I've got a new entry in the #WomenTrumpDonald series up at BNR, in which I explore how Donald Trump doesn't like women any more than he respects us:
Understandably concerned about his cavernous gap with female voters, Donald moaned: "My poll numbers with men are through the roof. I like women more than men, though. Come on, women."Click through to read the whole thing. This guy. Honestly.
Yes, come on, women. Aren't you convinced yet? He likes us better than men!
Where to even begin.
For a start, imagine, just for a moment, the immediate backlash if Hillary Clinton said "I like women more than men, though." Or its opposite: "I like men more than women, though." There is no construction of these combination of words that she could utter without inviting swift and intense criticism.
The reason Donald gets away with saying it, apart from the usual sexist double-standards around gendered language, is twofold.
1. Everyone knows he doesn't mean it. To say he likes women more than men is just a cynical bit of pandering. No more than a joke, really, at women's expense.
2. He doesn't mean he likes us as human beings, anyway.
What he means, what we all understand quite plainly, is that he likes looking at women. He likes women the same way he likes yachts and ostentatious chandeliers and buildings. He actually said this: "Beauty and elegance, whether in a woman, a building, or a work of art is not just superficial or something pretty to see."
He likes us as possessions, as things that he can control. "Come on, women."
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