Novelist Cheryl Strayed on #MeToo, the horror of election night, and identity politics

Vox ^ | October 24, 2017 | Hope Reese

[2ndDivisionVet]

The pain and disbelief many women felt the morning of November 9, 2016, when they learned that Donald Trump would be president, was visceral. Novelist Cheryl Strayed was one of these women.

“I knew the American electorate was divided politically, but I also knew something else: For all our flaws, we were not a people who’d choose a man to be our president who was so plainly, so essentially, so completely, a disrespectful brute,” Strayed said over the phone from her home in Portland, Oregon. “I was wrong.”

Strayed is the author of the best-selling novel Wild and the woman behind the popular advice column Dear Sugar, which appeared in the online literary magazine the Rumpus and is now a podcast hosted by the New York Times. In a new collection of essays, Nasty Women: Feminism, Resistance, and Revolution in Trump's America — edited by Samhita Mukhopadhyay and Kate Harding — Strayed and two dozen other writers reflect on what the Trump presidency means for them and for women across the globe. Contributors include Rebecca Solnit, Carina Chocano, Jill Filipovic, Katha Pollitt, and Sarah Hollenbeck.

I spoke with Strayed about how she has come to think about Trump’s election, identity politics, and the “me too” campaign, among other subjects. Our conversation has been condensed and edited for clarity.

Hope Reese

Writing about politics is new for you. How did you get involved in this project?

Cheryl Strayed

The day after the election, Kate Harding DM’d me on Twitter....

[2ndDivisionVet]

[A message]

What a loser.

[MadMax, the Grinning Reaper]

I didn’t know that Harvey Weinstein was elected president last November, Quell horreur!

[GnuThere]

I read her book. She is mentally ill.

[Lurkinanloomin]

Only a tenth of what I felt on Usurpation Day, January 20, 2009 when the Constitution was flushed.

[Enchante]

We elected a brute, a harasser, assaulter, and rapist against women..... BILL CLINTON.

[A_perfect_lady]

I’m beginning to think some of these liberals are actually masochists who are absolutely wallowing in painful pleasure over all this. The 8 years of Obama, when there was nothing to be angst-ridden over, nothing to cry over with their fellow minions, must have been dull. They are throwing themselves into this with all the abandon of a submissive drug addict who’s finally found the right Daddy.

[Cowboy Bob]

Novelist Cheryl Strayed

She lives life in the past...simple.

[JudgemAll]

How many of those Weinstein whore/victims/whatever speaking up now were bashing Trump then while they were getting shafted inHilywood?

Hypocrites

[bluejean]

Democrats are a club of flaming idiots where the most popular member at any given moment is the one who can spew the most verbal vomit.

[T-Bird45]

I don’t understand how anyone holding these positions as deep core beliefs can even stir themselves from bed everyday. There must be some strong medication involved.

[AnotherUnixGeek]

I also knew something else: For all our flaws, we were not a people who’d choose a man to be our president who was so plainly, so essentially, so completely, a disrespectful brute,” Strayed said over the phone from her home in Portland, Oregon. “I was wrong.”

Oh, dear - we let her down.

[P-Marlowe]

“I knew the American electorate was divided politically, but I also knew something else: For all our flaws, we were not a people who’d choose a man to be our president who was so plainly, so essentially, so completely, a disrespectful brute,”

November 3, 1992

[4Liberty]

[jmacusa]

Democrats are too stupid to be idiots.

[jmacusa]

Heyro Boo Gurl! Me love you long time!

[neverevergiveup]

These same women who want us to believe that they are motivated by wanting an end to sexism and finally having a woman President would likely never vote for a woman running on the Republican ticket. And, they were likely very anti-Palin and joined the chorus of the left ridiculing her (or trying to).

This isn't about gender equality etc. for them. This is about shoving their anti-male hatred down the throats of the rest of us. Shame on them.

[metmom]

“I knew the American electorate was divided politically, but I also knew something else: For all our flaws, we were not a people who’d choose a man to be our president who was so plainly, so essentially, so completely, a disrespectful brute,” Strayed said over the phone from her home in Portland, Oregon. “I was wrong.”

Why is she surprised?

They elected Clinton and obama.

[Buckeye Battle Cry]

Portland Oregon - `nuf said.

[jmaroneps37]

Now can we ever get tired of listening to them cry? Each liberal thinks she/sHE has THE take on Election Night pain that will make us “see the mistake” we made. Ha ha ha ha go away dope.