Donald Trump’s Subtle Sexism Towards Ivanka Makes Me Nostalgic For Caring About Subtle Bigotry
Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner Image by Getty Images
Fears or hopes or whatever they were of Ivanka Trump serving as a behind-the-scenes first female president can probably be set aside. Donald Trump went to Jared rather than Ivanka for assistance: “‘She is busy buying a house,’ he said [in an interview quoted in the Forward]. ‘She has children so Jared will be engaged as we announced.’”
There’s something appealingly quaint about parsing the subtle sexism in these remarks. Why is Ivanka the one dealing with decor, while Jared gets to bring peace to the Middle East, which he’s totally going to do within five minutes of Trump getting into office, I’m sure? Why is it Ivanka who “has children,” as though the children she has with Jared Kushner are somehow only her responsibility? Isn’t Donald being a teensy bit gender-normative here, hmm?
We can have that conversation, but in the grand scheme of Donald Trump’s personal and political failings, from a feminist perspective, this ranks depressingly low. It shouldn’t! But alas, given all that’s going on, it does. We ought to live in a world where some of us call out subtle sexism while others of us cry overreaction. Maybe we did a few months ago. Now, not so much.
Phoebe Maltz Bovy edits the Sisterhood, and can be reached at [email protected]. Her book, The Perils of “Privilege”, will be published by St. Martin’s Press in March 2017.
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Dive In
-
Life A comprehensive guide to the best Hanukkah songs of all time, from ‘I have a little dreidel’ to the latest Wicked parodies
-
Life What is Tu B’shvat? A guide to Judaism’s most underrated holiday
-
Life Chanel had a complicated relationship with Jews — until Karl Lagerfeld showed up
-
Life COVID-19 changed shiva traditions — will one of the most beloved ever return?
Most Popular
- 1
Fast Forward Ye debuts ‘Heil Hitler’ music video that includes a sample of a Hitler speech
- 2
Opinion It looks like Israel totally underestimated Trump
- 3
Culture Is Pope Leo Jewish? Ask his distant cousins — like me
- 4
Fast Forward Student suspended for ‘F— the Jews’ video defends himself on antisemitic podcast
In Case You Missed It
-
News In Edan Alexander’s hometown in New Jersey, months of fear and anguish give way to joy and relief
-
Fast Forward What’s next for suspended student who posted ‘F— the Jews’ video? An alt-right media tour
-
Opinion Despite Netanyahu, Edan Alexander is finally free
-
Opinion A judge just released another pro-Palestinian activist. Here’s why that’s good for the Jews
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.