Applying Feminist Theory to Contemporary Political Events Analysis

This essay delves into the application of feminist theory to analyze two significant contemporary political events: the election of Donald Trump as US President and the MeToo movement. The introduction establishes the framework of feminist theory and its relevance to understanding gender dynamics and power structures. The essay then examines these events, exploring how feminist perspectives illuminate the complexities of gender inequality, patriarchal systems, and the evolving roles of women in society. The analysis considers the election of Donald Trump as a case study in which a candidate with a history of misogynistic behavior was elected, prompting questions about the electorate's views on women. The MeToo movement is analyzed as a feminist response to sexual harassment and assault, highlighting the strength of women's voices in the face of adversity, while also acknowledging divisions within the movement and the limitations of the theory in providing complete explanations for these events. The essay concludes by synthesizing the insights gained from applying feminist theory to these events, offering a critical perspective on the challenges and progress in achieving gender equality and challenging patriarchal norms.

Contemporary political events
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Introduction
The essay brings out diverse aspects of feminist in the contemporary world. The two
contemporary events that have been chosen for analysis from the feminist theory perspective
include the election of Donald Trump as the US President and the MeToo Movement. The views
of the female in most important primary events have been seen to widen in the steps in all over
the world. This generally based onideas which rooted from BC to date. In most contemporary
society, women are considered to be powerless in all the aspects within the community. This is
so in considerations of the number of women in the powerhouse that is the legislation in the
modern world. Therefore, based on theoretical approaches in the issues of the critical aspects like
power, majority of the women are given lower ranks in playing their parts. This is indicated by
most journals, which illustrates the plight of the women in the fight to retain position in the
society (Dean, 2010).Therefore, this generally brings out the feminist perspective on
international relations to seek or to understand initials gender relations dominances of
masculinities above femininities. Based on the idea of the existence about the comparison of the
women to men, feminist theorist has stipulated on the experiences of marginalizedas well as
oppressed peoples which constitutes women, in general, to defy and seek for the
recommendation revision on epistemological as well as the ontological basis of the fields.
Feminist theory in explanation of the disparity of the biases which rested within the muscularity,
feminist have interrogated gender biases inherent in rationalist means of understanding as well as
knowing the key aspects and concerns of international relations that is sovereignty, might,
security as well as international conflicts. However, most general social set-up of the
communities depicts disparities which rooted in the application of the policies which sometimes
aims at undermining women in all the dimensions. In consideration of the political states of

every state, especially in some of the advanced countries as they call them, it has been noted that
women mostly fails to clinch in the topmost ascension of power due to the feeling which many
has over them. This is true with references to Africans countries which has been dominated by
men in power, thus leaving women to handles house chores duties. This has made it possible for
women to agitate for their position, by forming some alliances, which generally classified as
feminist affiliation which was terms by the feminist theorist as a tool used in calling for equal
rights in gender. Feminist theory shared a praxis-oriented normative theory, precisely building
theory from practice in control of the political performances in which their political position
stands to diverge (Baer, 2016). One of the differences between the feminist stands to that of men
is clarity in the general location of power as well as philosophical means of knowledge of the
stands of gender. Based on the explanation above, it is clear that the aim of the essay will apply a
theoretical approach to power to identify the set of contemporary political events such as a
position of power within the states. Therefore, feminist theory will be used to illustrate the asset
of contemporary political events such as international relations (Hoffman & Graham, 2015).
Topic question: Could feminist theory clearly explain the reason behind Donald Trump’s
election and weakening of MeToo Movement?
Contemporary political events
The election of Donald Trump as the US President
When Donald Trump was elected as the President of the United States in 2016, the world woke
up to shock as he was not someone that people considered to be the president of the most
powerful nation in the world. The media and the expert analysts rightly outcast Trump prior to
the election but he turned out to be the one that people chose over the Democrat candidate

