My 100th Dispatch since I began writing in November 2016 the post-election of the White-Supremacist-Misogynist-Pussy-Grabbing-Self-Aggrandizing-Demagogic-Bully-PeeeOTUS.
Yes, I wrote in white-hot out-rage and with the fury of the Furies, and I rightly declared Misogyny pivotal to the election result. (Just in case your Greek mythology is fuzzy, the Furies are mythical chthonic female deities of vengeance who curse/destroy those committing crimes against the physical and moral order of things.) How many times have I wished for -- and written for -- 21stC Furies.
Six years later, extreme right-wing views such as the Great Replacement, QAnon conspiracies, stolen elections, misogynist Incels, white homeland, and support for the violent overthrow of government are being mainstreamed. While this extremism was already present, the 2016 election pandered to these views and the aftermath cultivated their resurgence.
A Foreign Affairs article authored by Cynthia Miller-Idriss and titled “From 9/11 to 1/6 The War on Terror Supercharged the Far Right” offers an illuminating analysis about the origins and resurgence of 21stC US domestic terrorism. www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/united-states/2021-08-24/war-on-terror-911-jan6
And as usual, the leading edge of this resurgence is the ramped-up War on Women’s Bodies. My March 30 2022 Dispatch #93 featured a Foreign Affairs article titled “Revenge of the Patriarchs: Why Autocrats Fear Women.” Authors Chenoweth and Marks provide decades of historical evidence for how the rise of fascism, nationalism and authoritarian governments is preceded and cemented by misogyny, i.e., restrictions on women’s rights. They assert that restricting women’s human rights is the ‘leading edge of anti-democracy.’ www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/china/2022-02-08/women-rights-revenge-patriarchs
Yeah, the penultimate accomplishment of those prosecuting the War on Women is that women are distracted from fighting fascism and authoritarianism because they are scrambling to save women’s lives from the latest shredding of women’s human rights.
Comments