The week in patriarchy: President Pence? That vision should terrify women

By Arwa Mahdawi

The news that Karen Pence is returning to work at an anti-gay Christian school should remind us of the vice-president’s dangerous bigotry

Sat 19 Jan 2019 09.00 EST

President Pence would turn America into The Handmaid’s Tale

Karen Pence is not just the wife of the US vice-president, she’s an empowered career woman in her own right. While her husband works tirelessly alongside Trump to make America white again, Karen Pence, it was announced this week, is returning to her old job teaching kids art. Or rather, she’s going to teach heterosexual kids art, and they shouldn’t expect to draw any rainbows.

The Christian school in northern Virginia where Pence will be working requires its teachers to agree that they won’t engage in or condone “homosexual or lesbian sexual activity” and “transgender identity”. The school also reserves the right to expel or refuse to admit students if they or their parents participate in, support, or condone, homosexual or bisexual activity. A policy that seems to chime perfectly with the vice president’s own bigoted worldview – Pence has a long history of homophobia and transphobia.

News that the second lady of the United States is cheerfully teaching at an anti-LGBT school has sparked an unfair amount of criticism, according to Pence. On Friday the vice-president told a Catholic TV network that “see[ing] major news organizations attacking Christian education is deeply offensive to us”. I had no idea that Christian education meant teaching kids to hate thy neighbor, but what do I know! I’m just an ignorant heathen. Also, I thought it was the liberal snowflakes who were supposed to take offense at everything, not thick-skinned conservatives.

Because we’re all so obsessed with Trump I don’t think we take enough time to reflect on how deeply terrifying Pence is. Trump may be a bigot, but Pence is a zealot – he believes his discriminatory views are justified by a higher power. Trump may not care about morals but Pence has a dangerous view of what morality entails. He refuses to eat alone with any woman isn’t his wife, for example, because he apparently views women as nothing more than dangerous sexual temptations. And despite his beliefs about moral purity, he has no problem associating himself with Trump, a man who pays off porn stars. Also, he reportedly calls his wife “Mother” – which is just really creepy.

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https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jan/19/president-pence-women-week-in-patriarchy