UGLY MAGA MISOGYNY AND THE SEXUALIZATION OF KAMALA HARRIS
The vicious attacks based on sex have begun.
It’s been fewer than 24 hours since Joe Biden’s withdrawal from the 2024 presidential race. Yet already, the MAGA slime machine is kicking into overdrive.
MAGA ugliness is real. No surprise, because this is an ugly political movement littered with ugly people.
Note the flood of memes all of the sudden splattered all across social media (and shred by millions) going after Vice President Kamala Harris, who is now the favorite to win the Democratic nomination to run against Republican Donald Trump in November. T-shirts and other memorabilia are being hawked and sold to the rubes. We all understand the reason why. There’s a huge market for hate, because inside MAGA America — hate sells.
But this brand of hate is different, and quite revealing. To me, what’s most striking about many of these attacks on Harris — her character, her personality, her qualifications, her mannerisms — is the overt misogyny behind them. We are witnessing the deliberate sexualization of a highly-accomplished woman. These aren’t isolated incidents, rather it premeditated targeting that’s become way too common on the far-Right. This happened for many years with Hillary Clinton, once the political Right’s favorite target. Now, Harris is the latest prey in the MAGA hate hunt. Then, add the fact that Harris is of mixed race, from Oakland, California, and childless by choice, and MAGA misogynists are really about to lose their shit.
Whether intentionally by design or subconsciously, Incel Nation has constructed a mass pathos to subjugate and vilify women, whether it’s raising doubts as to their qualifications when in positions of authority (“she slept her way to the top”) or ambushing the dating history of a powerful female executive (“Harris got her start in politics dating a married man”). It’s not just words that hurt people. Let’s also remember — MAGA is the driving force behind overturning Roe v. Wade and passing Neanderthal state laws restricting women’s reproductive freedoms. It all fits.
I fully concede that Harris should be fair game as a presidential candidate. Clearly, she has vulnerabilities. Her record as attorney general, senator, and vice-president should be questioned. But this garbage is something else — it’s personal. She becomes the new poster girl. Prepare yourself for the worst. We’ve already seen a dramatic uptick on “camel toe” references, usually spread by porn-addicted salivating losers who obsess over women as objects for sexual gratification. The term is childish word-play on Kamala Harris’ unusual first name, which they often intentionally mispronounce. I have no idea why anyone finds this sexualization funny, but it’s real and it’s pervasive.
Indeed, we about to be bombarded with an onslaught of non-stop hate and recycled lies about Harris, especially should she become the nominee. Whenever Harris gets mentioned as a future President, 30-year-old stories about her past relationship with San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown get rehashed. Unfortunately, it’s mostly exaggerations and selective use of a distorted timeline. As proof, a Reuters News fact check confirmed the political pair did date from 1994 through 1995, the year before Brown became mayor. At the time, Brown was a legally a married man. However, records also show he’d been separated from his wife for more than a decade (a decade!) by the time he began a relationship with Harris. Their relationship was never a secret and they made frequent public appearances as a couple. Facts be damned, MAGA nation will twist and falsify what happened. Count on it. Harris, involved in a relatively short romantic relationship, gets painted as a whore. Meanwhile, MAGA hero Trump is a stud. What hypocritical slut shaming.
The real irony here is — those who are spreading and will share the lies about Harris had no issue with Trump’s lifetime of infidelities, multiple rape allegations (including a legal judgement), countless perversions of misogyny (‘you can grab them by the pussy”), and sleazy behavior (including lots of free time spent hanging out with sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein–which is well documented with photos and videos). Gee, why would MAGA women-bashers be bothered by any of this? They are Trump. Trump is them.
For those who point to Trump’s own private life (and sexual escapades) which has been the subject of attacks by Democrats in recent years, let’s be clear about the vast differences. Trump brought all those charges and scrutiny upon himself. He broke the law. He paid a bribe. He’s a felon. He willingly committed all those acts, said those despicable words, and often bragged about his many dalliances. This is all a matter of public record. Had Trump been, let’s say, squeaky-clean Mitt Romney, his past sexual history would never have come up in the election. So, let’s squash the “whataboutism.”
In American politics, the gender gap is widening. Now, we begin to see why. Recent polls show women supporting the Democratic nominee 58 to 38 pct., which reveals a whopping 20-point gap. Yet, Trump also leads in those same national polls among men, earning male support by slightly higher than 20-points. just wow — what an embarrassing indictment of American men. Shameful, in fact. Misogyny isn’t just alive, it’s thriving.
Perhaps this is why MAGA misogynists will continue using Vice President Kamala Harris’ gender against her. Because — sexualization against successful women works. Hate is powerful. Projecting hidden resentments and deeply concealed psychological complexes onto famous women through political attacks, and memes, and cruel bar talk becomes the ugliest of comfort zones.
Remember all this in the days, weeks, and months to come when you see Kamala Harris portrayed in overtly sexualized terms.