Duh. Of course I get how he can be the president: Deep, deep inside our hind brains we, including women, are ultimately not that bothered by how women are viewed. We are used to that. We drink it in from the culture from almost our first breath.
But Rodrigo doesn't have to dig in his hind brain for nasty slurs about women. They are right on the tip of that silver tongue:
Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte addressed female police officers and military staff at an event intended to celebrate them earlier this week as “puta,” which translates to “bitch” in English.
While delivering remarks at an event that was meant to honor the Southeast Asian country’s Outstanding Women in Law Enforcement and National Security on Monday, Duterte addressed the overwhelmingly female audience using the profane remark, The Guardian reports.
He also addressed them as “you crazy women” and lamented women who he said deprive him “of my freedom of expression,” according to the international news agency.
Duterte also reportedly told the crowd at one point, “I love women.”
“That’s why you see I have two wives. That means I like women,” he continued.*
Does any of that sound familiar to you? A little Trumpish? Or like some of the comments of Brazil's right-wing president, Jair Bolsanaro?
Hungary's president Victor Orban, Russia's president Vladimir Putin and Turkey's president Recep Tayyip Erdogan tend not to use such vulgar language when speaking about women, but they, too, are very much invested in getting women back into the kitchen and into their main business of breeding more citizens. And so are the leaders of ISIS and right-wing white terrorist movements.
The Boyz of Patriarchy.
If you are interested in learning more on this topic, consult my earlier post and the references in it.
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* That last paragraph is a really common trick among misogynists. They tell us that they love women roughly the same way I love spaghetti with pesto.
The message is intended to confuse us and it also gives them a little giggle at managing yet another little slur against women while pretending to give a compliment.
The real point, of course, is to remind women of their proper role in life. Rush Limbaugh did that when he said that he loves the Women's Movement, especially from behind.