Men Turn Out To Women’s March On Washington In Force

Bobby Williams, a digital forensics consultant, showed up to the Women's March on Washington, January 21, 2017 with his wife and 16-year-old daughter, Donnae West.
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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.”

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