Photograph by Tobias Nicolai / Connected Archives
Words by Jasmine Hardy and Daphne Chouliaraki Milner
It’s been one week since 34-time convicted felon and insurrectionist leader Donald J. Trump was re-elected president of the United States. His re-election follows what will likely be remembered as one of the most consequential presidential campaigns of our lifetime. Over the course of his campaign, Trump—who has bragged about “killing Roe v. Wade,” the constitutionally-protected right to abortion during his first term—was widely criticized for promoting misogyny, racism, and transphobia. The effects are already being felt by women, transgender, and other gender-expansive folk throughout the country.
In just seven days, sexist attacks on women have surged online with incel-inspired comments like “your body, my choice” and “get back to the kitchen” going viral across social media. A post on X from white nationalist podcaster Nick Fuentes, stating, “Your body, my choice. Forever,” has already amassed over 90 million views and 35,000 reposts. In a similarly misogynistic vein, manosphere influencer Andrew Tate posted the following on X the day after Trump’s victory: “I saw a woman crossing the road today but I just kept my foot down. Right of way? You no longer have rights.” The post garnered 688,000 views in less than two hours.
“It’s not just harmless internet misogyny,” Eliza Hatch, founder of feminist photo series and activist platform, Cheer Up Luv, tells Atmos. “There’s no such thing as harmless internet misogyny. If we’re following past trends where speaking about women and minorities in a hateful way becomes normalized, there is a real danger of that translating into real-world violence.”
Trump’s misogyny, which is characteristic of his “strongman” leadership style rooted in tendencies towards dominance and authoritarianism, is bad news for the planet, too.
The president-elect is a self-proclaimed climate denier, and has long used sexist rhetoric to trivialize and devalue climate work. In his case, “misogyny is more than just the attitudes of a particular kind of man towards women or towards other people—it’s a political project, which uses feminization as a prelude to devaluation,” says Nitasha Kaul, professor of social sciences at the University of Westminster whose research is focused on the intersection of misogyny, authoritarianism and climate change. “The idea is that whatever is constructed as feminine or feminist is then open to and liable to being devalued.” This includes the movement against climate change, which Trump has previously described in sexist terms as a “climate hysteria hoax.”
“Trump and his ilk deliberately fuel ideologies resistant to progressive climate policies not only because these are obstacles to unfettered technocapitalism, but also because it is an opportunity to mock and feminize wokeness,” says Debbie Ging, professor of digital media and gender at Dublin City University.
The ties between gender and climate injustice run much deeper than Trump. It’s well-reported that women are disproportionately affected by global warming and extreme weather globally; in fact, women make up 80% of those displaced by climate change, according to UN data. Though women feel the negative effects of climate change at greater rates, the top 10 most polluting individuals in the world are men—including Elon Musk, a steadfast Trump supporter who has been promised a senior role in the forthcoming administration. Musk, who has been described as an incel by his own daughter, has reportedly not left Trump’s side since their victory.
“There’s a very real reality that we could be seeing a federal abortion ban in the next four years, which I see as being an existential crisis.”
That misogyny won the U.S. election is reflected in Trump’s proposed policies, too. In his second term as president, there will likely be a renewed focus on rolling back abortion rights, perhaps even a nationwide abortion ban if anti-abortion advocates get their way. “There’s a very real reality that we could be seeing a federal abortion ban in the next four years, which I see as being an existential crisis,” Black Girl Environmentalist founder Wawa Gatheru tells Atmos. “The same way I see the climate crisis as being an existential crisis. Not having bodily autonomy is quite literally a deciding factor on whether or not some people are able to live or not.”
The incoming president has also, among other anti-LGBTQIA+ stances, proposed passing a federal ban on gender-affirming care for minors, and has vowed to strip federal support from schools teaching any “critical race theory” or “gender ideology.” Under Title IX, Trump has put forward new rules about how schools and colleges can handle sexual misconduct, making it harder—even impossible—for survivors to come forward on college campuses.
Despite what may seem like a damning time for the progress of women, transgender, and gender-expansive people, global liberation movements both past and present serve as a reminder of what’s possible to achieve under repressive and misogynistic regimes.
