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The 2024 election delivered a profound and unsettling message to women and girls nationwide. With over 73 million Americans voting to reelect a candidate with a criminal conviction and a history of abusive behavior, the outcome is more than a political decision; it is a repudiation of their safety, dignity, and hard-won advances in gender equality. Donald Trump’s victory is indicative of a sobering reality: despite a documented record of disrespect and nearly 30 allegations of violence against women, a candidate can still ascend to the nation’s highest office.
A Regressive Standard for American Masculinity
American leadership, in its most powerful form, still tolerates, or even idolizes, a type of masculinity that disregards accountability for harm done to women. Despite legal findings of rape, Trump remains, in the eyes of both men and women, a preferred choice. His re-election also communicates a stinging message to survivors of abuse, reinforcing the notion that their voices and traumas carry less weight in a society where abusers can be lauded, celebrated, and re-elected to power.
Not only does Trump’s reelection raise serious concerns for women, but it also sends a damaging message about masculinity, promoting a version of manhood that values dominance over empathy and normalizes a system of gendered hierarchy many hoped was done decades ago. How are parents supposed to teach their sons that this behavior is not what is expected of them? How are parents supposed to tell their daughters that abuse in any form is not to be tolerated? How are parents supposed to teach their children that they do not have to remain silent if something happens to them when the president of the United States is a perpetrator?
The Language of Hate in the Spotlight
Trump’s re-election has also amplified a wave of misogynistic rhetoric online as influential figures and prominent accounts openly mock women’s concerns and rights. Particularly, X (formerly Twitter) has been inundated with messages reinforcing harmful stereotypes and encouraging gender-based hostility. Andrew Tate, a well-known online personality, tweeted on November 6th, “Libs? You’ll never get through this…I’ll never respect a woman again. Women’s rights? Lol. Slaves don’t have rights.” When another user expressed frustration, saying, “So I’m supposed to go to work and do my job tomorrow as if half the country didn’t just vote to give me less rights than men?????” Tate replied, “And you also have to make me a sandwich.” He later tweeted, “As a man, you’re not supposed to be a misogynist. But everything women say is so f***ing stupid.”
Jon Miller, another influencer, belittled women by mocking those threatening to abstain from sex in protest. Miller atrociously commented, “Women threatening sex strikes like LMAO as if you have a say.”
Echoing these sentiments, extremist Nick Fuentes tweeted, “Your body, my choice. Forever.” He also took to another online platform stating, “Guys win again… men win again… and yes, we control your bodies. There will never, ever be a female president… It’s over. Glass ceiling, dude its a ceiling made of f*cking bricks. You will never break it… We will keep you down forever. You will never control your body. You will never be president of the global empire. Never gonna happen, sweetie.” Nick Fuentes visited Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort in 2022 and has openly called for “Catholic Taliban Rule.” Despite his well-documented misogyny and extremism, Fuentes’ annual conference has been attended by Republican officials including Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia.
Evan Kilgore, associated with Turning Point USA, also took to social media, where he celebrated what he saw as an impending crackdown on rights for women, LGBTQ people, and minorities, declaring, “Women, back to the kitchen; Abortions, illegal. Gays, back in the closet; Interracial marriage, banned; Illegals, pack your bags; Trannies, back to the asylums; Jesus, back in our schools. We are so back.” He also engaged in a back in forth with Fuentes, after, “I’d just like to take the opportunity to thank men for saving this country from stupid b*tches who wanted to destroy the world to keep abortion,” was posted. Kilgore replied, “I can’t wait for Donald Trump to personally imprison every single woman who gets an abortion. Project 2025 is going to clean the h*es off the streets.” The comments were no better, with one user writing, “I can’t wait for Donald Trump to personally imprison every single woman,” and, “I already called up my two sisters and told them they are no longer allowed to cross state lines if not accompanied by a man.”
This extreme rhetoric is not limited to influencers. On platforms like Patriots.win, memes circulated suggesting that Trump’s victory signaled a return to regressive gender roles, including one that read, “RELEASE THE PROJECT 2025 HANDMAIDS TALE RAPE SQUADS,” accompanied by another viral message stating, “Breaking: Millions of women report for handmaid duty following Trump’s stunning victory.” Such sentiments were further propagated across Telegram channels connected to Proud Boys chapters.
