Trump Controlling Women’s Bodies

Reproductive rights. Religious right.

Reproductive rights. Religious right.

Many on the religious right are pro-Trump even though his life is not right religiously.

He’s bragged about enjoying plenty of casual sex. He’s even boasted about sexually assaulting women. And some women have filed lawsuits that sound exactly like the assaults that he has described making. His first wife said he raped her once (later taking back the claim).

Why do so many religious conservatives still back him? 

It’s his policies, not his personal behavior, they say: Trump would appoint Supreme Court Justices who would take away women’s reproductive rights.

Let me get this straight. Men like Donald Trump may have sex with women as much as they like, and maybe even rape and assault them. And women must simply suffer the consequences:

  • No birth control.
  • No Plan B emergency contraception.
  • No right to terminate a pregnancy.

It’s all consistent with men controlling women’s bodies, sexually and reproductively.

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Posted on October 14, 2016, in politics/class inequality, reproductive rights and tagged , , , , . Bookmark the permalink. 22 Comments.

  1. I find it really hypocritical that the right religious community has been supporting Trump. The belief of Christian conservative people is to value marriage, but Trump openly boasts about his infidelity. The religious right also believe that birth control and abortions should not be available to women, yet they voted for a man who’s been accused of raping women. Unlike the Democratic party, who vote for the rights of the people, the Republican party vote because of their fundamental morals – no matter how this affects people. Since abortion and gay marriage goes against their religious worldview, the religious will often vote for anyone that also opposes these laws.

    • Oddly enough, I kind of get it. As a feminist I have supported people who haven’t behaved as a feminist in their private lives but who have supported feminist policy. I guess these religious folks figured that even though he didn’t live their values in their private life he would have policy that they agreed with. I, too, fear they may be right.

    • “The belief of Christian conservative people is to value marriage, but Trump openly boasts about his infidelity.”

      It’s not like there were a lot of options available. The guy who boasts about his infidelity vs the woman who defended infidelity.

      “The religious right also believe that birth control and abortions should not be available to women”

      Other than Catholics, I don’t think the religious right cares about availability of birth control, as long as they aren’t paying for it.

      “yet they voted for a man who’s been accused of raping women.”

      Presumption of innocence. Or should we talk about Pizzagate? Or maybe Google Juanita Broaddrick?

      “the Republican party vote because of their fundamental morals”

      How shocking.

  2. “It’s all consistent with men controlling women’s bodies, sexually and reproductively.”

    Nah, it’s about stopping women controlling the bodies of unborn babies. You might not agree with that thesis, but at least acknowledge the opposing viewpoint for what it is. Otherwise you don’t give your opponents the dignity of defining their own position, and ends up just talking at cross purposes.

    • I’m very familiar with the so-called pro-life perspective, having grown up a fundamentalist Christian.

      When I first heard feminists say that the antiabortion movement didn’t actually care about life, but actually cared about controlling women that made no sense to me.

      But now it does. Here’s why:

      Are You Pro-Life, Or Just Want To Control Women?

      Worse, laws against abortion don’t stop it. They just drive it underground which means that more women and girls end up dying.

      The lowest abortion rates are in countries with the least restrictions on abortion. But in a Catholic Latin American country like Brazil where laws are very strict against abortion, every woman gets an abortion, on average — a much higher rate than ours. That’s because places that are against abortion are also against the things that stop it: sex ed, contraception, and helping girls to not feel ashamed to use contraception.

      And Laws “Protecting Women” Harm Them, Instead

      • So is it your contention that pro-lifers in reality couldn’t a fig about the life of unborn babies, they are running a global conspiracy and ruse just to control women’s bodies?

        I’m sorry, but that’s up there with Elvis is still alive, and Paul McCartney is dead and other rubbish. You’re free to argue that many pro-lifers are inconsistent if you want, or that many of them also want to control women’s bodies, if you think there is an argument for it. But to just ignore the fundamental argument itself with conspiracy nonsense really doesn’t advance the debate and just makes everyone angry.

      • I believe that some pro-lifers actually do care about babies. But if you look at the states that vote to take reproductive rights away from women, They are the same states that don’t want to give food stamps to children or elderly people or the disabled, they don’t want Obamacare or Medicaid that saves lives, they don’t want prenatal care for poor women…

        …And they don’t care that laws against abortion don’t stop it — they just drive it underground so that desperate girls and women die.

        Not too pro-life.

        And they are often against the things that most stop abortion: Sex ed, contraception, and no shame in using contraception.

        Because sex education and contraception are way worse than murder apparently. Unless they don’t really believe it’s murder.

  3. Trump’s candidacy truly befuddles me. I don’t understand any woman who would vote for someone who clearly thinks very little of the female gender. This man- who has groped, verbally abused, and allegedly raped women- is one person away from being our next president. My concern is what this says about the American people. Being American myself I often wonder how we let this deplorable being come so close to running our country. He clearly has a habit of objectifying and dehumanizing women, and now he wants to control our bodies? Absurd!

    Though provoking post. Thanks for sharing!

  4. I do not want to talk about political issue, and in terms of party politics I am Mr. Totally Disinterested. However, I felt in his breast that his actions were morally wrong. I do not understand why it is advantage of Trump. I think that was a bad move. And it is capable of encouraging the wrong behavior. There may be a price to pay for such relentless activity, perhaps ill health or even divorce. If he wants to be president, he needs to have more responsibility. A candidate must really step up to the plate.

