Gilead rising: In Trump's America, misogyny has found a powerful toehold

You know you’ve reached a low point when reporters need to ask if America’s defence secretary does, in fact, support women having the vote. Yes, a hard and long fought-for basic right to have a voice in public life. Yet they were prompted to when, earlier this month, Pete Hegseth approvingly posted a CNN segment on Christian nationalist and pastor Doug Wilson.

In the clip, women were referred to as unskilled breeders. In a staggeringly patronising remark, Wilson told the female reporter: “Women are the kind of people that people come out of.” He added: “It doesn’t take any talent to simply reproduce biologically”, as countless women sat on their couches yelling that they’d like to see him try.

In Wilson’s vision of a theocratic Christian society, women would not vote individually. A pastor of one of his churches told CNN the 19th Amendment should be repealed because there would be a household vote, cast by the man. Another pastor stressed he’d discuss it with his household first. (There’s a recipe for domestic harmony!)

Women are to obey, men to lead. Patriarchy 101.

“Unsubmissive women,” Wilson has written, “are a truly destructive force.”

https://www.theage.com.au/world/north-america/gilead-rising-in-trump-s-america-misogyny-has-found-a-powerful-toehold-20250822-p5mp0v.html

https://archive.md/tzTDM