For the record, this take is neither new nor original. Back in March, the Washington Post looked into yet another of Hillary Clinton’s excuses why she lost: that white women faced “ongoing pressure to vote the way that your husband, your boss, your son, whoever, believes you should.”
That was Clinton still going on about the 2016 election, but now the 2018 midterms have come and gone, and those exit polls progressive women keep passing around showing how white women often voted Republican have given them another problem that needs fixing.
Now the Guardian’s Rebecca Solnit is running with her take on women being bullied by men into voting to keep the white male patriarchy in place, and it all starts with an anecdote in which a woman might or might not have been beaten by her husband for wrongthink:
Progressive organizer Annabel Park told the story that made me start to wonder. “I can’t stop thinking about this woman I met while doorknocking for Beto in Dallas,” Annabel wrote on social media a few days before the midterm elections.
“She lived in a sprawling low-income apartment complex. After I knocked a couple of times, she answered the door with her husband just behind her. She looked petrified and her husband looked menacing behind her. When I made my pitch about Senate candidate Beto O’Rourke, her husband yelled, ‘We’re not interested.’ She looked at me and silently mouthed, ‘I support Beto.’ Before I could respond, she quickly closed the door.”
Annabel told me afterwards, “It’s been on my mind. Did she get beaten? That was my fear.”
She looked at me and silently mouthed, “I support Beto.” Of all the things that likely didn’t happen, that likely didn’t happen most of all.
How many husbands control the votes of their wives? We'll never know | Door-to-door canvassers tell stories of husbands who bully, silence and control their wives into voting conservative
Rebecca Solnit https://t.co/Q3vm2tDNyE— Soraya Chemaly (@schemaly) November 19, 2018
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The Guardian piece doesn’t mention white women in particular, so they get somewhat of a pass, seeing as the narrative is that white women screwed up the election for every Democrat who didn’t prevail — especially dreamy Beto O’Rourke.
This is ridiculous. How many husbands bully their wives into voting for democrats? Bullies will bully no matter what. There are plenty of women who vote conservative that are not bullied by their husbands.
— Jules (@CebJ1992) November 19, 2018
That's a false equivalence given everything we know from years of study regarding attitudes about gender and politics. The right's philosophy is largely based on separate sphere theories that create hierarchies, much more likely to create situations like these in voting.
— Soraya Chemaly (@schemaly) November 19, 2018
Oh, right, separate sphere theory.
Please cite these sources you claim exist.
— Brooks (@Brooks_the_Lab) November 19, 2018
They exist entirely in her fevered imagination.
— Forward Observer (@Mike___Kilo) November 19, 2018
There are studies, Brooks! STUDIES!!
— I'm Jeff ? (@fyvie2) November 19, 2018
I guess it's useless to argue with studies, eh?
— Brooks (@Brooks_the_Lab) November 19, 2018
Bull. Shit.
— paperplatemaskyo (@PaperPlateMask3) November 19, 2018
You know this is total bullshit right?
— JillMarie (@JMSieloff) November 19, 2018
From the #ShitThatNeverHappened file.
— DogsMumm ? (@DogsMumm) November 19, 2018
Just make it up. It’s a great career.
— Jackson Lee (@DBCooper440) November 19, 2018
I'll take shit that doesn't happen for $1,000 Alex.
— TheBIArchitect (@BIArchitectess) November 19, 2018
This is made up. You never left your keyboard, "researching" in the comments section of your leftist friends' blogs
— Husband-Bot (@TomLynn7) November 19, 2018
In other words, two or three random men who actually agreed to talk to you might have said "Oh we vote GOP in this house" while their wives walked by in the background and didnt say anything.
— ??Night "Beto Bust" Wood✞⚭⚓ (@Shteina_Gott) November 20, 2018
I've knocked on thousands of doors for the last 10 years and almost never get two people at home. When I have, I've never had one tell the other anything. Almost all wanted minimal interaction. These anecdotes are made up.
— David Lasdon (@WTPDavid) November 19, 2018
Door-to-door canvassers collect ballots now?
And they're not even in sealed envelopes?
— DarkGoldenMan (@dark_goldenman) November 19, 2018
Actually door to door canvassers tell stories of emasculated soy boy men bullied and controlled by their radical feminist wives into voting liberal.
— bunchofdeadbeats (@LindaIngellis) November 20, 2018
Now, how many are standing over their wives shoulder when they actually vote? NONE. This is a bunch of crap.
— "Bacon Infused" Super Elite Smelly Hillbilly (@Rudeboy1000000) November 19, 2018
I don't really get this. So they go to the polls together and he stands over her shoulder? Or does he fill it in for her? Because that's not how it works. This is insulting to women.
— elizagn (@elizagnnnn) November 19, 2018
It’s a secret ballot..try harder
— krisgqf4 (@krisgqf4) November 19, 2018
Um, only one person allowed in voting booth. Think about that.
— Michele Schiesser (@MicheleSchiesse) November 19, 2018
Just cause you fabricate a story doesn't make it true. Send a bunch of Marxist inspired kids out that wanna "change the world" this is the kind of garbage they will make up. If it's real, Let's see a scientific study? Not gonna happen. Social Marxists pull this BS all the time.
— El Cidius (@ElCidius) November 19, 2018
What a bunch of crap! I married my husband because we had similar ideas about life, family, and country. If this dribble helps you sleep at night…. whatever….. but this is stupid and wrong!
— Not Today (@RgMOSEY) November 19, 2018
But what other possible explanation is there for women to vote for conservatives, and thus against their own best interests? What woman in a stable marriage wouldn’t trade her husband for an ever-expanding government to take care of her welfare?
Why are Liberals sexist?
I’m a Conservative woman, and no one tells me who to vote for.
Imagine if I said the same thing about Liberal women. It could be true!— Bonnie O (@bloc52) November 19, 2018
Some women love portraying themselves as victims. Uh, let me restate that. Liberal women love portraying themselves as victims.https://t.co/03Tt6uk5VA
— TheVirginQueen (@TheVirginQueen6) November 19, 2018
My wife would kick my butt if I told her what to do. She absolutely hates Hillary Clinton BTW.
— Murray Scott (@Tiger7880) November 19, 2018
LOL you don’t know my wife.
— Steven Walter Thomas (@StevenWThomas1) November 19, 2018
Related:
Now Jill Filipovic is pondering what to do about the problem of white women who vote Republican https://t.co/5Lc85fFq48
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) November 7, 2018
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