Women Are Human

[Content Note: Misogyny.]

It turns out Hillary Clinton is not actually an inhuman soul-consuming shebeast from the netherdepths of Hades but is, in fact, a human being who occasionally has to visit the whiz palace:

As a lot of the world now knows, last Saturday night, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton was late returning to the stage at the Democratic Debate after a five-minute break. Almost immediately media reported that she was delayed because of a line at the women's bathroom. As the break came to a close, with Clinton nowhere in sight, the moderators of the debate started without her. Within minutes, Clinton walked back onto the stage, smiling, and said, "Sorry," to knowing laughter. Women, the laughter acknowledged, live in the interstitial spaces of a world shaped by and for men.

Clinton's wry smile and later explanation, "You know, it does take me a little longer. That's all I can say," sent tetchy sexist commentators, and more egalitarian commentators, aflutter.

At the link, Soraya Chemaly does a great job of breaking down while access to toilets, and toilet equality, is a feminist issue, and also why disgust about women's bodies is central to conservative politics. Disgust like that expressed by Donald Trump, in response to Clinton's delayed return to the stage.

[Trump] took the opportunity, once again, to put his bottomless reservoir of shame and misogyny on public display. "I know where she went, it's disgusting, I don't want to talk about it," Trump said, talking about it. "No, it's too disgusting. Don't say it, it's disgusting, let's not talk."

Trump obviously isn't alone in believing that even the most benign reference to toileting is "too disgusting" to speak aloud. And while there is certainly a small percentage of germphobic people who cringe at any mention, Trump's disgust is more reminiscent of the legions of straight men who get grossed out by the thought of any woman carrying out any basic bodily function. To pee, to poop, to fart, to menstruate—disgusting! Because they are reminders that women are human beings.

There was something disgusting that happened, all right, and naturally we are not talking about it: The fact that the Democratic debate carried on without Clinton, instead of waiting for her to return.

Men's bathrooms are designed to minimize men's need to wait, while women's bathrooms are designed with little regard for whether women are delayed.

Looks like Democratic debates are designed so that men never need to be inconvenienced by having to wait, either.