In an intriguing discussion with Puck’s Matthew Belloni, Ari Emanuel, Hollywood tycoon and not his politically savvy brother Rahm, commented on the looming gender divide that could play a large part in the 2024 elections. “The result is likely to be decided by a small margin of approximately 120,000 votes,” Emanuel stated. He estimated there to be a 60 per cent preference towards Trump amongst men, while women showed a 60 to 40 bias for Kamala. This could potentially highlight a new gender war – men versus women vying for political dominance.
Has society regressed to the much-discussed Mars versus Venus ideology? Or perhaps, it just never progressed beyond it?
This election signifies an ultimate gender contest set amidst the raw and intense backdrop of politics. It begs the question – who will reign supreme? Will it be the women, especially the younger segment, repulsed by the exaggerated masculinity and regressive attitudes of Donald Trump and his team? Or will it be the men, encompassing young men, unionists, Latinos, and black men, enamoured by Trump’s audacious bravado which they perceive as a counter to their diminishing male dominance.
With Donald Trump’s ‘somewhat crude demeanour, but beneficial ideas and policies that created arguably the best economy in a half-century, the 2024 election delves deep into the core desires of both genders. In 2005, my book about gender assumed we’d be cohabiting the same planet peacefully in a couple of decades, but my forecast wasn’t accurate. The sexual revolution has in fact complicated matters, leaving 21st-century women entwined in a complex mix of dependence and independence. The more we began to mirror men, the more the differences became stark.
It’s disheartening to review the fierce backlash faced by Geraldine Ferraro, Anita Hill and Hillary Clinton’s co-presidency and candidacy in the context of progress. Progress, however, is not linear, it meanders.
There was visible opposition to Kamala Harris even before the election took place. This mirrors the scepticism which I previously encountered during the Ferraro coverage back in 1984, regarding the capabilities of a female president. Numerous men, and even many women, still question whether women are emotionally equipped to command world leaders and the military.
Whilst other nations have debunked these obsolete perspectives on female leadership, America still significantly bears this line of thought. Harris’s support from both white and Black males presently lags well behind where Joe Biden stood in 2020. It would be bitterly ironic if Black men were to jeopardise the potential for the first Black female president, just as how white women’s rejection of Clinton in 2016 tipped the scales.
It’s quite tragic that women had to lose their fundamental right to manage their own bodies and face threats of being deprived of essential medical care, in order for Harris to even stand a chance of garnering enough female votes to compensate for the loss of the male votes.
Trump’s campaign is an overt display of masculinity, with CEO Elon Musk strangely bouncing around, in a manner that is blatantly disrespectful to women. Trump is capitalising on the crisis amongst Gen Z males, that is rooted in solitude, Covid isolation, economic instability, an absence of purpose and a sentiment that today’s world appears to favour young women more.
Charlie Kirk, a right-wing activist, expressed to Vanity Fair that heterosexual, white, Christian males are weary of being labelled as colonisers, articulating, “They yearn to be part of a political movement which doesn’t despise them.”
Trump, a notorious sexual predator and assaulter held accountable for sexual misconduct, shamelessly portrays Kamala as “stupid,” “unindustrious,” and an “unpleasant woman,” while questioning, “Is she an alcoholic? Does she abuse drugs?”
At a Trump gathering in Georgia this past Wednesday, Tucker Carlson delivered a diatribe that quickly achieved infamy due to its distortion. In a squeaky voice, he likened America to a household where the kids are acting up. The toddler is smearing excrement on the walls; a teenager is igniting a marijuana cigarette at the breakfast table.
“There has to be a point at which Dad comes home,” said Carlson in a threatening manner, met with thunderous applause. “Indeed, Dad comes home, and he’s furious!”
Seemingly irritated with his 15-year-old daughter, who’d given them the metaphorical finger and stormed off to her quarters, Carlson, assuming the role of the father, pronounced, “You’ve behaved poorly. You’ve been a naughty little girl. Consequently, you’re receiving a harsh scolding this instant.”
As Trump made his appearance, shouts of “Father’s arrived!” and “Papa Don!” could be heard echoing among the crowd.
Bizarrely enough, Carlson managed to surpass JD Vance’s regressive and disconcerting tone, evident in his denunciations of “women with no children and cats” and his scornful comments toward postmenopausal women.
For Trump, masculinity is central – an unmistakable symptom of insecurity. At a congregation in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, he went into detail about Arnold Palmer’s physical form.
“Here’s a man’s man,” Trump stated, further explaining, “When he would shower with the other pros, their reaction upon emerging was, ‘Blimey, that’s staggering.’”
Barack Obama dismissed the ‘Maga’ machismo ideal at a rally alongside Harris. He stated that ridiculing others did not constitute “authentic strength.” Instead, real strength lay in standing up for those unable to defend themselves. “This is what we should wish to impart to our daughters and sons,” Obama articulated. “And this is the quality I desire to see in the President of the United States of America.”
This write-up originally featured in The New York Times.