Men, Women and "Weird"

Sex-based political polarisation will not benefit everyone equally

A composite image of attendees at the “White Women for Harris” Zoom call

A couple of days ago a popular account on Twitter called “Clown World” tweeted a panoramic video of an audience at a Democratic Presidential rally, with a note saying “most Kamala Harris supporters are middle-aged white women”. Harris has the most powerful voter group in America in a chokehold, and the implication of this popular tweet is that there is something obviously a bit funny, contemptible, and embarrassing about that. The tweet - and subsequent responses, full of tired gags about cat ladies - emphasises a key difficulty right-wing activists have with accounting for the white female vote, and women generally.

An even better example of this is how over the past month the Harris presidential campaign stumbled onto the slogan of calling their opponents “Weird”. As the phrase gained popularity, video compilations began to circulate of newscasters and talking- heads repeating the phrase in unison; many claimed this showed it’s use had been astroturfed. Of course, in a sense it was - that’s how political slogans are spread in 2024, purposely and insistently, from the committed to the barely aware.

But that doesn’t mean it isn’t organic in origin, or powerful. Like all good political slogans, “weird” summarises not just how a candidate sees their opponents but how they see themselves. The phrase tells us a lot about the changes in culture over the last 25 years, changes that are ominous for any political group - like Republicans - dominated by, or mostly appealing to, men.