The Throughline Between Authoritarian Leaders the World Over? Patriarchy.
I talk with the legendary Jessica Yellen about how, from Iran to Hungary to Washington, tyrants always target women.
I assume you are all already reading, watching, and listening to Jessica Yellin, because she is amazing, but if for some reason you’re behind the curve, you can subscribe to her substack News Not Noise here. I joined Jessica in conversation about the relationship between authoritarianism and anti-feminism, why ICE officers and US conservatives seemed so particularly enraged at the women protesting mass deportations, and how misogyny has animated regimes from Budapest to Tehran to today’s GOP.
We recorded this before the Iran war, but I think it’s more relevant than ever. I hope you’ll give it a watch:
(You can also find it on YouTube here).
I cannot overstate how important it is to understand that what’s happening in the US right now under Trump is awful but not unique. The glorification of male violence, the overt hostility toward women, the ongoing efforts to strip us of our most fundamental rights — these are features of authoritarian governments the world over. They are the promises that help tyrants rise and the ideologies that keep them in power.
They also do not have to be permanent. Feminists may be on our collective back foot at the moment, but this pattern of progress and backlash is also a feature of movements that existed long before any of us were born and will persevere long after we’re gone.
Also, please excuse my bad camera angle, for reasons of noise and WiFi I relocated to a place that was not my office and clearly I needed to stack up some books or something…
xx Jill