Thread by @monaeltahawy

I’ve been asked countless times by mostly white people “Why do Muslim women submit to so much misogyny?” I’m now asking same question about these white women. Replace “Republican” with “Muslim” here & imagine the outrage google.com/amp/s/theconve… #FootsoldiersOfThePatriarchy

“Our research led us to conclude that Republican women will mainly stand firm in their party affiliation.” #FootsoldiersOfThePatriarchy

“we have found that Republicanism encompasses different visions of womanhood that allow women to feel that they can be Republican and also strong women.”
#FootsoldiersOfThePatriarchy

“Thus, it is within married women’s interests to support policies and politicians who protect their husbands and improve their status.”
#FootsoldiersOfThePatriarchy

“For these white women Republicans, their concern for their husbands’ and sons’ welfare may lead them to stay with a party whose leaders prioritize the economic interests of those men.”
#FootsoldiersOfThePatriarchy

“The notion of benevolent patriarchy allows conservative women to feel that if they submit to their husband’s wills, they can benefit through their husband’s protection and economic care.”
#FootsoldiersOfThePatriarchy

How Trump and the GOP used rare “false accusations” of rape to convince Republican women to see support for Brett Kavanaugh aa support for their sons.
#FootsoldiersOfThePatriarchy

GOP portrays #MeToo as “movement toward victimization.” Republican women prefer Sarah Palin “Mama Grizzly” and newer “‘Prairie Woman’ vision of feminism” to allow them to continue supporting a party that has excised sexual assault.
#FootsoldiersOfThePatriarchy

#FootsoldiersOfThePatriarchy

These “Women for Trump”:
- Who indoctrinated them?
- Who taught them to submit to men?
- Why are they so brainwashed?
- Should I save them?
#FootsoldiersOfThePatriarchy

One of the reasons that I start these threads with “White people ask me why Muslim women put up with misogyny” is because I know that white GOP-voting women often lament the plight of “Muslim women” and buy into “you’re lucky you’re a woman in America and not over there.”

Those same white women don’t see their own indoctrination:God, guns, white men.Because they’re white it’s not seen as indoctrination it’s considered “normal,” default, “how things are.”While their equivalents in Muslim/other backgrounds are “abnormal” “brainwashed” & pathologized

It’s always easier for - always white - women to wonder how to help women “over there”than to ask how to fight for women “over here.”White patriarchs love to play “You should be grateful to live in America. It’s shit over there for women.” Yeah, it’s shit “over here” too, Mr. Man

I’ve written lots about patriarchy & misogyny in my cultural & faith background & I’ve never asked anyone to “save us.” No one saves you. You save yourself.When - always a white - woman at my events asks me “what can I do to help women in the Middle East”I say”Nothing.Fight here”

It was esp rich when a white woman in #Texas asked me “How can I help women in Egypt?” Ha! I reminded her how awful it is for women in Texas and that her fight is needed here. Woman sitting next to her reminded her how awful Texas was re militarism & Christian fundamentalism.

A white woman in Midwest once asked my sister-in-law (an OBGYN physician who wears a headscarf) “Does your husband make you wear that?” pointing to her headscarf. Total fucking stranger in the supermarket. This Midwest state is full of white women Trump voters. Ah irony!

And so my sister-in-law has her answer ready now: “Does your husband make you vote for Trump?” My sister-in-law takes shit from no one, especially these white women Trump supporters.

And I promise you TwitterLand, much like the instant experts on Islam & Mideast who after a week in the region write books explaining us to ourselves, I shall write my book explaining white women to themselves. After 18yrs in the USA, I’ve earned it.
#FootsoldiersOfThePatriarchy

And my book will be called #NotAllWhiteWomen because of course whenever I write about white women who serve as #FootsoldiersOfThePatriarchy, I invariably get #NotAllWhiteWomen

I should just call it #FootsoldiersOfThePatriarchy

I wrote about it in mini-form here on the day Trump was inaugurated

https://twitter.com/monaeltahawy/status/1059089428092719104?s=21

#FootsoldiersOfThePatriarchy