There are so many reasons to hate Newt Gingrich. Here’s another. In an interview with Ali G, he was asked if he thought a woman could be president. While he said yes, he did with a caveat. He noted that women who “get pushed around easily don’t get to be president.” Now, Newt doesn’t have the best record when it comes to women – in more ways than one. But this statement shows a fundamental disregard and lack of understanding about women who “get pushed around.”
In making his judgement, Newt’s assumption was that if you get pushed around, you are weak. What he doesn’t realize is that women don’t choose to get pushed around. And those of us who do, find ourselves trapped in a situation that, more than anything, we don’t want to be in – yet we’re stuck, by circumstance and by fear. Statistics show that abusers are at their most violent once their abused tries to get out. This was true in my situation. The one time that Jason could have killed me, his hands were wrapped around my neck as he held me against the wall, happened after I left. Does it make me weak that I stayed with him as long as I did? Is any woman weak because she stays in an abusive situation because of money, kids, or merely because she doesn’t believe she deserves better? No. I’d argue that we are stronger than any man, especially Newt Gingrich. What we have endured certainly makes us strong enough to be president. Or anything else we want to be.