As someone who grew up in Christian Nationalism, I will add one thing to the excellent insights here. Many of these women participate in oppressing other women because THEY resent the choices those women have, choices they lack or believe they cannot make. Envy, jealousy and resentment are big emotions. They make humans do despicable things.
I also do not understand a woman, especially one who is not of my generation ( 75) supporting trump or the republican party. Even though I grew up in the 50s & 60s I was fortunate that my mother was a different 50s role model. She was very independent, she worked all my childhood, had been a WAC during WWII where she met and married my father, and was outspoken on her views. In my late teens and early twenties we many times disagreed in those views, but, I was always encouraged to have views and speak them. It is how I raised my three daughters, and how my grandaughter and grandsons are being raised by my daughter. But I look at so many women today and hear them praise trump, and his Christian and family values and just blink in total amazement. Have they not looked at his adulteries marriages, his conviction of rape and defamation of that victim? How he ridicules and disparages any woman that might go against him? Even ones he previously was friendly with, ie Birdbrain Niki... Perhaps the woman that support him have low self esteem, maybe they need to be close to a man of power to feel of value, perhaps they are passed the childbearing age so feel that the abortion issue does not involve them, or perhaps they have just lost their collective minds and self-respect. Who knows! But it is baffling and very unsettling, and such a disrespect for all women and the miles of fighting for rights we have fought for. Shame on them.
This is not new at all. I'm not an expert, but I have listened to people who are experts on systemic racism and white supremacy, who talk about the complicity of white women in slavery and racism. It has to do with proximity to power. Women who don't want to rock the boat must cooperate with the boat, and they find a type of substitute power from hanging around and supporting men who oppress women and minorities. Many white women were actively involved in upholding slavery and Jim Crow, the KKK, and lynchings. Supporting Trump is just a new form of supporting oppression. Unfortunately it will damage them, as you say, but confronting reality is too scary in any given moment. Loving people while also confronting them with other views (and outvoting them) is what we can do, and it won't reach everyone affected by propaganda and fear. But it will reach some.
Great post John!! Coming from a very Evangelical family I don't understand it either and I consider myself a strong Christian. I know the Anti-abortion stance of the GOP plays a strong part. I also blame Fox for all the lies and propaganda they've spewed for decades. Also let's face it both sides are guilty of demonizing each other but the right have truly been the worst.
I finally drew a line in the sand this year. I said I would not go to my Mother's house anymore while Fox was on TV. It caused a big uproar but my ptsd just couldnt take it anymore. It's made an impact too. At least for a few hours a day Mom is getting other news coverage. My two daughters couldn't be more different though. My youngest is a full-on Trump supporter and one is not. I'll never understand how my daughter could ever support him although I think her husband's attitude plays a part.
For so many who claim to love Jesus and strive to be like Him, how in the WORLD did they choose the most UN-CHRISTLIKE Person ever to be our Commander-in-Chief is just beyond me. It truly is. I'll be Voting for Democrats too. Up and down the Ballot. And very proud of it!! Thanks for all you do. Your words help keep me going!!! ❤️🇺🇸💙
As a pastor and a woman, I have found there are women who simply don't believe in their own value or opinions, unless and until they have been "validated" by their "man." These women don't stand up for themselves, because they will either be slapped down or ridiculed for trying. They accept the abuse because they've been taught a patriarchal reading of theology+patriarchal society+patriarchal family structure+patriarchal politics is the way of the world. To break away is more than they can imagine.
Is it just a coincidence that the lead photo has a line-up of all blonde women dressed in their MAGA finest? Looks like an audition for Fox News Talking Babe (NB: If you haven’t seen it, watch “Bombshell,” the movie about Roger Ailes and Fox. Women are *required* to look and dress like runway models).
Proximity to power, institutionalized racism (Jim Crow edition), toxic theological indoctrination all play a part. But as a liberal Christian, my take on it all is the same as Abraham Lincoln’s was leading up to the Civil War. Heather Cox Richardson has written extensively on Lincoln’s formative years. One of his defining moments was reading the book _Capt. Riley’s Narrative_. It’s the true story of the wreck of an American ship on the western coast of Africa in 1815, and how the crew were taken captive and subjected to forced labor: The tale of white men enslaved in Africa.
As HCR states, “Lincoln saw clearly that if we give up the principle of equality before the law, we have given up the whole game. We have admitted the principle that people are unequal and that some people are better than others. Once we have replaced the principle of equality with the idea that humans are unequal, we have granted approval to the idea of rulers and ruled. At that point, all any of us can do is to hope that no one in power decides that we belong in one of the lesser groups.”
One either believes in equality for all, or equality for none. I’d be interested in hearing how these MAGA women explain their position on this, since the only logical explanation must start by admitting that they’re below men and content with being subjugated.
