THE WAY THINGS ARE

Soon president-elect Donald Trump will rule the White House once more and an intelligent, educated woman I know, is ecstatic. When I asked her if his attitude and that of the men close to him towards women didn’t bother her, she replied, ‘He’s a canny showman at a time when we live clinging more to illusions than reality. He gives his audience what they want to hear. With him what you see is what you get, no false façade. With most politicians, it’s 90 percent façade.’

One thing is sure, Trump is never boring copy, he’s a journalist’s easy meat. American women are split between being besotted by or supportive of the elderly macho man, and those who see his term as a threat to what women have fought to obtain. Will women’s rights regress amid fears of his unpredictability with business, climate and politics?

In ancient cultures, women were equal, had a say in laws, land ownership and marriage arrangements. In China, women were Half the Sky, Celtic women and Viking Shield Maidens fought with their men, Boudica fought Romans on British soil and Grace O’Malley, a feared pirate queen, reigned in Ireland when England’s Elizabeth I ruled men. In Ireland and Cyprus, women were involved in freedom struggles.

Is imprinting from early and teen years retained for set mentalities despite advanced education and access to information? Is Trump’s imprinting from Fifties adverts of women in immaculate kitchens, dressed like dolls in frilly aprons, never sweaty or hassled, knowing their existence is to please the breadwinner? Does he see women as submissive, objectified Hollywood sex symbols of his teens seemingly begging the attention of a lusty, masterful man like him?

He was a WWII child when women wore uniforms serving with men, active in dangerous missions as spies, working on intelligence gathering and deciphering, in factories doing heavy work and defiantly keeping the home fires burning. Liberation from the kitchen sink and the chance to show their abilities led to further courageous advancements in education and work status proving that while female bodies may not have the muscle power of the male, their brains and determination are equal.

Women continued to contribute much to the world of science and technology. They’ve flown out of earth’s orbit yet some men still view them as mere baby incubators or for sexual pleasure, stitching women into strait jacket specification of unquestioning obedience once the lot of unfortunate slaves.

The internet is riddled with violence and abuse mostly towards women and children and yet after years of parental anxiety and rights organisations demanding better safeguards filth still lurks for those who seek it, and there are always people happy to supply content on demand for sick minds or curious youth. People have to monitor sites and gauge whether or not content is acceptable, the violence or porn they view often leaves them mentally unwell, the worst of it inflicted on small children and babies.

Almost daily, some well-known man in denial of misconduct, is caught out either referring to women in a derogatory way or implying the sexual charges made against them can be covered by ‘weak woman’ words like fantasy or hysteria. Hinting that scorned, fat or unattractive women vainly wanting them are turning to attack the unattainable, victimised man.

Joe Biden appears a champion of women’s rights yet he, the UK and the EU have been selective with who’s entitled to them. Democratic leaders gave Israel the right to defend its women and children after the horrendous Hamas massacre but failed thousands of Palestinian women and children were killed by weapons Biden continuously supplied to Israel’s murderous response. The EU has huge weapons trade with Israel.

Once elected, the façade drops, leaders choose who has rights according to their imperatives, actual equality democracy is a farce, Trump is an illusionist and his followers enjoy the tricks, hoping perhaps he really has some magic up his sleeve. He hasn’t. Human societies are like those of bees or ants: workers, drones, soldiers, queens, no illusions left for the poor in the survival trenches, where true democratic equality is non-existent.