https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KeqmbhyoFZQ
After women with the likes of Rosie the Riveter began working as part of WWII homefront efforts, returning male veterans were shocked. Women working in jobs, an inherently male task? Needless to say, they posed a looming threat, and white men in turn gave rise to popular evangelists like Billy Graham, who opposed working women alongside other apparent “threats” such as homosexuality and communism.
I know, a lot of history for a blog post, I apologize. But I cited this example to illustrate that those disillusioned with change have long turned to scapegoats to feed their false sense of order and “good ol’ times.” It’s something I’ve thought about a lot after reading this NY times opinion piece.
The article cites a whole lot of evidence to back up its claims, but I’m going to paraphrase it in short with this quote: “Women changed…Many men didn’t.” It’s referring to feminism, which in the past century has allowed women to flourish and succeed and soar and really achieve things that historical gender roles have always limited them from doing.
While feminism has profoundly changed America for the lives of women, many men refuse to accept the transformation that occurs with the movement, consequently giving rise to feelings of being left behind. For those disillusioned men, presidential candidate Donald Trump, just like Graham all those years ago, has provided the tempting antidote of scapegoats – Mexican immigrants, Muslims, China, political correctness, to name a few.
“With his string of wives, his beautiful pageant girls and his vulgar displays of wealth, Mr. Trump embodies a fantasy of masculine power reclaimed. Mrs. Clinton, an unapologetically ambitious woman, symbolizes the ways in which America has moved on — and in her promises to help alienated men catch up is the implicit expectation that they, too, must change.”
There’s a lot more in that piece, but I just want to take a moment to celebrate the accomplishments that American culture has made:
“Young women are soaring in a feminist sweet spot: still exhibiting many traditional feminine behaviors — being polite, cultivating meaningful connections, listening and communicating effectively — and finding that those same qualities work to our benefit in the classroom and workplace, opening up more opportunities for us to excel. And while we do find ourselves walking the tightrope between being perceived as a nice bimbo or a competent bitch, there are more ways to be a woman than ever before. It’s no longer unusual to meet a female lawyer or engineer. No one bats an eye if we cut our hair short, wear pants, pay with a credit card in our own name, win on the soccer field, or buy our own home.”
On both sides of the spectrum, we oftentimes focus on the flaws of America – foreign policy failures, social exclusion, healthcare holes, reactions to Beyonce’s Country Music Awards performance, Trump’s comments about “abortion” in the ninth month (that’s definitely called birth, thanks).
And it’s important to do so in order to address those problems. But like SNL’s cathartic happy-music reconciliation sketch this past Saturday night, it’s just nice to simply take stock of the progress we’ve made.
After WWII all those years ago, society reverted back to traditional gender roles, causing more and more women to against stay at home instead of working in light of cultural expectations. Not this time. The 2016 election has shown that feminism has mustered formidable enough momentum to not only force our opponents into supporting Trump, but it has also indelibly triumphed in its sheer permanence. There’s still progress to be made, but women working, and succeeding, in greater societal involvement is a change that isn’t simply ephemeral.
Celebrate, if anything, for that, for the change, for the fact that Nate Silver predicts that Hillary Clinton has 64.5% of winning the election, and for this huge work in progress.