Yes, I can rationalize it intellectually by all the reasons you stated, but I still can't *understand* it emotionally. And I don't think I ever will.🤷♀️
An additional observation: there are a LOT of women who see other women as competition...even their "friends". They're raised to see their value only in their ability to catch and keep a male, and winning that game supersedes everything else. They truly don't care about the subjugation or mistreatment of other women, and view themselves as exempt because they won the game (see the proximity to power mentioned by others). They value the security of being someone's wife over even their own happiness, so they'll support those that validate this choice and HATE anyone that suggests their way of life isn't ideal.
Thank you all for the great comments on this piece. This is a huge source of sadness for so many of us and illustrates how deeply embedded misogyny is in the Conservative Christian movement, and how so many support it to their own detriment.
As a woman, it makes NO sense whatsoever. Trump is loathsome and the exact opposite of what I would respect or like in any man. Like you, I do not understand the women I see at his rallies, outwardly adoring him. They are selling out women around the globe.
Thank you John. And thank you to any other male allies out there who actually get it. It has been literally heartbreaking to watch Trump happen to us and see so many women flock to his disgusting misogyny filled viewpoints. It is an incredibly helpless feeling to have conservative female relatives who i KNOW will be voting for him even if they don't come out and say so to my face. They know better. But they will vote for him no matter what. It feels like the worst betrayal imaginable.
I have to agree with Andra Watkins about women resenting others having choices. But there's more to it than that. My sisters both were Evangelicals (who now would have been considered Christian Nationalists). They managed to come close to destroying our family until my father intervened. They convinced my mother to come too the dark side, too! My mother and father both supported women's rights, human rights, and freedom to make our own choices. I am who I an today because of them! But after she changed churches my mother became just like them, and I finally had to tell her to stop sending me literature etc. What I observed about all three of them was that they had poor self-esteem. My sisters believed their worth as human beings was tied to the man in their life. They would have denied it. My sisters stayed with abusive men because they felt they had to have a husband. My oldest sister told me that she stayed in their church initially because her husband stopped drinking. My younger sister left their church because her next husband didn't want to go there. They both felt they had the right to tell me how to live my life. I really struggled in wording my message to them that I would not accept their beliefs, and would not allow them to dictate my life, and I feared it would end our relationship, but I would not allow them to bully me. I firmly believe that their poor self-esteem let them be bullied into agreeing with things they were not raised to believe. I pray daily for their souls, and for for all women who continue to vote Republican.
It is the most frustrating and infuriating phenomenon and especially difficult if it's a neighbor, coworker or family member. Reminds of the Phyllis Schlafly era and hurdles that ultimately blocked the Equal Rights Amendment, but actually much worse, embarrassing and just plain stupid. He is a criminal. But I have seen women decide that they can no longer support him which inspires some hope. And hopefully women are not being policed by their spouses when they fill out their ballots.
I agree with all of the wisdom spoken here. I also think there's a piece with these women where they just don't want to deal with the pain and rage and reality of recognizing all of the abuse, all of the slights, all of the oppression of women over time. Because that's what has to happen in order for compassion and self love to set in. We have to first recognize our own pain so that we can recognize it in others and cultivate the space to hold all of that. That is hard work and it's painful and exhausting. So, including all of the reasons mentioned here, I think this too plays a huge part. It is often easier to stand with the ones in power than to recognize the damage they have done and then begin to try and heal from it. That takes bravery and grit and it's just more than some women know how to do, or are willing to do.
I agree with all that you said except you not understanding why so many women submit to these horrible men. Survival of the species is an instinctive evolutionary trait that all living things have, usually shown through sexual attraction. The strongest males and most fertile females promote species survival. Too many good men and women have allowed this instinctive trait to overcome their humanity.
My husband, a pastor who once had very conservative leanings (I’d like to think I had some influence in his now progressive bent) constantly directs me back to the anti-abortion cause and a very outdated way of thinking about women(especially young women) and sex. He keeps saying “They think they are saving babies for Jesus”. Which is maddening for me-a RN with 44 years of experience working in pediatrics, 17 years in the NICU, where one gets to see up close the devastating effects of congenital defects on young families. Being close to the OB world, it was clear early on that abortion is healthcare and hard decisions should be made between a woman and her physician. But these conservative female Republicans want to keep the blinders on to all of Trump’s misogynistic deplorable behavior to “save those babies”. It is like they have sold their female souls to a liar who cares nothing about them and certainly not about any baby! They have become one issue voters when we really can’t ignore the myriad of issues a Trump second presidency would bring. When given the chance, I try to give concrete examples where abortion is a very complex and personal decision-not a matter of convenience. But I’m clearly not as loud as Fox News.
