Originally published at: Words as Argument, Words as Aggression - Annals of the Semantics of Trumpism - TPM – Talking Points Memo
“You will no longer be abandoned, lonely or scared … You will be protected, and I will be your protector … Women will be happy, healthy, confident and free …You will no longer be thinking about abortion.” You’ve probably heard some combination of these lines and others more than once by now. Donald Trump first…
With these statements, Trump is invoking the core tenet of anti-feminism. He is harking back to the 1950s social contract where women traded subservience for protection from the predations of other men.
Anti-feminists are women who have already paid the price for this social contract up front, and don’t like discovering that this was a raw deal for them. They don’t like the idea that other women might get away without making the same sacrifice. They tend to be the crowd who accuse women who don’t accept this contract as “asking for it.”
This is a large part of the 47% of white women who voted for Trump in 2016. This is the crowd that Trump is pitching to.