I am a Republican; I am a woman. And Donald Trump’s statements about women do not represent neither my or my party’s values.
Let’s make something clear: arguments concerning abortion rights and Planned Parenthood funding are political issues. Treating women with respect, on the other hand, has nothing to do with political affiliation.
Donald Trump has been degrading and objectifying women throughout his career. The evidence is clear: from calling his female lawyer who asked for a break to breastfeed “disgusting” and saying that female contestants on The Apprentice were only successful because of their sex appeal, to the recently released tapes from 2005 in which he boasts about forcibly kissing and touching women. His actions, especially those depicted in the leaked films, have sparked a national discussion about the treatment of women and the concept of feminism in the United States.
While I am reluctant to fully label myself a feminist because of the umbrella of ideas and movements that seem to fall under the term, as a woman, I have a personal interest in gender equality. I believe that Carly Fiorina, a former Republican Presidential candidate, put it best when she said, “a feminist is a woman who lives the life she chooses…A woman may choose to have five children and home-school them. She may choose to become a CEO”.
As Fiorina emphasized during her presidential run, feminism is often wrongly presumed to be a liberal ideal. I am one of the millions of American voters who believes not only in a limited government and a free market but also the idea that men and women are equally capable and valuable human beings.
I believe in Reagan-era conservatism; I believe in hard work and personal responsibility, not in Donald Trump’s incoherent jumble of derogatory and ignorant remarks paraded as a presidential campaign. I consider myself a Republican, but my partisanship is not so strong that I will vote for a candidate whom I would be afraid to be left alone in a room with.
Any political opinions do not reflect the view of Her Campus or Her Campus Wisconsin.