American women in the moment of betrayal

American stereotypes of masculinity demand boys and men to be strong, aggressive, unemotional and anti- female. In spite of marches and campus violence protests, campuses are dangerous places for cis and trans women.

The United States of America is a very violent place. We possess more guns, have more organised crime syndicates and allow more inequality than almost any other country in the world. So it is not surprising that a recent study by the Thomas Reuters Foundation found that when experts on women’s issues were asked to rank countries based on dangers faced by women, the US ranked 10th in the list and third when sexual violence is considered on its own. There has been criticism about the poll itself; it is based on perceptions and not on operationalised measures. One could argue that the experts asked are perhaps more intimately aware of the gender politics in the USA than they are about almost any other country except their own. The US is after all the headquarters of the world cultural machine and makes its presence known in the remotest corners of the globe. I think the truth about the safety experienced by American women is in some space between where pop- icons publicly exclaim, “I’m woman, I am sexy, hear me roar” and where my female students have to pretend to be talking on their cellphones because they do not want to make eye contact with men late at night.

The dangers that lie hidden in the crevices of these spaces are the subject of acrimonious debates everywhere in the country these days. Nowhere is this more evident than on college campuses; a series of sexual assaults and rape incidents have riveted the nation’s attention because of the sheer callousness of the treatment of the victim by the criminal justice system. At one elite institution, the perpetrator, a star athlete was found guilty of raping a semiconscious woman but was sentenced to a mere six months’ probation and community service. Colleges have responded as institutions do, with an eye to preventing lawsuits from all sides.

Increasingly sexual harassment prevention is a topic at college orientations, college administrators and student advisers are trained in the protocols for reporting gender and hate violence. Video surveillance, emergency phones and bright lighting in areas not frequented by many students have become part of the daily lives of these students. However, cultural, sexual and gender- related norms often work against providing safe spaces for girls and women. American stereotypes of masculinity demand boys and men to be strong, aggressive, unemotional and antifemale. American heterosexual traditions prescribe courtship and mating rituals that reward dominant men and submissive women. In spite of ‘ Take Back The Night’ marches and campus violence protests, campuses are dangerous places for cis and trans women. There was no doubt that the video that surfaced of Donald Trump uttering “Grab the pussy” a week before the elections would have a lasting impact on American life even if it did not alter the results of the 2016 US presidential elections.

The # MeToo movement arose partly as a reaction to the massive mobilisation of women, both white and of colour in the months following the initial protest. The # MeToo movement galvanised and excited women across the globe, and, in the US, led to a takedown of some of the most famous names in entertainment and government. However, Donald himself was untouchable; he had managed to tap into the darkest space in the American nationalistic psyche that yearned for a mythical time when women were barefeet and the dark hordes were restrained outside the citadel. For the first time in decades, there is genuine fear among US women that Trump’s tenure will bring in legislative and policy changes that may set women’s rights back half a century. Over the year that Trump has been President, there have been partially successful attempts to roll back the hard fought legal victories for people from the LGBTQ+ community and advocates for reproductive justice. His administration has undone much of the environmental, work and healthcarerelated policies of his predecessor Barack Obama and this is sure to have a long- term negative impact on the well- being of women and girls. With the retirement of Justice Kennedy of the US Supreme court the Republicans have a serious chance at getting a permanent right- wing majority installed that will meticulously take apart the ( neo) liberal state that had taken decades to build and replace it with white misogynistic nationalism.

In Margaret Atwood’s timeless novel, The Handmaid’s Tale, her protagonist asserts, “The moment of betrayal is the worst, the moment when you know beyond any doubt that you’ve been betrayed: that some other human being has wished you that much evil”.

For many American women that moment has arrived.

( The author is Professor and Chair at the State University of New York. Her research forte is gender issues)