Misogyny Just Had A Makeover, And It’s Concerning

Is America great when women stay at home?

BY  Ava Ascenzo★ July 27th, 2025

Photo Credit: Zoe Xixis

Spin back to May of last year: a small, Catholic liberal arts college is holding its graduation ceremony. The Kansas City Chiefs’ star kicker, Harrison Butker, steps up to deliver the commencement address. We all remember what happened next — the viral backlash Butker faced for his remarks about women. 

Imagine being one of Benedictine College’s female graduates, hearing that you should be more excited about marriage and motherhood than the career you just spent four years studying for. To make matters worse, imagine hearing Butker talk about his own wife, saying she “would be the first to say her life truly started when she began living her vocation as a wife and as a mother.” Wrong place, wrong time. 

The Internet was outraged. According to Butker, a woman’s “life” starts when she gets married and has children? Bad news for his supporters: life doesn’t begin at conception, it begins at the altar. 

This is an everlasting battle that women face. People still think women need to choose between pursuing a career or becoming a mother — that you can’t be both. But that’s just not true. 

Fast forward to this summer: the Young Women’s Leadership Summit brought together conservative women to talk about the most prevalent issues surrounding womanhood. Who hosted it? Charlie Kirk. 

Kirk is a conservative influencer and the face behind Turning Point USA, an organization that played a huge role in Gen Z’s turnout for President Donald Trump. Also in attendance: Alex Clark, a conservative wellness podcaster who is big on the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement — and is tying it to the rising “tradwife” trend. 

Over 3,000 women showed up to this conference, inspired to “improve” their lives. Republican influencers and the MAGA movement told attendees that protecting their peace means ditching birth control for supplements, swapping vaccines for essential oils and perhaps, most jarringly, trading in their careers for more babies. Self-care, but 1950s style. 

At one point during the summit, a woman in the crowd asked Kirk about what success would look like for the MAGA movement. His response was this: “Success for MAGA would be if moms stayed at home.” 

So let’s be real: Turning Point USA really wants a political revolution that leaves women behind.

The most ironic part about this comment was the applause. The women at this conference wanted to be told it was justifiable to stay at home. They didn’t just accept the message, they cheered for it. 

Kirk followed up by saying, “We should bring back the celebration of the Mrs. degree,” as in, women shouldn’t go to college to pursue a career — but to find a husband. 

The problem with this? There are many. Why should women waste their college years, racking up tuition and spending hours in the library on simply finding a husband? Who says a ring is better than a resume? And more importantly: why are we still telling women what to do?

There is absolutely nothing wrong with being a stay-at-home mom. If that's what makes you happy, go for it! But if you’re empowered when you spend time in the office, in the courtroom, in the hospital or behind the camera, then go there instead. 

The point is, there’s nothing wrong with women who would rather spend time focusing on their career than children. Women should choose what they want, not what Kirk and the rest of Turning Point USA does. 

Some women worry about going to college just to abandon their career once they start having children, which is extremely valid. Some women find joy in being a mom, which is so admirable. Mothers do a lot, and they deserve so much respect. 

But some women are happier going after their career. As a society, we need to accept that we can't degrade hardworking women, whether they're working in the kitchen or in a cubicle. 

There are stigmas from both sides of the aisle, judging mothers who stay at home and judging mothers who have a career. It is entirely possible and more than okay to do both, or to focus on one life goal at a time!

A message to Charlie Kirk and the rest of Turning Point USA: not telling women what to do is what makes them the happiest.

Edited by: Kacie Moschella and Madison Sherman