Absolute pet peeve: When someone doesn’t properly name a woman, especially when they’re being identified based on the accomplishments of their partners.
You know what’s worse than that? Referring to anyone as an “it.”
We’re looking at you, Pres. Trump. During a live phone interview on Fox & Friends over the weekend, he talked about his plans to repaint Air Force One. He noted that the current design came from former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, and that this administration now has its own Jackie O. “There was Jackie O, and that’s good. But we have our own Jackie O today. It’s called Melania. Melania. We’ll call it Melania T. Okay?”
Trump: "We have our own Jackie O, it's called Melania…Melania T" pic.twitter.com/FNfbQd5fzb
— TPM Livewire (@TPMLiveWire) June 14, 2019
Now, the Trumps’ relationship has been the subject of both ridicule and concern because of how unhappy they look together.Some body language experts would examine their photos and see some apprehension, mostly with Melania. In another instance, Melania slapped her husband’s hand away. The reasons are unknown, but we’re willing to guess that it involves having an affair with Stormy Daniels.
The jokes got more intense when Pres. Trump misspelled “Melania” as “Melanie” in a tweet. To be fair, it’s an honest mistake to make on social media—though he is known for his spelling errors at this point. And no, “covfefe” doesn’t count because WTF is that?
Likewise, Trump is also not the most, er, eloquent speaker in person as well. He has said words wrong during speeches, prompting the theory that he can’t read from a teleprompter. He also used the adjective “tremendous” to describe floods and relief efforts being done at Puerto Rico last year. Not a word you wanna hear after a hurricane devastation.
But calling his wife of 14 years “it”? It’s both confusing and infuriating. Even their alleged dysfunctional relationship doesn’t justify this because Trump—intentionally or not—dehumanized Melania.
As you know in basic English, “it” refers to inanimate objects that don’t have specific genders. “It” can also refer to animals when we don’t know their genders. The term can be used derogatively toward a member of the LGBTQ+ community. As Dictionary.com would note, “People, on the other hand, have genders. They might be cisgender. They might be transgender. They might be non-binary. But, they do have genders and pronouns to match… So, when you’re using it to describe someone, you’re actually ignoring their preferred pronouns, as well as their identities.”
Meanwhile, Twitter seems to be more engrossed at the Melania-Jackie O comparison. Is this really the time to compare two women who have different personalities and accomplishments? Criticize Melania for her problematic behavior (i.e. that jacket) all you want, but we don’t think she deserves to be called “it” as much as she doesn’t deserve to be slut-shamed for her nearly-naked photos.
Let’s just hope this is one of Trump’s word vomits and not make a poor excuse for his actions. But knowing him, he’s probably going to tweet and deny it while calling out the “fake news media” like he always does—the most recent was denying he called Meghan Markle “nasty” despite clear evidence. Ugh, why is he even US president?
Photo courtesy of The White House’s Instagram account
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