In just one week, South Korea’s 4B Movement has gained traction online across the U.S. as a successful response to widespread institutionalized misogyny, offering a modern look at the historically controversial “sex strike” tactic. The 4B Movement goes a step further: rather than just withholding sex, women are opting out of marrying, dating, and having kids with men altogether. Its effectiveness can in part be measured by South Korea’s sharp decline in birth rates, a fear that incels like Musk have been outspoken about, citing low birth rates as a “bigger risk to civilization than global warming.”
Women in other parts of the world have shown similar methods of creative resistance that have resulted in wins for gender justice. The Women’s Strike in Iceland in 1975 saw 90% of women across the country refuse to work, cook, and look after children for a day in a historic act that helped pave the way for the world’s first democratically-elected female president and some of the strongest women’s rights globally. The movement was an effort to bring attention to the undervalued but essential contributions women make to a country’s social and economic success—and it paid off.
Today, it’s a reminder that the struggle for rights transcends place and time. “Attacks on women, attacks on the environment, attacks on minorities—none of that happens only within the borders of a nation. It’s global,” says Professor Kaul. “The more that we pay attention to these dynamics and make the effort to understand them beyond any one country, the more we can strategically think about how to counter this moment.”
“We need to mobilize because we have the knowledge, we have the insight, and we have activists on our side. We need to sensitize people to our cause.”
There’s no doubt that Trump’s divisive campaign has made solidarity efforts between women all the more urgent. Support for Trump rose among all female demographics except Black women, 91% of whom voted for Harris, with white women remaining the only female voter group to show a majority for him. The recent Blue Bracelet Movement, where white liberal women wear blue bracelets to signal unity with Kamala Harris voters, is an attempt to outwardly express anti-Trump sentiments. It has, however, met criticism from many, especially Black women, who urge genuine commitment to intersectional work over symbolic gestures.
Gender justice, like climate justice, is contingent on understanding how intersecting marginalized identities shape who is most impacted by oppressive policy. In Trump’s America, advocates say meaningful resistance demands systems change and a commitment to genuine, intersectional action. The Black Feminist movement exemplifies this essential work, especially in effectively countering oppressive regimes. “If we look at the past elections where Black women have been able to vote, we have always voted in a way that not only is in our best interest, but in the best interest of other communities and people that have identities and lived experiences that are often the first on the chopping block,” says Gatheru.
In the wake of the election, reproductive freedoms are among the first rights that could be chopped. “I think about what it looks like for women climate leaders and emerging leaders to be able to do what we’re meant to do in the realm of climate solutions when we don’t have autonomy over our body,” Gatheru says.
Still, the creative strategies that resulted in big wins for the pro-choice movement, along with more recent methods employed by activists following the overturn of Roe v Wade in 2022, can offer a roadmap towards gaining those freedoms back. Activists have facilitated travel for women seeking abortions to states where it is legal; created social media campaigns like “Shout Your Abortion” to create safe spaces for discussions about reproductive health; supported grass roots organizations and mutual aid groups that assist people seeking abortions; and formed human chains to clear paths to abortion clinic entrances. And while historic successes in the pro-choice movement are now at risk, the progress that’s come from organized movements historically is a reminder of the power of collective action.
“We’re really going to have to mobilize, we’re going to have to make sure that we are protecting each other in ways that our government refuses to,” says Gatheru. “We have to lean on our past histories as well as people that are best suited to guide us in the right direction.”
It’s a sentiment that’s echoed by other experts, too. “Trump won the election, but that doesn’t mean that nobody voted for Kamala Harris—and that doesn’t mean that there is not still a huge civil society in the U.S., which is very much against extreme right-wing politics,” says Katrien Van der Heyden, gender and climate expert at UN Women. “We need to mobilize because we have the knowledge, we have the insight, and we have activists on our side. We need to sensitize people to our cause, and we also need to care and find new ways of caring for each other in these difficult times.”
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Misogyny Won The U.S. Election. Here’s How Women Can Fight Back.