This rising tide of hostility was evident offline as well. The day after the election, two men arrived at Texas State University holding signs with blatantly misogynistic and homophobic messages. One sign declared, “Women are property,” while the other listed types of “property,” including women, slaves, animals, and land. These incidents exemplify a broader backlash against women’s rights, with the election serving not just as a political outcome but as a perceived mandate to demean and diminish the role of women in society.
The Role of White Women in Trump’s Victory
A rather saddening factor in Trump’s reelection is the role of white women voters, who continued to support Trump despite his record. White women were crucial in Trump’s victory, and while the Democratic campaign aimed to appeal to women’s sense of autonomy and equality, Trump maintained a stronghold within this demographic with 53% of white women voting for him.
Even though a majority of all American women have historically voted for the Democratic candidate, white women have not. At nearly 60 million voters, white women compose one of the largest voting blocks, with a little over half identifying as Republican. A 2019 study by political scientists Jane Junn and Natalie Masuoka in the journal Perspectives on Politics, found that race, more than religion, education, or economic background lays the groundwork for supporting a Republican candidate. Across the 2008, 2012, and 2016 elections, whiteness is the only characteristic that is “consistently significant across all three elections.” In 2016, even after Trump promised to seat Supreme Court justices who would overturn Roe v. Wade and the Access Hollywood tapes circulated the media, just 45% of white women voted for Clinton. Political scientists predicted that Clinton would overperform among women, and she did among all women, but not among white women. In fact, more white women voted for Trump than white men.
The effects of Trump’s first presidency left women across the nation grappling with a reality in which their mothers and grandmothers had greater reproductive rights than they do. Headlines have been littered with tragedies of women dying due to inadequate healthcare. The story of 28-year-old Josseli Barnica, a Texas mother who died after doctors delayed treating her miscarriage for 40 hours, is but one example. Just days after Texas banned abortion past six weeks of pregnancy, Barnicia was refused care as doctors had to “wait until there was no heartbeat.” She died of a preventable infection, orphaning her infant daughter and leaving her husband a widower. This is a woman who wanted a pregnancy and still died as a result of state-enforced abortion restrictions. This is a real, stark truth and it’s happening across the country. Still, stories like Barnicia’s are not enough to sway the white women of America, and neither is adjudicated sexual abuse or being found guilty of 34 felony counts.
Trump’s First Term: Rolling Back Protections for Victims of Sexual Violence
During President Trump’s first term, his administration took numerous steps that directly impacted protections and resources for victims of sexual assault and gender-based violence. One of his early actions involved reversing the Department of Education’s initiatives addressing college sexual assault, alongside a proposal to cut funding for the State Department’s office working to end gender-based violence globally. 2020 also saw a staggering regression in campus sexual assault policies, as Trump’s Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos established regulations that tightened the standards for investigating and adjudicating sexual misconduct on campuses under Title IX. Key changes included raising the burden of proof for accusations, requiring live cross-examinations, and limiting the scope of incidents colleges must investigate. In another significant rollback, the Department of Labor halted an effort that aimed to reduce domestic abuse, sexual assault, and other forms of workplace violence in the healthcare industry.
The Trump administration also rescinded limits on forced arbitration for workplace sexual assault and harassment claims, a move critics argued would silence victims who felt pressured to keep allegations private due to the non-disclosure practices involved in arbitration. Trump’s Department of Justice went further, threatening to withhold millions in sexual assault prevention funding from cities that resisted his administration’s immigration policies. Despite multiple court rulings against these coercive measures, the administration’s actions signaled a shift away from supporting survivors and created a climate that diminished accountability for gender-based violence. Even in the military, the administration opposed expanded rights for sexual assault victims to access case information, rejecting provisions that would have granted victims’ counsels better tools to assist in their cases.