Hillary Clinton. His victory in the elections was seen by many as the current temperament of the
American citizens to choose a so-called male chauvinist, sexual harassment accuse to lead their
country. Most of the protests against Trump’s election as the president were based on his
regressive policies and inflammatory statements. Amongst many of the protests against him, the
Women Marches was also one. It was a worldwide march by women on 21 January 2017 in
protest against Trump’s inauguration as the US President. The march was conducted to protest
Trump’s anti-women remarks and offensive statements. This event was also significant for the
fact that a woman was denied her chance to the president’s chair against a man who has been
accused of innumerable accounts of sexual harassment.
The MeToo Movement
The MeToo Movement began during the end of 2017 in the US when the acclaimed Hollywood
filmmaker Harvey Weinstein was accused of systematic sexual harassments against numerous
women. The story first published in The New York Times when two journalists Jodi Kantor and
Megan Twohey spoke openly about the misdeeds of Weinstein. The movement quickly began to
spread across the globe and within one year, it became a huge global movement, one of the
biggest in recent decades. It was one of the biggest feminist movements in recent decades that
drew attention from all spheres of life. Film actor Alyssa Milano was the one who started the
hashtag MeToo (#MeToo) on Twitter based on the phrase coined by Tanaka Burke in 2006 to
those women who faced sexual harassment. However, the movement received divided support
from influential people worldwide. Another fact about the movement is that it was no longer
confined to the Hollywood or other film industries and reached the realms of politics and other
spaces. Many considered the movement shallow and that it did not really help the victims in
receiving justice. The movement also had women come out and speak up about their sexual

harassments by the US President Donald Trump. It is interesting to note that the MeToo
movement and Donald Trump’s beginnings as the US President began during the same period. It
presents a contrast to the thoughts of the people regarding the status and position of women in
the society.
Applying Feminist theory to the two events
According to the feminist theory, there is widespread gender inequality across the globe. The
theory further states that the roles of men and women have not been clearly identified in any
literature of the ancient times (Policastro, 2015). The women have always been made to think as
inferior to men. The feminist theory explores themes such as objectification, discrimination,
depression, patriarchy and stereotyping amongst others.
When one applied the theory to the election of Donald Trump, it brings out several themes at
once of feminist theory. Donald trump has been a man who has openly confessed about touching
women’s genitals without their consent, a man who has had more than a dozen allegations of
sexual harassments including attempt to rape (Graves, 2019). Despite all these facts, the world’s
most powerful democratic country, United States, chooses Trump as their leader. To view this
from the feminist perspective, the event meant that people in the 21st century still believe women
to be just vessels to be used and thrown away at the pleasure of the men. It also means that the
objectification of women is not even an issue and that it is too normal to be considered an issue.
Nonetheless, the event has most certainly opened the eyes of the female population in America
who now seem to be more vocal about various issues. The feminist theory however could not
explain as to the reasons for not electing a woman as the President of the US and instead electing
someone who has no respect for women.

Applying the feminist theory to the MeToo Movement brings forth the strength of the feminists
across the globe in coming out with their stories of sexual harassment and fight back. The
feminist themes such as sexual harassment of women have been brought up visibly during the
MeToo Movement across the globe. The innumerable stories that were posted online especially
on Twitter and then on Facebook as well reveal the feminist spirit had woken up. Women
throughout different spheres of work came together to support each other further enhancing the
feminist theory and the essence of feminism (Bbc.com, 2019). However, the feminist theory has
failed to explain the reasons behind many women refusing to support the movement. The
feminists have not explained the divisiveness in the movement clearly. Differences in the opinion
of women regarding the movement began to come up with many women questioning whether the
movement should focus on the workplace sexual assaults only or should its area widen. One of
the weaknesses of the feminist theory is that it has a generational divide where the yesteryear
feminists do not propagate movements such as the MeToo. They instead argue that women
during the 19th and 20th century were stronger than the women of the present generation are.
Understanding the feminist theory
The feminist theory distinguishes several flaws in the Western, European, Judeo-Christian, and
male traditional philosophy and attempts to offer various ways to think in a novel way about the
issues that affect humans and the world (Allen 2018). The many beliefs that the feminist theory
holds include the patriarchal nature of the society that men have structured to favor themselves,
the women being subordinated and their issues trivialized or neglected. The last belief of the
feminist theory is that a system that supports equality for both the genders must replace and
overthrow the dominant patriarchal order. When these themes are applied to the election of
Donald Trump as the US President by the people that also include many women, it becomes