  5. I don’t usually follow politics very closely but this election is such an important one for so many reasons. The biggest one is that with Trump as president we’re going backwards in time to when it was socially accepted for men to say whatever they want about women and to control women (yes, the issue still exists but at least we’re trying to overcome it now) The right to abortion is something that should be obvious and not questioned over and over again. People who do question it are after control and power and since the pregnant woman is the one that is affected, the end- game is to take away women’s rights. Trumps way of talking to and about women is not okay on any level and the reason he’s saying it is to raise his own self- esteem and to feel empowered.
    Neither Trump or Clinton are white lambs with a spotless past but at least with Hillary Clinton we would move forward and not backwards by electing the first female president of the United states.

  6. I think that the reason a lot of religious conservatives are voting for Trump is because of his policies. Like you stated in your blog, his policies limit women’s reproductive rights, and access to birth control and abortion. His policies also effect the LGBT community, because he is against same-sex marriage and transgender rights. I think that the people who are religiously conservative, pick and choose which policies and behaviors they are ok with, and for them, eliminating the right to marry whoever you want is a much greater sin than having casual sex outside of marriage. It’s not right by any means, but that is the reality of what I think goes through the minds of Trump’s supporters.

  7. Donald Trump’s run for presidency has really opened my eyes up to how political motives and objectives can outweigh a given candidate’s moral shortcomings. I say that he has moral shortcomings, almost as a fact, because anyone who has “boasted about sexually assaulting women” and has ever made comments as explicitly degrading to women as he has, surely has moral shortcomings. As someone who has personally experienced the aftermath of a sexual assault, I fully understand how these moral deficiencies cannot be overlooked.

    According to the New York times, one in five surveyed women in the United States reported being sexually assaulted or experiencing an attempted sexual assault. For simplicity let’s say that fifty percent of the population are female (although in actuality it is slightly greater), which would leave at least ten percent of the U.S. population feeling purposefully oppressed by their president as well as feeling victimized by their leader. I believe it crucial for our nation, especially our government, to continue to shed light on women’s issues and continue an upward trajectory of autonomy and equality for women. Furthermore, when Donald Trump’s moral shortcomings start to leak into his political policies, my fear for the women of our nation increases.

    To conclude, fully recognizing my biases because I have been influenced by experiences of my own, I don’t see how Donald Trump’s involvement in the government, especially considering how women have been treated in the past, can make America great again for women.

  8. I really don’t think the government should have a say in what people decide to do with their bodies. If the government is going to make theses laws a punishable offense then how about we make it crime for both the man who did this to her as well as her. No one wins either way. Lets say the women decided she didn’t want an abortion and decided to keep the child. What kind of life is this kid going to have with a parent who didn’t want it to begin with. The mother at some point is going to resent him. Studies have shown that children who were born into a difficult situation who’s parents were not planning to have children or were not financially stable enough to have children, have a harder time trying to get out of that situation. Studies have shown these are the children more likely to have issues growing up with drugs and gangs. Anyway, my point is no one benefits from restricting women from terminating their pregnancies. Women who really want to do it will find a way to do it and women who were forced to carry their pregnancies to full term will suffer phycological problems in the future. Its ridiculous for government to try and take women options away.

    • Thank you for your thoughtful response.

      Plus, laws against abortion don’t stop it anyway. Desperate women and girls seek out illegal abortions or try to do it themselves, And end up dying in the process.

    • True, though being born still gives children a chance. Using drugs or being in a gang is bad, but they still had a chance of living since they weren’t aborted. And you do see some people who get help break their drug abuse and some, though it’s hard break up from a gang. There are times obviously for abortion, but think about this. Life is precious, I’m sure you are glad you are alive right? Would you rather have a drug issue or never be alive or live? Even if you had a drug issue later in life, you could have a childhood to cherish or growing up. And brief good memories, which is better than nothing. It’s true that before you’re born, it’s not like you’re contemplating what it’s like to be born or what is missed as you obviously aren’t alive yet. But it’s tricky to me.

  9. It’s surprising that Republicans couldn’t find any presidential candidate other than Trump!

    • Here’s why:

      The Republicans are made of three coalitions: wealthy business interests, religious conservatives and cultural conservatives. The latter two are middle-class/working-class, and quite frankly, more racist, sexist and homophobic — wanting to conserve a culture that has privileged whites, males and Christians. Subtle and not-so-subtle racism, sexism and homophobia have historically been used to move them from the Democrats (traditionally the party of the working class) to the Republicans (traditionally the party of business and wealthy interests).

      Now the working class and wealthy business interests are at odds with each other: The party leadership has recently been helping only the business elite (who give large campaign contributions — legalized bribery). Then party leadership distracts the working class from the problems caused by this by blaming blacks, Latinos, and immigrants — plus, distracts them with terrorism fears.

      So since nothing is being done for the working class they are losing ground and getting scared and desperate for change. A lot of fear there: losing economic ground, the culture is changing in ways that no longer privilege them, and they are scared of terrorism.

      Meanwhile, Donald Trump hired people to listen to all the hate radio they listen to and then began repeating their words. That made them feel heard. So about 40% of the Republican Party loves him. In a race of 16 candidates in the Republican party he won by a landslide at 40%. Now the party can’t replace him without alienating this 40% and splitting the party.

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