As someone who grew up in Christian Nationalism, I will add one thing to the excellent insights here. Many of these women participate in oppressing other women because THEY resent the choices those women have, choices they lack or believe they cannot make. Envy, jealousy and resentment are big emotions. They make humans do despicable things.
I also do not understand a woman, especially one who is not of my generation ( 75) supporting trump or the republican party. Even though I grew up in the 50s & 60s I was fortunate that my mother was a different 50s role model. She was very independent, she worked all my childhood, had been a WAC during WWII where she met and married my father, and was outspoken on her views. In my late teens and early twenties we many times disagreed in those views, but, I was always encouraged to have views and speak them. It is how I raised my three daughters, and how my grandaughter and grandsons are being raised by my daughter. But I look at so many women today and hear them praise trump, and his Christian and family values and just blink in total amazement. Have they not looked at his adulteries marriages, his conviction of rape and defamation of that victim? How he ridicules and disparages any woman that might go against him? Even ones he previously was friendly with, ie Birdbrain Niki... Perhaps the woman that support him have low self esteem, maybe they need to be close to a man of power to feel of value, perhaps they are passed the childbearing age so feel that the abortion issue does not involve them, or perhaps they have just lost their collective minds and self-respect. Who knows! But it is baffling and very unsettling, and such a disrespect for all women and the miles of fighting for rights we have fought for. Shame on them.
This is not new at all. I'm not an expert, but I have listened to people who are experts on systemic racism and white supremacy, who talk about the complicity of white women in slavery and racism. It has to do with proximity to power. Women who don't want to rock the boat must cooperate with the boat, and they find a type of substitute power from hanging around and supporting men who oppress women and minorities. Many white women were actively involved in upholding slavery and Jim Crow, the KKK, and lynchings. Supporting Trump is just a new form of supporting oppression. Unfortunately it will damage them, as you say, but confronting reality is too scary in any given moment. Loving people while also confronting them with other views (and outvoting them) is what we can do, and it won't reach everyone affected by propaganda and fear. But it will reach some.
Great post John!! Coming from a very Evangelical family I don't understand it either and I consider myself a strong Christian. I know the Anti-abortion stance of the GOP plays a strong part. I also blame Fox for all the lies and propaganda they've spewed for decades. Also let's face it both sides are guilty of demonizing each other but the right have truly been the worst.
I finally drew a line in the sand this year. I said I would not go to my Mother's house anymore while Fox was on TV. It caused a big uproar but my ptsd just couldnt take it anymore. It's made an impact too. At least for a few hours a day Mom is getting other news coverage. My two daughters couldn't be more different though. My youngest is a full-on Trump supporter and one is not. I'll never understand how my daughter could ever support him although I think her husband's attitude plays a part.
For so many who claim to love Jesus and strive to be like Him, how in the WORLD did they choose the most UN-CHRISTLIKE Person ever to be our Commander-in-Chief is just beyond me. It truly is. I'll be Voting for Democrats too. Up and down the Ballot. And very proud of it!! Thanks for all you do. Your words help keep me going!!! ❤️🇺🇸💙
As a pastor and a woman, I have found there are women who simply don't believe in their own value or opinions, unless and until they have been "validated" by their "man." These women don't stand up for themselves, because they will either be slapped down or ridiculed for trying. They accept the abuse because they've been taught a patriarchal reading of theology+patriarchal society+patriarchal family structure+patriarchal politics is the way of the world. To break away is more than they can imagine.
Is it just a coincidence that the lead photo has a line-up of all blonde women dressed in their MAGA finest? Looks like an audition for Fox News Talking Babe (NB: If you haven’t seen it, watch “Bombshell,” the movie about Roger Ailes and Fox. Women are *required* to look and dress like runway models).
Proximity to power, institutionalized racism (Jim Crow edition), toxic theological indoctrination all play a part. But as a liberal Christian, my take on it all is the same as Abraham Lincoln’s was leading up to the Civil War. Heather Cox Richardson has written extensively on Lincoln’s formative years. One of his defining moments was reading the book _Capt. Riley’s Narrative_. It’s the true story of the wreck of an American ship on the western coast of Africa in 1815, and how the crew were taken captive and subjected to forced labor: The tale of white men enslaved in Africa.
As HCR states, “Lincoln saw clearly that if we give up the principle of equality before the law, we have given up the whole game. We have admitted the principle that people are unequal and that some people are better than others. Once we have replaced the principle of equality with the idea that humans are unequal, we have granted approval to the idea of rulers and ruled. At that point, all any of us can do is to hope that no one in power decides that we belong in one of the lesser groups.”
One either believes in equality for all, or equality for none. I’d be interested in hearing how these MAGA women explain their position on this, since the only logical explanation must start by admitting that they’re below men and content with being subjugated.
