Misogyny at the Capitol
Zip ties. Missing panic buttons. Destroyed offices. Leaked locations.
The insurrectionist attacks on the US Capitol have highlighted a staggering viciousness in a Trump-loyalist cohort. Fueled by false beliefs of election fraud and the conviction that they were robbed of something thought to be theirs, the rioters obliterated any potential perceptions of innocuousness. And while the FBI continues to gather evidence on those involved and on their motives, we can already see and understand a fundamental component to the attacker’s actions: misogyny.
Zip Ties
The indication that much of the insurrection was fueled by misogyny is not just apparent in the fact that rioters largely targeted women, but it is also visible in the tools they used and attempted to use. Attackers carried zip ties with explicit motives to hogtie the legislators.
The attackers’ goal of stripping, binding and humiliating legislators is grotesquely in keeping with the ways in which misogyny often manifests — to punish and humiliate its recipients.
Missing Panic Buttons
During the attacks, Representative Ayanna Pressley’s Chief of Staff, Sarah Groh, discovered the Congressperson’s office panic buttons were missing, having been ripped out and taken. The intentional removal of a safety system in the office of a high profile legislator is profoundly disturbing; it signals not only an intention to cause harm but to ensure that such harm would be thorough and uninterrupted by any outside help. The fact that this vandalism seems targeted toward women and legislators of color is additionally disturbing.
Destroyed Offices
Photos taken both during the attacks and after showcase insurrectionists vandalizing offices, the rotunda, and the Capitol building itself. Perhaps most concerning is how aggressively the rioters targeted Representative Nancy Pelosi. Pictures of insurrectionists entering her office, stealing her belongings, breaking her signage, and posing in her chair have since circulated social media. These photos depict a visible intention to desecrate Representative Pelosi’s space and intimidate her return.
Leaked Locations
Much like the stolen panic buttons, there was an additional action taken to deliberately inhibit safety measures. Colorado Representative Laura Boebert’s live tweeted the location and location changes of Representative Nancy Pelosi. Boebert knew that armed insurrectionists forcibly tore through the Capitol building and then she additionally armed them with the location of the person by whom they appeared most enraged, demonstrating a dangerous intention to help hurt Representative Pelosi.
The Aftermath
The violence did not end on January 6th, nor did the vitriol and undermining of many women legislators. Representative Ocasio-Cortez described the trauma from the event, trauma that will live long after January 6th. Across social media platforms, vocal and online representatives of the same insurrectionist cohort took to laughing emojis and incendiary comments to continue their degradation and mockery of those hurting from the attacks, helping silence and intimidate those who wish to speak against them. This violence and its punitive ambition are terrifying but unsurprising. Because misogyny is not just the hatred of women, it is the punishment of those who fail to give men (and their sympathizers) what they want; in this case, the re-election of Donald Trump. Until we see the peaceful transfer of power to Joe Biden, I think we have reason to see repeated misogynistic efforts.
