Why Do They Hate Women?

What do today’s despots think about women? As evidenced by Donald Trump’s disgusting and vulgar comments condoning sexual assault, our current cadre of authoritarian figures consistently display their disdain for women. Indeed, when trying to understand the ideology that underlies the rise of these charismatic figures one must recognize how vital misogyny is to the messaging of the aforementioned political characters. Ever since Trump’s debate argument with Fox News’ Megyn Kelly, and the subsequent derogatory remarks he directed at Kelly, Donald Trump’s male chauvinism has been well documented. Whether it’s his critique of Sec. Clinton’s “stamina,” or his ex-wife Ivana’s accusations of rape, Trump’s treatment of women has been characterized by sexism and sexual violence. And now, after the recent uncovering of his 2005 interview with Access Hollywood’s Billy Bush, in which he described how he sexually assaulted women, Trump’s hateful attitude toward women has become the salient issue of his campaign. Importantly, this sexism is a common trait amongst a significant amount of male totalitarians. Rodrigo Duterte, the president of the Philippines, embodies this characteristic in a specifically egregious way. When he was running for president Duterte made disgusting remarks “referencing a 36-year-old Australian lay minister named Jacqueline Hamill, who was held hostage, raped, had her throat slashed and was shot in 1989.”

All the women were raped so during the first assault, because they retreated, the bodies they used as a cover, one of them was the corpse of the Australian woman lay minister. Tsk, this is a problem. When the bodies were brought out, they were wrapped. I looked at her face, son of a bitch, she looks like a beautiful American actress. Son of a bitch, what a waste. What came to mind was, they raped her, they lined up. I was angry because she was raped, that’s one thing. But she was so beautiful, the mayor should have been first. What a waste.

As everyone who has some knowledge of Filipino politics immediately recognized, when Duterte laments that “the mayor should have” raped the women first, he is talking about himself, the former mayor of Davao. It is so essential to analyze Duterte, Trump and their contemporaries’ misogyny because it presents a life-threatening danger to women around the world and acts as a fulcrum aspect to their personas’. When attempting to project toughness and strength, authoritarian entities of all varieties rely on sexist, hateful language. Essentially reactionary actors, nefarious leaders like Duterte and Trump use vulgar language and the threats of rape, sexual assault and sexual harassment as tools to bolster their image as masculine demigods. As reactionaries, they entrench their authoritarian programs by disavowing progressive, Universalist notions of gender equality and replacing with a brutal patriarchy that subjugates women and consolidates their power. Philosopher Slavoj Zizek’s insights on this subject of gender and totalitarianism are particularly instructive. Discussing the religious extremist group Boko Haram, Zizek brilliantly articulates how megalomaniacs use of sexism acts as a way to counteract global progress towards equality, bring back pseudo-traditional values and construct a power structure that best serves their interests.

Does the same not hold for, say, Boko Haram? For certain Muslims the liberation of women appears as the most visible feature of the destructive cultural impact of capitalist modernization. Therefore, Boko Haram, which can be roughly and descriptively translated as “Western education [of women specifically] is forbidden,” can perceive itself as a way of fighting the destructive impact of modernization when it imposes hierarchic regulation between the two sexes.

As predatory creeps like Trump continue to talk about things like their daughter’s attractiveness, we need to be diligent and mount serious critiques against the misogyny express by these eminently dangerous demagogues. It is essential to recognize this not only as the bigoted feelings of individuals but as something even more destructive—the structural exploitation and domination of women. In conclusion, when groups like Boko Haram and the GOP try to realize their dreams of a male-dominated society through offensive machismo, promotion of sexual assault and the backlash against gender equity, they are trying to accumulate power and dominate their subjects.