In between caring for a newborn child and traveling back and forth from the United States to Nigeria, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, the Beyoncé’-approved feminist author, has been watching this year’s presidential election. And she is not pleased with what she sees. In an interview with People, Adichie told the magazine how frustrated she is with the faux issues Trump has turned into a platform.
“It’s sad reputable media houses have to say things like, ‘We have to make sure that President Obama did not found ISIS,’” she said. “There’s a part of me that wishes that Hillary Clinton had a proper opponent that she could really debate. It’s a disservice to her intelligence.”
Not to mention, Trump is one of the few opponents who would attack Clinton in an overtly sexist way. “I think it’s perfectly fair to disagree with Clinton on her policies. But to call her a bitch? To talk about her being murdered? Even to talk about her personal life and her marriage, I just find it deeply misogynistic,” she said. “And it’s not just making others to be comfortable in their misogyny – what it does is that it gives them an opportunity to say, ‘It’s not because we’re misogynistic. It’s not because she’s a woman.’ And that’s even more troubling.”
But it’s not just Trump — the media in general is at fault for the way Clinton is treated, she said:
“People complain about Hillary not being charismatic, or say that she’s robotic – I think it’s her reaction to how she’s been treated, and a large portion of that treatment has been because she’s female,” Adichie said “There’s a lot of talk about, ‘Oh, Hillary Clinton is so disliked.’ And I just keep thinking, ‘Well, she’s won all of these elections. Why are we not asking the question of who likes her and why she’s liked?’ ”
She added, “I think the world in general, both men and women, has complicated feelings about women in authority and women in power. They say she doesn’t smile, they say she should laugh. There’s a lot that goes into the way that the public engages with her that would not happen if she weren’t a woman.”
