Over 150,000 people are expected to attend the Women’s March on Washington on Inauguration Weekend (and more will attend solidarity marches around the country), but—despite organizers’ repeated insistence that the march is for anyone wanting to show support for the rights of women and other marginalized groups—men have been slow to join the cause.
According to the event’s bus organizers, only a small number of seats have been reserved by men, despite transit to D.C. being in high demand. So why are men so hesitant to join the protest? It could be, in part, that the event is seen as an event for female bonding and men—for the first time in history—are hesitant to intrude. Or, as some speculate, it could also be that openly showing support for women’s causes is seen as unmasculine and worthy of scorn—particularly in the eyes of the oncoming Trump administration and its supporters.
“There is a sense [that] if you outwardly support a woman you are less deserving of your man stripes,” Alex Mohajer, co-founder of Bros 4 Hillary, tells the Washington Post.
And there’s the fact that men do tend to favor Trump. As the Post’s Michael Alison Chandler reports:
The November election exposed the largest gender gap in more than 40 years, with women favoring Clinton by 13 points and men favoring Trump by 11 points. The gap was most stark for white men, in particular non-college educated white men, 71 percent of whom voted for Trump. For this group of economically challenged men, Trump’s appeal to a simpler time when men ruled the family resonated.
(Worth noting, too, that white men were not the only demographic to favor Trump, with 53% of white women’s votes going to the yam-hued piss goblin. Meanwhile, 82 percent of black men’s votes and 63 percent of Latino men’s votes went to the female candidate, Hillary Clinton.)
But for the considerable number of men who do not support the Trump administration’s push for limiting reproductive and other women’s rights, the rights of the LGBTQ community, and the further disenfranchisement of the working class (something that disproportionately affects women and people of color), rallying alongside women has become—and will continue to be—integral.
As march attender Tim Riddick puts it, “I am worrying about the way my boys will treat women when they are older. I want to make sure they not only respect women but that they fight for women as well.”
“This is a movement that is led by women, but it is not just for women. It’s for all people,” march organizer Linda Sarsour tells the Post. But...“You have to be okay with being led by women.”