Dispatch #58 Day 1180 Post-Ascendency of White Supremacy & Misogyny

Dispatch #58   February 4th 2020

Day 1180 Post-Ascendency of White Supremacy & Misogyny Day 1108 Post-Installation of White-Supremacist-Misogynist-Pussy-Grabbing-Self-Aggrandizing-Demagogic-Bully-Illegitimate-PeeeOTUS & his White-Nationalist-Fascistic-Christian-Supremacist-Quislings

This ridiculous democratic primary process is made all the more asinine by the angst-ridden punditry about who can beat PeeeOTUS that fails to acknowledge/understand the dehumanizing and degrading power of Misogyny.

For a light touch, consider Arwa Mahdawi’s recent This Week in Patriarchy: While there’s a growing body of research showing how sexualized images prompt the dehumanization of women, less attention has been paid to “whether subtler forms of sexualization such as makeup” influence objectification. As it turns out, all it takes for a woman to be reduced to an object is a touch too much eyeliner. On the other hand, although wearing “professional” levels of makeup may help you at work, you do have to be careful not to look too nice because attractive businesswomen are judged as being less truthful than less attractive women. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/feb/01/study-too-much-makeup-women-misogyny

For a grimmer tone, consider this essay in the January/February 2020 issue of the well-regarded journal Foreign Affairs that documents the violently sexualized global backlash against female politicians: Politically motivated attacks on women have been on the rise in nearly every region of the world, reaching a record high in 2019; in contrast to attacks on male politicians, attacks on women are characterized by sexualized brutality and threats of violence. The essay’s authors conclude that this violence is largely “driven by misogyny, a deep-seated pathology in most societies and cultures that won’t be eliminated anytime soon.”   http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/2019-12-10/women-under-attack

For a recent illustration of how misogyny thrives right here in the USA, consider this New York Times article entitled Worthless. Gutless. Loser. Online Attacks Escalate When the Mayor Is a Woman: Female mayors are more than twice as likely as male mayors to experience psychological abuse and almost three times as likely to experience physical violence, a new study found. Social media is absolutely toxic to women politicians. “It’s much more virulent to me as a woman than as an out lesbian,” said Annise Parker, who was mayor of Houston for three two-year terms. “Remarks about the way l look, what I weigh, or how I dress — aspects of femininity — escalate into threats of physical violence.”  http://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/23/us/women-mayors-social-media-abuse.html

Listen, watch and be moved by the Chilean protest song – A Rapist in Your Path – that has become a global feminist anthem. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5AAscy7qbI http://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/dec/06/chilean-anti-rape-anthem-becomes-international-feminist-phenomenon

Created by the feminist collective Lastesis in Valparaíso, Chile, and based on the work of the Argentine-Brazilian anthropologist Rita Segato, who argues that sexual violence is a political problem, not a moral one, A Rapist in Your Path calls out rape culture and victim-blaming, and how patriarchy has made women’s existence a crime. http://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/28/opinion/latin-america-feminism.html

“Patriarchy is our judge that imprisons us at birth/

And our punishment is the violence you don’t see.”