clear that the theory has failed to establish a strong ground for women. Donald Trump could be
considered a symbol of the patriarchal order. Patriarchy, according to the feminist theorists, is an
unjust social order that causes women to stay subordinate to men in every sphere of life (Yllo
and Straus 2017). The feminists have found patriarchy to be the primary cause of the oppression
that women have faced in the society.
However, in terms of the support and opposition gained for the MeToo Movement, it seems that
women themselves have often been supportive of patriarchy in some way. Many feminists have
rejected the movement stating that it does not address the perennial issue about women. The
feminists have shown discomfort against the movement. Some media reports suggested that the
main conflict amongst feminists regarding the movement is between the second-wave feminists
and the millennial (Donegan, 2019). While the second-wave feminists mostly disregarded the
MeToo Movement, the millennial feminists had other views. The feminists argued that the entire
movement is a flaw because the women who have faced sexual harassment must have raised
their voices against the harasser at the time of the incident. The feminists further argue that the
victims had the chance to say not to the harassers or protest at that moment, which would have
created a greater impact. Germain Greer, one of the prominent figures of the second-wave
feminism, argues that it is “too late now to start whingeing about sexual assault” (Donegan,
2019). It needs mentioning that the feminist theory or feminism has been divided into different
waves or stages according to the era in which the feminists spoke out against injustice. The
second-wave feminism began during the 1960s and continued until the 1980s (Evans and
Chamberlain 2015). Prior to this, the first-wave feminism had begun during the mid-19th century
and continued towards the beginning of the 20th century. While the first-wave was mostly about
fighting for the basic rights of women in politics and society such as the women’s suffrage, the

second-wave feminism was more about the women fighting for their rights to work. The women
fought the predominant thought that women were not meant to work at home but explore their
intellectual faculties in all spheres just like men. The third wave feminism was about the sexual
harassment of women at work that found new voice through the MeToo movement. Nonetheless,
with so many waves of feminism, occurring at different period have although helped bring about
changes in the way the society views women, it has failed to create any major changes in
people’s perception. The case of Donald Trump’s election as the US President depicts this.
Trump has been an epitome of misogynist with dozens of women coming up with sexual
allegations against him but he still became the president of the world’s most powerful nations.
Therefore, it is clear that the feminist theory itself has questions lingering over it to be able to
explain the two contemporary events.
Conclusion and discussion
Therefore, it could be concluded that the feminist theory largely explains the two contemporary
political events that have been mentioned in the essay. However, it has been found that the
feminist theory could not clearly explain some of the phenomenon related to feminism. For
example, the election of sexual harassment accuse Donald trump over a woman Hillary Clinton
as the US president or the divided thinking of women on the MeToo Movement. Normative
binders infuse not only feminist such as questions, interpretation and the claims to know
international relations, but it also show how the feminist are perceived I relations to
performances certain factors like the church activities as well as views of their position in the
world war two.. This illustrates differences as well as variation within the international relations
feminisms.However, the ethical vows in inclusivity, self-reflexivity, concentration to relationship
and power within the link differentiates most feminist theories of international relations (Spivak,

2012). Therefore, these set of the standard implicitly directs the feminist to put into practice their
critical opinions, Epistemologies as well as specificnormative obligations. This, therefore, put
the essay into diverse aspects of feminist in the contemporary world. However, the views of the
female in major significant events have been seen to widen in the steps in all over the world.
This generally centred on the normative, which rooted from BC to date.
Similarly, in contemporary society, women are considered to be powerless in all the aspects
pertained in the community. This is so with references to considerations of the number of women
in the powerhouse that is the legislation in the modern world (Flax, 2012). Thus through the
theoretical approaches in the issues of the essential aspects like power, majority of the women
are given lower ranks in playing their parts. This is clearly illustrated above by various research,
which gives impression plight to women in the fight to retain position in the society. Therefore, it
brings out the feminist perspective on international relations to seek or to understand initials
gender relations dominances of masculinities above femininities. Through the existences of an
idea about the comparison of the women and men, feminist theorist have stipulated on the
experiences of marginalised as well as oppressed peoples which constitutes women, in general,
to defy and seek for the recommendation revision on epistemological as well as the ontological
basis of the fields. As explained above, the essay applied a theoretical approach to power to
identify the set of contemporary political events such as a position of power within the states.

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