WASHINGTON — Thousands of men wearing Planned Parenthood gear and carrying signs reading “the future is female” joined the sea of women in pink “pussyhats” assembled for Saturday’s Women’s March on Washington. There were fathers, boyfriends, sons, trans people and friends of the marchers.
Despite a flurry of stories predicting that men may not understand that they were welcome at the march, they turned out in droves.
John McDonald
John McDonald, a biology professor at the University of Delaware, volunteered to help direct the crowds. His stepdaughter was at the march playing in a band called the Rude Mechanical Orchestra.
“This is a march for women, not of women,” he told TPM. “I support women’s rights, equality, the rights of immigrant women. That’s why I’m here.”
McDonald said he knew the march organizers would need a hand, so he signed up soon after the election to volunteer. He said the cursory training, which involved watching a 12-minute video and doing some assigned reading, and standing out in the blustery weather were well worth the effort.
“It’s amazing to see so many people out here and for such a good cause. There are a whole lot more than came to see what’s his face yesterday,” he said.
Bobby Williams, a digital forensics consultant holding a sign reading “proud husband and father of two nasty women,” showed up to the March with his 16-year-old daughter Donnae West (pictured above). His wife stood in the branches of a tree nearby so she could get a better view of the crowd, where actress America Ferreira was speaking to marchers.
“How do I explain to my daughter that people are coming out across the country in support of women and I’m not a part of it?” he said.
A closeup of Bobby Williams’ march sign
For Williams, the march represented an opportunity to directly show the President Donald Trump and his supporters that tens of thousands of Americans disagree with his agenda and attitude towards women’s rights.
“You can’t ignore this,” Williams said. “One thing you can say about Donald Trump is he’s very active on social media, he understands the visibility of things like this. The march is going to be all over social media and the news. For normal people that would be sobering. For him, I don’t know, but he can’t just ignore it.”
My, my! Isn’t it funny how those throngs of BIG BOLD MANLY BIKERS who think Trump is a god didn’t show up yesterday and were too scared to show up today to stand up for their rights after being sooooooo oppressed for sooooo long just for being men and just for being white.
What a bunch of wusses! You rock, ladies! I wish this gay man could have been there with you, but my fist is raised in your honor! (I can’t find a pink glove, though. Oh, well.)
And just remember what Roseanne Barr once said (before she went crazy): “I thank God for creating gay men. Because if it wasn’t for them, us fat women would have no one to dance with.”
women like men who support women. equal is good.
Proud to say that my oldest son is there, with a homemade sign reading: “2.86 M Fewer Votes? Now Who’s Small!”
“Oh dear, oh dear, do you think the poor dumb things sufficiently communicated to real humans that they were welcome at their cute little march too? I mean, do they even know any men?”
The sheer level of pooh-poohing and tut-tutting, head-patting and eye-rolling, concerned expressions of concern, and dismissive smirks directed by the MSM toward this march before it even happened has been damn near as offensive, and confirmatory of the reality of structural misogyny in our society, as Trump’s boasting about sexual assault and objectifying verbal and emotional abuse of a woman over her weight.
Yeah, turned out that whole “Bikers for Trump” thing was Trumpian Minitrue fake news. Which, of course, our ever-vigilent and responsible mainstream media elevated to the level of an exciting and interesting story at the same time if was basically patting the organizers of the Women’s March on their cute little fannies and asking them to go make them a sandwich.