Eyes Wide Open: How Women's Vigilance Could Spark Change

Preparing for a Misogynistic Political Climate

Protesting Turkey's gender violence policies in Istanbul, July 2021Emanuele Satolli / Contrasto / Reuters

Mistreatment of women is practically a job requirement to be in the White House. Every time Trump announced a new cabinet pick or another sycophant pledged their loyalty, I couldn’t help but “joke” (in that helpless, not really funny way) that we were witnessing the launch of the #HeToo movement.

Throughout history, authoritarian leaders have consistently demonstrated a particular hostility toward women - a pattern so well-documented it serves as a reliable indicator of rising fascism. Bonaparte wrote in his memoir that treating women ‘“too well,” had “spoiled everything” and made it legal for men to kill their wives for infidelity. Mussolini claimed that ‘women never created anything’ and should ‘never be taken seriously.’ and others such as Hitler believed women’s gentler nature made them ill-equipped to survive the turmoil and pressure of workplaces, business or politics. Predictably, the Nazi regime outlawed contraception and introduced tough restrictions on abortion—though only for “Aryan” women—and attempted to ‘re-feminise’ women by modifying the way they dressed and behaved. Sound a little too familiar?

This antagonism toward women isn't arbitrary; women’s disobedience throughout history has been vast and powerful, repeatedly challenging and transforming oppressive systems. The Women's March on Versailles in 1789 began as a protest over bread prices but became a pivotal moment in the French Revolution, demonstrating how women's collective action could topple a monarchy. In more recent times, the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo in Argentina helped bring down a military dictatorship by bringing public attention to their disappeared children and other gross human rights violations, while in Liberia, Leymah Gbowee led thousands of women in nonviolent protests that ultimately ended a 14-year civil war and forced the resignation of dictator Charles Taylor. Iceland's 1975 Women's Strike, where 90% of women refused to work, cook, or care for children for a day, transformed the country into one of the world's most gender-equal societies, proving that when women withdraw their labor, entire systems are forced to change. There are many more examples of women taking charge.

From revolution to resistance, women have consistently proven they're anything but passive, yet across the ages, men in power keep insisting submissiveness and obedience are “natural” features of being a woman. Why the need for policies limiting women’s rights and choices if they’re supposedly “biologically hardwired” to stay barefoot and pregnant? Foreign Affairs puts it this way:

When women participate in mass movements, those movements are both more likely to succeed and more likely to lead to more egalitarian democracy. In other words, fully free, politically active women are a threat to authoritarian and authoritarian-leaning leaders-and so those leaders have a strategic reason to be sexist.

In Joe Biden’s unprecedented Farewell Address, rather than brag about all he’s accomplished as is typical in such speeches, he used the time instead to warn of the potential for this country to become an oligarchy. He was referring to the extreme concentration of power and wealth we’ve seen solidify in an alarmingly short time around the upcoming administration. We’ve watched in horror as Elon Musk, Jeff Besos, Mark Zuckerberg, Sam Altman and other wealthy tech bros (treated as gods in this country) have rushed to kiss the ring of Donald Trump (or whoever is really in power). It was Biden’s last ditch effort to remind us that an oligarchy inevitably breeds abuse of power and when that power is misused, it's ordinary people who suffer.

Trickle Down Misogyny

Even if this country doesn't turn into a full-blown oligarchy, ordinary people like us will feel the trickle-down effects of misogyny. When political leaders express contempt for women's autonomy or dismiss their concerns, it creates what sociologists call a "permission structure" for similar behavior at every level of society. That’s why former Fox News host Tucker Carlson felt free to suggest that fathers should “vigorously spank” their “hormone-addled” daughters if they act defiantly and why a giant company like Meta felt free to eliminate its fact-checking and DEI program. Meta CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, explained to Joe Rogan in what can only be described as a three-hour brofest, that the corporate world is “pretty culturally neutered” and needs more “masculine energy.” Translation: It sucked that we couldn’t be sexist, racist, exclusionary jerks and we need to get back to a more white male dominated world. (But also, maybe Zuck should check with his fired fact-checkers—90 percent of CEO positions in Fortune 500 companies have been held by men for over a decade!)

Meta has removed restrictions on posts that, for example, refer to women as dehumanized objects, call trans people “it,” or openly label those who aren’t cis or heterosexual as deviant and mentally ill. That’s not masculinity, that’s hate¹ and frankly I think men should be outraged that it’s being conflated. But nope, one top banker told the Financial Times, “I feel liberated, We can say ‘retard’ and ‘pussy’ without the fear of getting cancelled . . . it’s a new dawn.” Don’t you feel sorry for people, especially billionaires, who’ve had to self-censor because they might offend women, minorities or disabled people? Hard life.

The thing that has the MAGA boys—or should I say MAMA boys (Make America Masculine Again)—with their panties in a bunch is the growing challenge to patriarchal power and privilege posed by multiracial, multiethnic women’s movements, along with the pushback against heteronormativity led by LGBTQ+ movements. While we, dear readers, see this as progress and an expansion of democratic freedoms, they see equality as highway robbery or even, as Jackson Katz put it in Ms. Magazine, “an apocalyptic threat to the stability and viability of Western civilization itself.”

