MAGA’s Rape Culture Regime: Shutting Down Violent Misogyny
Just prior to Trump’s re-election, the misogynist mantra “Your body, my choice” started trending on social media and the Internet. It was a violent backlash against the #MeToo movement, as well as the abortion and reproductive rights activism that has shaped progressive feminist organizing in the post-Roe era. “Your body, my choice” yokes the white Christian nationalist assault on women’s bodily autonomy with its endorsement of rape culture. Draconian anti-abortion and fetal personhood laws in the South, Midwest and Pacific Northwest have not only forced pregnant people to seek care in “sanctuary states” such as New York and California but have exacerbated misogynist backlash. The “your body my choice” propaganda draws on the most vile, backward tropes of female submission and patriarchal dominance. This mentality is exemplified by the normalization of sexual violence against women and girls that has escalated with the election of Trump, his appointment of multiple sexual predators to his cabinet, and general public policy assault on the civil and human rights of cis women, trans and LGBTQ+ folks (ranging from federal bans on gender affirming care, trans youth athletes, and restrictions on abortion access, etc.). It was played out earlier this month during Senate Defense Committee hearings for newly appointed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who has been accused of sexual harassment, sexual assault, workplace misconduct, and mismanagement — behavior that would be automatically disqualifying if perpetrated by a Black candidate. It has also been magnified by Trump’s recent executive order banning transgender athletes from participating in girls’ sporting events on the sham pretext of “protecting women and girls”. These attacks are reinforced by Trump’s push to dismantle the Department of Education and all the safeguards it provides for vulnerable youth communities across race, gender, sexuality, and disability status.
This heightened climate of normalized misogyny, sexism, homophobia, and transphobia is especially dangerous for K-12 youth who have little to no exposure to culturally responsive health education. Study after study has shown that the prevalence of misogynist social media damages the mental health and social-emotional wellbeing of girls across ethnicity. Girls and female-identifying youth are constantly bombarded by toxic, violent, minimizing images and messages that tell them they must be “hypersexual”, “girlish”, and fit a certain body type (be it thin, thick or curvy) to be attractive and non-threatening to men and boys. According to a 2023 CDC study (data which is now unavailable from the CDC due to Trump’s McCarthyist purge of national gender equity research), over thirty percent of girls across ethnicity have reported struggling with depression and anxiety due to sexual harassment at school. One third of queer youth have also reported experiencing these traumas. The CDC data was disaggregated by race and ethnicity, concluding “that Black and Hispanic students were more likely to report skipping school because of concerns about violence”. In addition, while “an increase in sadness and hopelessness was reported across all racial groups over the last decade, Black students were less likely to report these negative feelings than other groups but were more likely to report suicide attempts than white, Asian or Hispanic adolescents (italics added).”
School environments that minimize or marginalize gender expansive and female identifying students’ experiences with sexual harassment and sexual violence reinforce norms that increase suicide rates. Moreover, when boys are not included in sexual harassment and sexual violence prevention education training, they may replicate what they see in the dominant culture. In our Women’s Leadership Project prevention education work with high school youth, we discuss rape culture definitions and real-life examples of sexual assault, sexual harassment, and sex trafficking. We unpack how victim-blaming, victim-shaming, gaslighting, grooming and adultification specifically impact Black girls and young women. We also examine how right wing cultural and political attacks on the bodily autonomy of female-identifying folks and LGBTQ+ folks affect Black girls, girls of color and queer youth in the post-Roe era.
The glamorization of violent misogynist lyrics and abusive relationships in reality TV and scripted TV, along with language that explicitly denigrates Black girls and women, continues to fuel high rates of gender-based violence. Recent cases involving Black female teens who were abducted, abused and murdered by peers and/or neighborhood predators, underscore the specific dangers Black girls face when it comes to femicide and gender-based violence.
Further, pop culture examples are significant because they highlight how youth’s exposure to normalized violence shapes their perspectives on relationships, gender roles, and identity. Thus, when we have classroom discussions with youth, many of them reference toxic reality show representations that showcase and glorify violence between Black couples such as rapper Blueface and partner Chrissean Rock. High profile incidents of misogynist victim-blaming, shaming and gaslighting of Black women violence victims such as Meghan the Stallion (who was shot multiple times by former partner Torey Lanez) and the women who accused R. Kelly, P. Diddy and Russell Simmons of sexual abuse, are also important for youth to know about. Although we stress that anyone, including women and girls, can commit sexual and domestic violence and sexual harassment, rape culture primarily targets and demonizes female identifying folks and queer folks.
In her article, “Girls’ Violence is Rare — But Not Their Violent Victimization”, Emily Salibury of the University of Utah’s Criminal Justice Center notes, “The best predictor of crime is a person’s gender, where men and boys’ criminality far outweigh that of women and girls, especially violence. And yet, females are far more likely to be victims of violence, not the perpetrators.” This fact is borne out by the millions of girls and women around the world who are victims of gender-based violence, including rape and femicide. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), “Globally, as many as 38% of all murders of women are committed by intimate partners”. Data from the National Crime Victimization Survey from the Council on Criminal Justice noted that in 2022, females experienced more than half of all violent victimizations, which is 24 percent higher than the female share in 1993. Comparatively, the male share was 16 percent lower in 2022 than in 1993.” One of the key action items in WHO’s recommendations for ending gender-based violence includes implementing “school programs that enhance safety in schools, reduce/eliminate harsh punishment and include curricula that challenges gender stereotypes while promoting relationships based on equality and consent.”
Violent, misogynist messages such as “your body, my choice” reinforce the Trumpian agenda of fascist domination, power, and control over women’s bodies and queer bodies. This regime will only intensify the violent victimization of Black women and girls. It is up to educators, cultural workers, organizers, and student visionaries to demand that school-communities ensure unconditional access to life-saving gender-based violence prevention education. Only then can we begin to undo the destructive influence of rape culture and gender-based violence on new generations.
