There's so much to discuss from Trump's State of the Union address and so little of it is about actual Donald Trump. At the annual speech, where the President declares what work is on the cards, Nancy Pelosi summed up our thoughts exactly, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez inspired us to wear white caped trouser suits until 2027 and there's a whole thing going on about Ivanka Trump and hoovering we'll get back to later. Essentially, Trump's State of Union address was such an important one for women this year, and here's why.
First of all, during Donald Trump's address last night, a lot of women showed up wearing white, a colour long-associated with the Suffragettes. This was to symbolise their commitment to supporting women’s rights, as democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi put it, 'In spite of a president who doesn’t'.
The movement, which Pelosi encouraged under the hashtag #womenwearwhite saw women who are changing the face of American politics this year, like Brenda Lawrence, leader of the Democratic Women’s Working Group and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the youngest congresswoman ever at just 29 years old, show up wearing head to toe white in support of the movement. (Ocasio-Cortez also chose to wear Suffragette white to her swearing-in stating 'I wore all-white today to honour the women who paved the path before me…from suffragettes to [the first black woman elected to Congress] Shirley Chisholm').
It couldn’t have come at a more relevant time - from recently calling to prohibit late-term abortions to slashing funds for Planned Parenthood, the attack on women’s rights in America has been amped up during President Trump's presidency. And that's before we even take into to account the fact that this is the man who famously encouraged the grabbing of women 'by the pussy'. During his 82-minute speech – the longest State of Union address on record - Trump called for unity, declaring 'we must reject the politics of revenge, resistance and retribution'. But his rhetoric in his address has been heavily criticised for totally jarring with his actions. Despite calling for conciliation, Trump's presidency has so far been defined by his divisive politics.
Enter Nancy Pelosi, who clearly wasn't having any of it. If you need a quick refresher on who Pelosi is - she's the new House Speaker, a Democrat and vocal critic of President Trump's politics. During his speech, in which many of the white-clad women didn't clap, she stood up and started a sarcastic clap in what has now been brilliantly dubbed as the #Pelosiclap on social media.
The chatter around Trump's State of Union address coincides with news that Ivanka Trump (who wore black to the State of the Union address, clearly not getting the memo) has been immortalised in a live-art performance called Ivanka Vaccuming.
Created by Jennifer Rubell and currently on show at the Flashpoint gallery in Washington D.C the performance depicts Ivanka Trump dressed in a pink dress and stilettos with curled hair, vaccuming a carpet which the audience are invited to throw breadcrumbs onto. The actress then hoovers the crumbs up with a vacant subservience. Jennifer Rubell toldCulturalDC the performance is supposed to question our 'complicity in [Ivanka's] role-playing.' In a rare Twitter reaction to criticism, Ivanka responded to the performance on Twitter, stating 'Women can choose to knock each other down or build each other up. I choose the latter'
In an interview with Refinery 29, Rubell responded, clarifying: 'She's vacuuming [the crumbs] up from the carpet. You're participating in this act of subjugation, that's true, but the piece is not 'Ivanka vacuuming,' it's a combination of that and the participating viewer. ... It puts the viewer in a very complicated position. And I'm most interested in the complications of the viewer; how they decide to engage with this feminine figure. What does it mean to either throw crumbs, or stand there watching other people throwing crumbs?'
One thing's for certain: Congresswomen and the American women that they stand in support of aren't backing down when it comes to the discussion of Trump's politics and their relationship to women's rights. They certainly weren't alone, and in support of the #womenwearwhite movement, several congressmen also wore a white pin to the State of the Union Address.