I met my husband in a sociology class, and one of the very first things I found out about him is that he is a true-blue raving liberal. I mean, he is actually the guy my conservative parents warned me about. Luckily I’m equally raving, and we quickly found ourselves wrapped up in many a late-night/early morning discussion in which we railed against inequality and sexism and oppression and so on. You get the idea. We kept The Communist Manifesto within reach at all times, guys. It was good.
I wasn’t seriously involved with many people before we met (at ages twenty and twenty-one), so I didn’t have another relationship to compare this experience to—but members of my immediate family are super conservative, and I’m well-versed in how sticky it can be when you’re trying to navigate, say, a Thanksgiving dinner without a mention of the Trump word. In fact, if you guys pray or send out good vibes, go ahead and send one up for me this year. No matter who wins in November, it’s going to be tense. I just can’t get behind the idea that we don’t challenge someone when they toss themselves into the deplorable basket, so to speak. So like I said, it gets… tense.
Every time I find myself at a crossroads with some members of my family (it happens… all the time), I always wonder: How do couples deal when they disagree politically? It can be draining enough when you’re trying to make your partner a little more woke, but what about couples who disagree in bigger ways? What happens if you disagree with your loved one during this explosive election season? I struggle to imagine a world in which I can’t come home and get mad about the latest sexist thing being tossed at Hillary, let alone come to a home where women’s reproductive rights aren’t fully supported—but I know it happens between loving partners, and people have to cope. Potentially better than I do with my family.
So, Dish: Do you and your partner disagree politically? How do you deal? Are you fighting it out with anyone in your family this year? How is it going down?
