What masculinity means in America

On election evening at 9 p.m., I left The Philadelphia Inquirer newsroom as outcomes had been starting to spill in, and walked throughout Middle Metropolis to the Cherry Road Tavern, the place the Philadelphia Younger Republicans membership was internet hosting an election watch occasion. MAGA hats starting from the refined (denim and leather-based) to the in-your-face (pink, black, and gold) dotted the heads of these within the crowd. There was a way — not not like the Trump rally I reported from in 2020 — of consolation. The refined gaze exchanged amongst attendees that requested: You’re considered one of us? Am I protected to say how I actually really feel right here? After which the stress-free of the shoulders. The open admission of pleasure.

Early within the evening, the younger Republicans of Philadelphia had been joyful however guarded and overwhelmingly male. After I mentioned I used to be a journalist, one 20-something man leered and advised me he would solely speak if I purchased him a number of drinks. There was no line for the ladies’s toilet, however within the hallway, I crossed paths with one of many bartenders. “They’re all horrible tippers,” she mentioned. We exchanged a realizing look.

At first, the bar was enjoying the Flyers-Hurricanes sport. Then somebody turned on Fox. As the chances for Kamala Harris dwindled, the room reached a crescendo of chants — “U-S-A! U-S-A!” — that I hadn’t heard at fairly that quantity since Osama bin Laden was killed after I was in faculty and a gaggle of largely boys stormed the quad.

Earlier within the day, a Republican ward chief in Lawncrest referred to as it when he advised me Donald Trump would win in a landslide. We didn’t have to attend lengthy to know. Nobody in Cherry Road Tavern cared what Beyoncé or Oprah or Ricky Martin needed to say. They needed to speak in regards to the economic system, about border safety, about stopping World Battle III. “Solely Trump can do this,” one 20-year-old partygoer advised me.

The celeb endorsement is lifeless. Useless, too — for this election cycle no less than — is the dream of a feminine president.

After I left the bar after midnight, the outcomes had been clear. I settled right into a funk and began questioning every thing. How did Harris supporters get this so mistaken? And can I ever see a lady elected president?

Later, I referred to as two political scientists to debate the outcomes.

“When potential voters, potential voters, are evaluating management qualities, they’re doing it by means of a gendered and raced and classed lens,” Dana Brown, govt director of the Pennsylvania Middle for Girls and Politics at Chatham College, advised me. In different phrases, a candidate’s gender turns into indistinguishable from her general id, even when she tries to downplay its significance.

“I’ll be trustworthy,” Brown added, “after I think about the primary lady president in America — primarily based on understanding the expectations of management and masculine traits and female traits … more than likely that particular person must materialize on the extra conservative Republican facet.”

And it’s not that Republican ladies (like Carly Fiorina in 2016 and Nikki Haley in 2024) haven’t tried to make a run for the presidency — they simply don’t get very far.

Brown referenced Margaret Thatcher, the conservative British feminine lawmaker who broke boundaries as the primary feminine prime minister in Europe, enacting insurance policies that championed free markets and a small state. Brown additionally pointed me towards analysis from 2000 displaying that Republican ladies are extra seemingly than their Democratic counterparts to be elected.

“The truth that we’ve had two failed ladies candidates on the Democratic ticket within the final eight years,” Brown mentioned, “makes me assume that that’s the route during which voters could also be extra more likely to go.”

Neither of us may think about a lady with 34 felony convictions operating and profitable a marketing campaign for the presidency.

Jennie Candy-Cushman, affiliate professor of political science at Chatham College, was barely extra optimistic. Harris was “a really credible candidate whose gender didn’t matter in so some ways,” Candy-Cushman mentioned. “We’re attending to the purpose the place ladies operating for president is a traditional factor we count on ladies to do, and that’s progress. And that’s progress in a comparatively quick time frame.”

13 states may have feminine governors subsequent 12 months, a brand new document excessive. “We’re completely normalizing ladies in govt roles. And after 200-plus years of it solely being males, is it not surprising that it would take a minute?” Candy-Cushman mentioned.

She sees Harris’ loss by means of the lens of economics. “The incumbent president throughout poor financial occasions loses, onerous cease. … American politics truly is working the way in which it all the time has.”

In occasions of menace, she added, a “strongman mentality may be very alluring.” Trump succeeded in “projecting this extra conventional concept of what a person ought to and does do in society.” It could possibly be a unconscious response on the a part of the voters, however “that power may be very comforting.”

To place it bluntly, Individuals love masculinity and concern the rest. (There have been small vivid spots: Sarah McBride of Delaware was elected as the primary out trans member of Congress, and Angela Alsobrooks of Maryland and Lisa Blunt Rochester of Delaware received their Senate seats handily. And for the primary time, the Senate may have two Black ladies serving concurrently.)

Males: What do you want about Trump? Is it the ability, the swag, the phantasm of wealth, the braggadocio? I watched “The Apprentice” as a teen. I perceive the attract of being massive and in cost. Masculinity means strolling right into a room and proudly owning it. Masculinity means telling others they’re fired. Masculinity implies that whenever you’re rich sufficient, the principles don’t apply.

Femininity means 84 cents on the person’s greenback. Girls are stereotyped into the position of caregiver, not chief. Masculinity means energy bends in your favor. And if we are able to’t have energy, the following smartest thing is to be nearer to it.

Our nation’s slouch to the suitable is an admission that we wish all-American male chauvinism. We wish Trump. If Harris had been the very same particular person however a person — name him Kamal Harris — I believe the outcomes would have been a complete lot nearer.

There’s one thing uniquely U.S.-American about this worship. Trying south, Mexico elected its first feminine president, Claudia Sheinbaum, earlier this 12 months. Nicaragua elected its first feminine president, Violeta Chamorro, in 1990. Chile elected Michelle Bachelet in 2006. Canada, our neighbor to the north, chosen its first feminine prime minister in Kim Campbell all the way in which again in 1993.

How for much longer will ladies in the US have to attend?

When the votes weren’t but counted, I had allowed myself to hope. I’ve all the time needed a feminine president. I recalled the opening strains of Zoe Leonard’s 1992 poem, “I desire a president,” about nonbinary poet Eileen Myles’ run for the Oval Workplace. “I wish to know why this isn’t doable,” Leonard requested.

In The Inquirer newsroom, the place we ate pizza bought by our editors whereas awaiting election outcomes, a colleague puzzled out loud if our nation was prepared for a feminine president.

The reply is apparent: Not now. Possibly not ever. For girls in U.S. politics — particularly ladies on the left — entry to the best workplace will not be a glass ceiling however a cement coffin.

I hope I’m mistaken. Sure, a lady could be vice chairman. Certain, she will be able to strive for extra. However males don’t wish to lose grasp of the ability they’ve. Individuals who aspire to masculine energy don’t wish to lose their proximity to energy, both.

When there’s a lady on the prime of the ticket, I concern she will be able to by no means win.

Devi Lockwood is a columnist for The Philadelphia Inquirer.