It’s no longer shocking when Donald Trump says gross things, and smiles as he does so, so I am not sure why people are shocked that he gleefully repeated to 5,000 people, what one of his fans shouted at a rally yesterday — that Ted Cruz is a pussy. Actually, I don’t think people really are shocked as many folks say they are, but playing that up allows them to feel good about covering the story, ironically making those covering the story much like Trump who also feigned horror and surprise when he repeated the claim.
So if it’s not surprising, and I think most people understand what’s really going on here, why write about this? Because I think that something else — something far uglier — is going on here and it’s important to notice, especially if like me, you don’t often think about it.
I am not a big proponent of the generalized claim of an ongoing “war on women” being waged by Republicans, but this is one of those moments when I wonder about a deep, if not fully conscious, hostility to whatever one deems feminine, on the part of far more people than is often appreciated. I get that my admission will mark me a knuckle-dragging misogynist to some, and my concern about this issue today will mark me as a hyper-sensitive Trump basher to others. I don’t think I am either of those, and the fact my take may rile up folks on either end of cultural-political spectrum, makes me pretty sure that I am onto something which demands all of out attention.
Of course, I could explain how this is simply one more chapter in a long story of Donald Trump’s expressing hostility and contempt for women and symbols of womanhood. Calling women pigs, the “blood from her wherever” line directed at Fox News’ Megan Kelley, etc. There is nothing new here, and yet there is something larger here. It’s not only about Trump. It’s about all of us.
Calling someone a pussy is not offensive because it’s considered by some to be a sexually charged “dirty” word. In fact, one can imagine settings, presumably more intimate, in which the same word can beautiful. It’s offensive because it turns a powerful symbol of female anatomy into an insult and a curse. And in this case, an act of self-loathing as well, as it was a woman who used the phrase. Frankly, I am not sure which is more dangerous — men using the word or women using it — but either way, this is one of those moment when regardless of politics, we need to raise our voices.
I don’t expect Trump to apologize — he’s not big on apologizing, for anything. Nor do hope that other candidates use the moment to attack Trump. Frankly, expressions of outrage only strengthen him and his supporters, who can best be understood as the “anger and outrage vote”. The more outrageous he is, the more they like it.
I would hope however that every other person running for the nomination, from whatever party, would seize the moment as one around which all people — regardless of their positions on choice/life, equal pay laws, or any other issues which focus on woman even as they effect us all — would speak up about human dignity, women’s dignity, and about how the words we use, shape how we see and how we treat our daughters, wives, mothers and sisters.
This is not a Republican-Democrat thing, this is woman thing and this is a human thing. Let’s see if anyone covers it that way. Oh wait, The Wisdom Daily just did!
Brad Hirschfield is the co-founder and co-executive editor of The Wisdom Daily. A rabbi, Brad has been featured on ABC’s Nightline UpClose, PBS’s Frontline, Fox News and National Public Radio. He wrote a long-standing column, “For God’s Sake,” for the Washington Post, and has also written for The Huffington Post and Beliefnet.com. He authored the book, You Don?t Have To Be Wrong For Me To Be Right: Finding Faith Without Fanaticism. Brad also serves as President of Clal, The National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership, a leadership training institute, think tank and resource center in New York City.