She’s a victim, a prisoner, a hapless bystander. A recent The Atlantic article compared her to the figure of the medieval queen who’s “softer heart” allowed her to intercede on behalf of the people to prevent her husband from looking weak. One thing Melania Trump is rarely called by mainstream media is a conscious and complicit partner in her husband’s actions. Painting Melania as an innocent speaks to a larger problem inherent to American white feminism. It is the same problem that allows us to blame the “Bernie Bros” for Trump’s victory instead of the 52 percent of white women who voted for Trump. Female does not equal feminist, and as we have seen in the last election cycle, often neither does white. This paper examines the blind spots inherent to the “we’re all women together” attitude taken by white feminists that allows media readings of Melania Trump as innocent, when it should be very clear that she “doesn’t care.” These same blind spots contribute to the alienation of women of color and the LGBTQ community within liberal feminist circles in the US, by failing to recognize that pussy hat white feminism, which is rooted in the second wave ideals of a bygone era, is not addressing the critical needs of today,
About the presenterAnna Brecke
Anna Brecke is an Assistant Professor in the Humanities and Social Sciences at the New England Institute of Technology and a part-time Lecturer at the Rhode Island School of Design. She holds M.A. degrees in English and Gender/ Cultural Studies from Simmons College, and a PhD in Literature and Cultural Studies from the University of Rhode Island. Her research areas are Victorian popular fiction, gender and women’s studies, television and new media, and true crime.