I can’t claim to be a huge Melania Trump fan. I find the way that she has defended Donald Trump’s sexism as ‘boy talk’uncomfortable to say the least. I find the fact that she is married to a man who wants to roll back abortion rights unnerving to put it lightly and I found it more than awkward when one of her speeches obviously ripped off Michelle Obama.
That said, nor would I describe myself as a Melania Trump hater. Frankly, what I feel more uneasy about than all of the above is the treatment that she receives.
Yesterday, Gigi Hadid joined the growing line of people to laugh at/attack Donald Trump at Melania’s expense. At the American Music Awards Gigi did an impression of the new First Lady and poked fun at the allegations that she plagiarised Michelle Obama.
Putting on an Eastern European accent and pouting exaggeratedly Hadid said:
‘I’ve been working on this all week…This is my Melania Trump impression…I gotta get the face right…’
‘I love my husband, President Barack Obama. And our children Sasha and Malia.’
There was laughter in the audience but Twitter responded with shock at Gigi’s mocking of Melania:
Whatever you think of Gigi Hadid this was pretty embarrassing, wasn’t it? People are trying to hold Donald Trump to account for his sexism, racism and contradictory statements, so when his wife is being targeted with the same sort of abuse it creates a rather large glasshouse in which even those who once had the moral high ground can’t throw stones.
Melania was hardly front and centre of Donald Trump’s bid to become President, in fact you might argue that he put his daughter, Ivanka, in the position traditionally occupied by the First Lady in waiting and kept Melania in the wings of his campaign.
When Melania was brought out and placed centre stage for all the world to scrutinise she was compared to Michelle, criticised for not being Michelle (obviously not helped by the time she directly ripped her off), slut shamed for having posed nude in the past and mocked for simply being Melania. Her speeches are, without doubt, distinctly average but let’s be clear Melania’s bad speeches and a highly questionable taste in life partner do not give the rest of the world free reign to attack her, particularly on sexist and racist grounds.
Melania Trump has an impossible role, hers in an unenviable situation. An accessory (in more ways than one) to Donald Trump’s campaign she has been almost entirely defined by her husband. More than this, she is judged by his attitudes and credentials (or rather lack thereof). What’s worse is that nobody really cares about what she actually thinks, or how little we really know of her, because of her husband.
You might argue that Melania has invited criticism as a result of the company she keeps? After all, who we choose to associate with says a lot about who we are right? To a certain extent, yes, but, equally, Melania Trump should not be judged for her accent, her appearance or her choice in husband. From here on in she deserves to be judged for what she says and does, just as Donald Trump deserves to be criticised for all that he says and does.
Melania has said that she wants to tackle bullying online, let’s talk about that. Let’s talk about how ironic this is given that Donald Trump is one of the biggest Internet bullies going. She was raised in a tower block in communist Yugoslavia, she made her way in the world in spite of that. Of what significance is it if she did this by posing for photographers with or without clothes to do so? She also speaks six languages, so she is more likely to be found trying to talk to you in your native tongue than mocking your accent.
We care when people are sexist to Hillary. We are when people are racist about Michelle Obama. We really ought to care when the same happens to Melania, if we don’t that says more about us than it does about Donald Trump.
You can be anti-Donald Trump without slut shaming or mocking the First Lady. Misogyny is misogyny. Racism is racism. Sexism is sexism.
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Did Melania Trump Directly Copy Her Speech From Michelle Obama?
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.