Combating Misogynoir This Election Season And Beyond

With less than two weeks from the 2024 U.S. presidential election, commentary about both Trump and Harris have dominated the media. Since the announcement that Biden was exiting the race and that Harris would be the presumptive nominee, much of the conversation surrounding Harris has been laden with misogynoir and anti-blackness . “This particular election cycle has manifested some of what many Black women and femmes forecasted,” shared Joquina Reed. Reed is a Louisiana-based DEI practitioner and the founder of J Reed Consulting . “Because Vice President Kamala Harris is running for president and also identifies as a Black woman, we have seen too many individuals project their imagined, or perceived, feelings about her onto everyday Black women like myself. Personally, I have seen an increase in unwarranted personal attacks as well as an increase in demoralizing and dehumanizing language used not only to describe Black women but also when engaging with us.”

Harris has been labeled a “DEI hire,” with opponents claiming she “slept her way” into politics. Her record as prosecutor has been hyper scrutinized and during a recent rally in Greensboro, N.C., Trump called Harris a “low IQ individual” and said she was “lazy as hell.” Both of these insults are based on racist stereotypes (the lazy trope and the unintelligent trope ) that have been weaponized against Black people throughout history. The added layer of Harris not only being Black but being a Black woman has meant she’s seen an unmatched amount of gendered racism that no other presidential candidate has experienced.

In this particular election season, it seems like there has been an unprecedented level of hate and vitriol with both Harris and her supporters experiencing the brunt of venom. Some have accused Harris supporters of only supporting Harris because she’s Black, with Harris’ racial and ethnic identity being a too-frequent part of the public conversation. If Harris were to win, the amount of misogynoir (the specific form of gendered racism that Black women face) seen both online and offline is likely to increase.

“It's been incredibly triggering watching VP Harris be held to an impossibly high standard by comparison to Donald Trump, which sadly mirrors the experiences of myself, and many Black women have had in the workplace and online,” shared Franchesca Ramsey . Ramsey, who is an actor, writer, sought-after public speaker and the creator and star of an award-winning web series MTV Decoded, experienced an unparalleled level of misogynoir online after sharing her excitement about Harris becoming the presumptive nominee. Ramsey even created a song about the anti-blackness she was encountering online. “I was so tired of seeing content from non-Black folks, but especially white leftists, chastising Black folks for saying they intended to vote for VP Harris.”

Combating misogynoir both online and offline during this fraught election season will be no easy feat but there are several things that can be done. First, we must develop a shared vocabulary and understanding regarding the unique form of racism that misogynoir is and deepen our awareness of when and how it shows up. In Freedom is a Constant Struggle, Angela Davis wrote “the call for public conversations on race and racism is also a call to develop a vocabulary that permits us to have insightful conversations. If we attempt to use historically obsolete vocabularies, our consciousness of racism will remain shallow.” According to Reed, “Individuals who are invested in equity and inclusive conversations need to understand the specificity in which sexism and racism impact our social, professional, and intimate lives.”

The willingness to name the problem plays a vital role in addressing the issue. As Ramsey noted, “social media is a reflection of our offline world, so until we make substantial strides to address misogynoir in real life, I don't think it's possible to combat it online. Too many folks are unwilling to acknowledge that racism and sexism exist in the first place, let alone that they operate differently when speaking on the experiences of Black women. You can't fix a problem you can't or won't name.”

Lastly, there are some harm-reduction strategies that the public can engage in to combat misogynoir. Dr. KáLyn Coghill , an online gender-based researcher and professor suggested, “Monitoring online accounts, making pages private to avoid further harassment, communicating with close friends about what is happening online, reporting, blocking [and] muting certain words, and [muting] harmful accounts. In the physical world, it is sometimes more challenging to combat misogynoir because it can show up as microaggressions, but having the hard conversations, keeping a record of what you're experiencing, seeking therapy to help you learn to cope and cope safely, and leaning into your community for guidance and support is helpful.”

This article was originally published in Forbes.

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