Yes, I can rationalize it intellectually by all the reasons you stated, but I still can't *understand* it emotionally. And I don't think I ever will.🤷♀️
An additional observation: there are a LOT of women who see other women as competition...even their "friends". They're raised to see their value only in their ability to catch and keep a male, and winning that game supersedes everything else. They truly don't care about the subjugation or mistreatment of other women, and view themselves as exempt because they won the game (see the proximity to power mentioned by others). They value the security of being someone's wife over even their own happiness, so they'll support those that validate this choice and HATE anyone that suggests their way of life isn't ideal.
Thank you all for the great comments on this piece. This is a huge source of sadness for so many of us and illustrates how deeply embedded misogyny is in the Conservative Christian movement, and how so many support it to their own detriment.
As a woman, it makes NO sense whatsoever. Trump is loathsome and the exact opposite of what I would respect or like in any man. Like you, I do not understand the women I see at his rallies, outwardly adoring him. They are selling out women around the globe.
Thank you John. And thank you to any other male allies out there who actually get it. It has been literally heartbreaking to watch Trump happen to us and see so many women flock to his disgusting misogyny filled viewpoints. It is an incredibly helpless feeling to have conservative female relatives who i KNOW will be voting for him even if they don't come out and say so to my face. They know better. But they will vote for him no matter what. It feels like the worst betrayal imaginable.
I have to agree with Andra Watkins about women resenting others having choices. But there's more to it than that. My sisters both were Evangelicals (who now would have been considered Christian Nationalists). They managed to come close to destroying our family until my father intervened. They convinced my mother to come too the dark side, too! My mother and father both supported women's rights, human rights, and freedom to make our own choices. I am who I an today because of them! But after she changed churches my mother became just like them, and I finally had to tell her to stop sending me literature etc. What I observed about all three of them was that they had poor self-esteem. My sisters believed their worth as human beings was tied to the man in their life. They would have denied it. My sisters stayed with abusive men because they felt they had to have a husband. My oldest sister told me that she stayed in their church initially because her husband stopped drinking. My younger sister left their church because her next husband didn't want to go there. They both felt they had the right to tell me how to live my life. I really struggled in wording my message to them that I would not accept their beliefs, and would not allow them to dictate my life, and I feared it would end our relationship, but I would not allow them to bully me. I firmly believe that their poor self-esteem let them be bullied into agreeing with things they were not raised to believe. I pray daily for their souls, and for for all women who continue to vote Republican.
It is the most frustrating and infuriating phenomenon and especially difficult if it's a neighbor, coworker or family member. Reminds of the Phyllis Schlafly era and hurdles that ultimately blocked the Equal Rights Amendment, but actually much worse, embarrassing and just plain stupid. He is a criminal. But I have seen women decide that they can no longer support him which inspires some hope. And hopefully women are not being policed by their spouses when they fill out their ballots.
I agree with all of the wisdom spoken here. I also think there's a piece with these women where they just don't want to deal with the pain and rage and reality of recognizing all of the abuse, all of the slights, all of the oppression of women over time. Because that's what has to happen in order for compassion and self love to set in. We have to first recognize our own pain so that we can recognize it in others and cultivate the space to hold all of that. That is hard work and it's painful and exhausting. So, including all of the reasons mentioned here, I think this too plays a huge part. It is often easier to stand with the ones in power than to recognize the damage they have done and then begin to try and heal from it. That takes bravery and grit and it's just more than some women know how to do, or are willing to do.
I agree with all that you said except you not understanding why so many women submit to these horrible men. Survival of the species is an instinctive evolutionary trait that all living things have, usually shown through sexual attraction. The strongest males and most fertile females promote species survival. Too many good men and women have allowed this instinctive trait to overcome their humanity.
My husband, a pastor who once had very conservative leanings (I’d like to think I had some influence in his now progressive bent) constantly directs me back to the anti-abortion cause and a very outdated way of thinking about women(especially young women) and sex. He keeps saying “They think they are saving babies for Jesus”. Which is maddening for me-a RN with 44 years of experience working in pediatrics, 17 years in the NICU, where one gets to see up close the devastating effects of congenital defects on young families. Being close to the OB world, it was clear early on that abortion is healthcare and hard decisions should be made between a woman and her physician. But these conservative female Republicans want to keep the blinders on to all of Trump’s misogynistic deplorable behavior to “save those babies”. It is like they have sold their female souls to a liar who cares nothing about them and certainly not about any baby! They have become one issue voters when we really can’t ignore the myriad of issues a Trump second presidency would bring. When given the chance, I try to give concrete examples where abortion is a very complex and personal decision-not a matter of convenience. But I’m clearly not as loud as Fox News.