Threats to Women’s Rights and Protections Under Project 2025
Trump’s return to office brings fears that longstanding rights and protections could be further stripped away under the proposed policies of Project 2025. Spearheaded by the Heritage Foundation, Project 2025 provides a framework for the federal government to dismantle policies protecting women and other marginalized communities. Among its goals is the reversal of disparate impact standards in anti-discrimination law, which protects against indirect forms of discrimination that disproportionately affect women, people of color, and other vulnerable populations. Project 2025 also advocates for stripping anti-discrimination protections based on sexual orientation and gender identity, particularly in education. If implemented, this initiative could weaken Title IX. The Biden administration recently released new Title IX regulations that further protect student survivors, it can be expected that the Trump administration will undo this, citing arguments from “men’s rights” activists and the misguided concern that “false rape” reports are a serious issue on college campuses. For women, this could mean the erosion of protections against harassment, discrimination, and unequal treatment in educational institutions nationwide.
Perhaps most concerning is Project 2025’s stance on reproductive rights. It proposes to erase federal language around abortion, reproductive health, and sexual rights, replacing them with a strictly anti-abortion agenda. This would entail banning medication abortion, removing FDA approval for abortion medications like mifepristone, and criminalizing doctors who provide essential care. For millions of women, this represents not only an attack on bodily autonomy but also a rollback of critical healthcare rights that generations have fought to secure.
A Path Forward for American Women
In a climate where many voters remain focused on issues like immigration and the economy, many women are left grappling with fears of losing control over their bodies, futures, and safety. While economic concerns are frequently raised by the electorate, these fears under a Harris administration fall short of truly addressing the country’s needs—especially when Nobel Prize winning economists, have called Harris’ economic plan “vastly superior” to Trump’s, and Trump’s praised 2016-2020 economy, many argue, was merely residual from the Obama administration, at least before COVID-19. Red voters, furthermore, will soon be dismayed to learn the promise of lowered costs is not coming. If Trump sticks to his plan of mass deportations and tariffs, inflation could rise 6% by 2026. To put it simply, the economic argument is not good enough for me anymore. I am certainly willing, and eager, to listen, but I am also ready for fully informed decisions and coming to the table with a level of honesty that can lead to a productive understanding of our differences.
Regardless of voting motive, supporters of the incoming administration must acknowledge and take ownership of the inflammatory rhetoric and proposed policies that fundamentally contradict the principles of freedom and equality on which this country was founded. By backing leaders who fall short in promoting the well-being of all, these voters bear a shared responsibility for shaping a landscape that remains hostile to the lives of women across the country. An overwhelming majority of Americans would rather have a rapist who attempted to overthrow the government than a qualified woman. If that does not say enough about the fragility of us as a nation and the state of our democracy, I do not know what does.
Trump’s victory is a pivotal reminder of the urgent need for sustained political engagement and advocacy to protect and advance equality for every American. This moment calls for tough, but vital conversations. I urge you to talk to friends and family who support Trump, ask them why, tell them why, and be ready to listen. Engaging in these difficult, and sometimes downright uncomfortable, conversations is essential to bridging such drastic divides. Seek organizations that fight for causes you believe in and amplify their message. Lead someone around you to consider a different perspective, even if that person is you. As Atlantic writer Tom Nichols so masterfully puts it, “You have every right to be appalled, saddened, shocked, and frightened. Soon, however, you should dust yourself off, square your shoulders, and take a deep breath. Americans who care about democracy have work to do.”
Trump’s reelection does not have to be an end to our democracy as we know it, but it could falter if we view his second term as some sort of horrific finality rather than a call to decisive action. Our country demands a renewed commitment to an ongoing fight that has seen the ebb and flow of both progression and regression. Progression will reach us again, I promise. And when it does, we will rejoice in the memory of not giving up. In the words of poet and activist Amanda Gorman, “That even as we grieved, we grew. That even as we hurt, we hoped. That even as we tired, we tried.” Take your anger, bring your fear. Harness it. Use it. Let this moment fuel a future forged by resilience and hope.
Junior Anna Chiaradonna is the Editor-in-Chief. Her email is achiartad@fandm.edu