The incels are in charge now
Well that didn’t take long, did it? As soon as it became clear that Donald Trump had won the election, social media saw a major spike in gleeful misogyny. And it seems Trump’s army of angry incels have found a favourite new catchphrase to taunt women with: “Your body, my choice.”
While the phrase has been kicking around in far-right circles for a few years, the notorious white supremacist Nick Fuentes has breathed new life into it. “Your body, my choice. Forever,” Fuentes tweeted late on Tuesday night, a few hours before Trump officially won. Shortly after that, he repeated the phrase in a live stream reacting to the results of the election, where he also said things like: “We control your bodies. Guess what, guys win again, okay. Men win again … There will never ever be a female President. It’s over. Glass ceiling? It’s a ceiling made of fucking bricks.”
From there, the taunt took off. Young men are now starting to comment “your body, my choice” and “we own your bodies now” on TikTok videos posted by women. In an analysis published on Friday, the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD), a thinktank focused on extremism, found “a 4,600% increase in mentions of the terms ‘your body, my choice’ and ‘get back in the kitchen’ on X”.
Even more alarmingly, the ISD notes: “The phrase ‘your body, my choice’ appears to have made its way offline, specifically into schools. Young girls and parents have used social media to share instances of offline harassment. They include the phrase being directed at them within schools or chanted by young boys in classes.”
Various other misogynistic phrases, including calls to repeal the 19th amendment, which gave women the right to vote, have also been trending online.
I wouldn’t say that the masks are fully off now that Trump has won, because they were never exactly on to begin with. This sort of unabashed misogyny is hardly new: social media was a hotbed of bigotry long before Trump’s victory. And the ubiquity of violent porn, as well as the rise of manosphere influencers like Andrew Tate – who has said women “belong” to men – have had a pernicious influence on young boys. For at least the last year, schoolteachers have been warning about students imitating Tate. Boys have, for example, been trying to slip the phrase “make me a sandwich” into conversations in order to belittle their peers and female teachers. That’s one of Tate’s favourite phrases – and he’s been posting it gleefully in response to women complaining about the election.
Still, while there was plenty of in-your-face misogyny before Trump secured a second term, his victory has clearly further emboldened bigots. Trump is a hero to many because he does whatever he likes, says whatever he likes, and seems to face no consequences for it. So it makes sense that his followers feel like they can now do the same. No need to pretend that you are anti-abortion because you care about the unborn any more. Nope, you can just be honest and say that you are anti-abortion because you want to control women.
But what’s most important here, however, is that online trolls have enormous new power now. Trump’s victory was significantly enabled by Elon Musk: the patron saint of Extremely Online misogynists. And Musk will soon cash in on his investment. A man who jokes about impregnating Taylor Swift, makes endless jokes about women’s breasts, and who has been accused multiple times of sexual misconduct, is poised to have more influence than ever.
Trump has also forged a strong alliance with the manosphere, spending a lot of time with rightwing male podcasters as part of his strategy to get young men to the polls. In a speech celebrating his imminent victory on Wednesday morning, Trump asked Dana White, the CEO and president of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), to say a few words. In that speech, White gave a shout-out to manosphere influencers who helped propel Trump to victory: “I want to thank the Nelk Boys, Adin Ross, Theo Von, Bussin’ With the Boys, and last but not least, the mighty and powerful Joe Rogan.”
Will the likes of Adin Ross, a controversial podcaster known for crude jokes and bigoted comments, get an official position in the Trump cabinet now? Who knows. One thing I can tell you is that misogynistic online edgelords aren’t in any way out on the fringes any more. They have a direct line to the incoming president’s ear.
The US will have two Black female senators for the first time
There has never been more than one Black woman in the Senate at a time. That’s now changing: Delaware’s Lisa Blunt Rochester and Maryland’s Angela Alsobrooks both won Senate seats on Tuesday. In another first, Delaware’s Sarah McBride will be the first trans person to serve in the US House of Representatives.
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Americans are stockpiling abortion pills and emergency contraception
No prizes for guessing why.
RFK Jr is working with a group that wants to stop ‘evil’ and ‘immoral’ IVF
Former presidential candidate Robert F Kennedy Jr, who is famous for his strong anti-vaxxer views, having a worm eat part of his brain, and once dumping a dead bear in Central Park, will probably play a key role in a new Trump administration. The incoming president has previously said he thinks Kennedy should “have a big role in healthcare”. This is worrying for many reasons, not least because he recently starred in an ad for CatholicVote, a conservative organisation that is extremely anti-IVF.
Nearly 70% of verified deaths in Gaza are women and children, the UN says
The UN said the figures indicated “a systematic violation of the fundamental principles of international humanitarian law”. Children aged five to nine represent the single biggest age category when it comes to the dead. While all this is enraging, it is important to note that what this sort of framing leaves out is that many of the men who have been killed in what many experts have stated is a genocide are innocent civilians as well.
The week in pawtriarchy
Tickets, money, passports … raccoon? Passengers flying from New York’s LaGuardia airport this week were startled when a raccoon fell through a terminal ceiling and then proceeded to scamper frantically through the terminal. Alarms were sounded, people screamed, general mayhem ensued. Meanwhile the raccoon seems to have made a successful escape.
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