:09:02.792,0:09:05.208 someone to laugh off their own history of sexism 0:09:05.208,0:09:07.595 and sexual assault, and still get elected to the 0:09:07.595,0:09:09.458 highest office in the land. 0:09:09.458,0:09:11.027 What would actually be transgressive and 0:09:11.027,0:09:13.553 challenging to Trump is a resistance that works to 0:09:13.553,0:09:15.887 dismantle the very notions of patriarchy and power 0:09:15.887,0:09:18.250 that helped propel him to the presidency. 0:09:18.250,0:09:20.472 A resistance that defies rigid notions of 0:09:20.472,0:09:23.316 masculinity and femininity and loudly embraces 0:09:23.316,0:09:26.383 people of all genders and all gender expressions. 0:09:26.383,0:09:29.010 So let’s stop resorting to body shaming or 0:09:29.010,0:09:31.127 homophobia when what we’re really trying to do is 0:09:31.127,0:09:32.293 critique the misogyny, 0:09:32.293,0:09:33.990 the history of sexual assault, 0:09:33.990,0:09:36.597 and the abuse of political power by someone who 0:09:36.597,0:09:38.366 should have done us a huge favor and 0:09:38.366,0:09:40.261 disappeared from the public sphere 0:09:40.261,0:09:42.255 following his cameo in Home Alone 2. 0:09:42.255,0:09:43.594 "Excuse me, where's the lobby?" 0:09:43.594,0:09:45.794 "Down the hall and to the left." 0:09:45.794,0:09:47.924 "Thanks." 0:09:51.004,0:09:53.077 This is our brand new Feminist Frequency show! 0:09:53.077,0:09:54.321 If you like what we’re doing here, 0:09:54.321,0:09:55.766 please share it with your friends, 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