With the U.S. presidential election looming nearer and the Iowa caucuses only days away, I’ve been hearing the term “Bernie Bro” more and more. Generally, the term negatively refers to a specific type of Bernie Sanders supporter associated with aggressive, and often sexist and racist, behavior. As a Sanders supporter and as a woman, the phrase has brought up a lot of uncomfortable feelings in the past month. I feel it renders something real and hurtful into something that I am unable to talk about, at once trying to silence my experiences of misogyny and preventing me from engaging with political communities I align with. I’ve mostly encountered the term on Twitter, but for this blog post I tried to research a little more into its specific origins and usages.

Robinson Meyer, a staff writer at The Atlantic, first coined the term in “Here Comes the Berniebro” in October 2015. In the article, while Meyer acknowledges at the time Sanders’ supporters did not skew male, he describes the Berniebro as “Very male”:

“The Berniebro is someone you may only have encountered if you’re somewhat similar to him: white; well-educated; middle-class (or, delicately, “upper middle-class”); and aware of NPR podcasts and jangly bearded bands.

The Berniebro might get into big performative arguments about how feminism saved his life. Or, the Berniebro might always seem like he’s going to say that we need economic equality for all genders but doesn’t actually say it, because he knows that it wouldn’t go over well.”

The term as conceived here partly rests on the idea that a Bernie Bro is a white man; while a Bernie Bro supports feminism and the empowerment of women as part of his progressive stance, he isn’t really invested in these issues as exemplified by his behavior. The term became popular prior to the 2016 presidential election and is now returning. Most recently, the New York Times published an article called “Bernie Sanders and His Internet Army”, in which they focus on vitriolic backlash some face when they speak against Sanders and his policies. The article focuses mainly on the online “bullying” behavior, but related it back to the Bernie Bro trope from 2016, further citing that “female and nonwhite Sanders critics say they continue to face disproportionate harassment from ostensibly progressive forces.” In the article, these types of Sanders supporters and their ‘venom” should be “of serious concern to Democrats.” In this election cycle, the conversations around sexism amongst Sanders supporters exploded after Warren stated that Sanders had previously told her that he didn’t think a woman could win the election. 

I was surprised to find that there was somewhat of a precedent to Bernie Bros from the 2008 election cycle between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Writer Rebecca Traister wrote about “Obama Boys” in 2008, articulating a suspicion of sexism underlying many of the criticisms of Clinton by male Obama supporters:

“even while they voice dismay over the retro tone of the pro-Clinton feminist whine, a growing number of young women are struggling to describe a gut conviction that there is something dark and funky, and probably not so female-friendly, running below the frantic fanaticism of their Obama-loving compatriots.”

A lot of arguments I’ve seen tend to try to dispel the “Bernie Bro” myth as simply a political tactic used by Sanders’ competitors. They argue that the Bernie Bro stereotype takes advantage of feminist ideology to misconstrue Sanders’ base and reclaim support for female candidates like Warren. Even though Sanders is a straight white man, he actually has one of the most diverse bases of support compared to other democratic candidates. Furthermore, htey can cite that Sanders is endorsed by several incredible female representatives of color, including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib, and Ilhan Omar.  

 I do believe that the stereotype is being exaggerated for political purposes. But I think my feelings are best captured in a tweet I saw last week by Jaya Sundaresh, a writer for socialist publication Current Affairs: 

The sexism and misogyny I’ve experienced in different areas of my life like the political arena can be a delicate topic. Even in many progressive circles, I don’t think it is all that surprising that these dominant attitudes persist, although always disappointing. As an example, I’ve talked a little in our class how I’ve experienced sexism as a woman in leadership, but I’ve also experienced it at home. Not my home away from Rice, with my nuclear family, but the off campus house I live at here in Houston this year. I live with two cis, straight, white, rich, male roommates alongside my other roommate who is a woman of color. Both of my male roommates are very progressive politically, but I watched those politics break down as it became apparent last semester that household chores and management fell upon me and my female roommate. While of course our roommates never would say out loud they expected us to take care of the home, they also never recognized that we would always have to ask one of them to sweep the floors once in a while and do their part. This isn’t just within our home; it has been studied that women are often disappointed in finding out that their progressive male partners do not take egalitarian roles once they move in together. A woman’s role in taking care of the house is a standard. My male roommates are great people whom I love very much and I know they wouldn’t ever intentionally cause me and my female roommate harm, but it is difficult to break out of socialized practices. This is just one example; my point is that misogyny is present in a lot of interactions, regardless of professed political convictions.

What I find most difficult about the Bernie Bro conversation is the implication, both personally felt and seemingly publicly agreed upon, that women must choose between being a woman and a supporter of a political candidate. Truthfully, these gender dynamics are not only enacted within a specific kind of politics. Some of Sanders’ base do indeed espouse misogynistic rhetoric in criticisms against Warren and other candidates. Additionally, no one absolves themselves of misogyny or racism by supporting a female candidate or a candidate of color. I believe the “Bernie Bro” phenomenon is a stark example of how the conversation of gender dynamics can be woven in both nefarious and productive ways into spaces like the political arena. My wish would be that these conversations about masculinity could be had without becoming political bargaining chips.