This makes no sense though because overwhelmingly, the evidence shows this isn’t a zero sum game. When women are doing better, everyone does better; society as a whole thrives. Women’s involvement in different areas of life drives substantial economic growth, enhances the health and well-being of their families, contributes to longer life expectancy, not only for women but for everyone, fosters more enduring peace agreements, and promotes more harmonious relationships, to name only a few of the benefits. So when women lose, everyone loses.

Thinking of it as a loss only makes sense if true masculinity rests on subjugating women. I’m not playing dumb. I understand that boys and men are confused and lonely. Many have been brought up to be providers, expecting women to wait on them, interpret their emotions for them, and take their unprocessed shit. And then the world changed. But instead of our leaders and influencers telling men it’s time to adapt because women weren’t happy being forced to give up agency and ambition for millennia, they stoke men’s resentment of women and of social justice efforts by spreading the lie that equality is a zero-sum game.

They count on this misogynistic message to trickle down, fueling fury among men and a battle of the sexes. This distraction ensures the focus remains on gender divides rather than uniting people against a system that exploits and oppresses them, while a privileged few reap the benefits. We know that when authoritarian leaders past have pushed rigid gender roles, they didn’t just limit women to baby-makers. They've also turned men into disposable workers and warriors—mere cogs in their profit machine. These power structures don't just trap women - they suffocate everyone beneath the elite who run them.

But here we are and there is ample indiction (and research) that political misogyny will be transformed into everyday experiences of hostility and discrimination in our individual and collective lives. In a 24-hour period after the election in November, the Institute for Strategic Dialogue found a 4600% increase in online misogynistic rhetoric and attacks. We can and should expect threats against women in online spaces to be even more normalized as "jokes," and to expand IRL too. Workplace harassment complaints will likely be increasingly dismissed as "oversensitivity" and health complaints as in our heads. Aggressive behavior toward women, both at home and in public, will become bolder and more frequent. And the 12-year-old boy next door might just say awful things to your daughter. There will be a a broader erosion of respectful discourse around women's rights and dignity, leading to an environment where these behaviors are tolerated or rewarded, rather than challenged.

Vigilance stress

Even if we feel relatively safe for now (erasure is a long game), girls and women will still find themselves even more vigilant than usual. Picture walking through a neighborhood where you've heard feral dogs have gotten loose. Even if you don't see any dogs, you're constantly scanning your environment, tensing at sudden movements, and planning escape routes - just in case. This heightened state of alertness is exhausting, even if nothing bad actually happens. Psychologists call this constant state of heightened alertness, "vigilance stress" - a burden all women, but especially those who belong to marginalized groups, already understand all too well.

The body keeps score of this constant vigilance. Chronic hypervigilance can lead to sleep disturbances, digestive problems, and increased susceptibility to illness, high anxiety, and fatigue. The cognitive demands of constant threat assessment can impair concentration, decision-making ability, and creative thinking - all vital resources for professional and personal growth.

The dual benefit of women’s support networks

One way of helping with the psychological toll of everyday threats is the support of other women. We know that strong social support networks can help buffer the impact of stress, and when it comes to misogyny, supportive women can create spaces for each other where experiences are validated, strategies shared, and collective action organized. But do you know what else supportive women’s networks can be? Launching pads for strategic civil disobedience.

There is no time like the present to foster strong support networks, both as a space for healing and to ready ourselves for collective action². Like you maybe, I desperately want to put my head in the sand and go about my usual business. But I think that would be a mistake. The share of the world’s population under autocratic rule is now 71% – a terrifying jump from 48% ten years ago. An effort to repeal the social progress of the 20th century with it’s rise in women’s rights, civil rights, and labor rights is well underway.

I believe we must remain vigilant to the political landscape but I also find relief in the idea of community as both a space for individual respite and a foundation for resistance. These connections can transform individual anxiety into collective strength, much like the women’s movements of the past. Autocratic leaders understand what history has repeatedly shown: when women organize in response to oppression, they become an unstoppable force for change. It’s why the Soviet Union suppressed its Women's Movement, Chile's Pinochet targeted women's organizations and the Taliban immediately banned girls' education upon taking power. Forging these women’s groups (that will hopefully come to include men too) may prove crucial in preserving democratic values and human rights. Who’s with me?

1. To see what Meta looked like before some restrictions were placed on “masculine energy,” check out

Soraya Chemaly

’s Substack "Masculine Energy" or the Vengeful Rebuilding of Safe Spaces for Supremacists.

2. I’m genuinely chagrined to say that my book, Sexism & Sensibility: Raising Empowered, Resilient Girls in The Modern World is more relevant than ever. Told through the stories of girls in my psychology practice, it will walk you through the many variations of misogyny girls and women will be encountering now more than ever, and provides a roadmap for confronting it with strength and resilience.