Since the announcement of his candidacy, Republican nominee Donald Trump has made endless misogynistic comments attacking women and Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton for pulling the "woman card" to encourage women to vote based on their feelings. This is a trend that has resonated with many other men, so much that I have seen similar comments being made by male relatives on my personal Facebook feed. Men like Trump continue to make these same comments that disrespectfully criticize women for their political views, and other women like myself have frankly had enough.
To make the assertion that women supporting Clinton plan to vote for her strictly because of her gender, or the apparent "woman card" she has been pulling to reel us in, is flat out insulting. There are a million reasons why Clinton is extremely qualified to serve as the next President of the United States and Trump is not, but that is besides the point. Women had to fight for suffrage, unlike men, creating an entire national movement until it was granted to us through the Nineteenth Amendment in the late nineteenth century. To say that less than two hundred years later women vote based on the whim of what they are feeling, and not their actual intelligence, is not just disrespectful, but demeaning on a whole other level.
If I as a young woman were to question a man's intent for supporting Trump by making the assumption that he was voting solely on his feelings, people would look at me as if I am crazy. Yet, men continue to do this to women, and see next to nothing wrong with it. Men also are more likely to question women who support Clinton as opposed to those who support Trump simply because she is a woman.
Even Eric Trump, one of Trump's sons, came out yesterday on October 13th, advertising an "if only men voted" map to convince the people that women are this nation's problem when it comes to electing leaders. According to him, if women were not allowed to vote his father would have no competition when it comes down to winning the election. Unfortunately, many men, even women who support Trump, believe this map speaks the truth. Since when is a nominee's son able to acceptably degrade women? When is enough of this talk actually enough?
As we approach the presidential election and the end of 2016, it is important to remember that women are on the same intellectual playing field as men, even in politics. I am tired of hearing men attack women for their political views. Clinton supporters are not voting for her based on their feelings or her gender; they are voting for her because of her past experiences that make her highly qualified to be our nation's next president. Hopefully one day, the misogynisitc men who attack us female Clinton supporters will see the light too.
