Donald Trump shocked the political establishment, the pollsters, and the pundits when he defeated Hillary Clinton in the Electoral College in 2016. The loss would have been demoralizing in its own right for people excited by the possibility of breaking through that highest, hardest glass ceiling. But that the defeat came at the hands of the most explicitly sexist candidate in contemporary politics poured salt into the wound. Many wondered whether feminism was dead. That’s the question we will take up in this course. And by the end of the semester, it will be clear that the answer is complicated. We will rely on studies and readings from political science, sociology, anthropology, women’s studies, and the popular press to determine (1) what feminism is; (2) when and how it emerged; (3) the degree to which it is inclusive of all women; and (4) where it stands in the aftermath of the 2016 presidential election. Students will grapple with research and commentary that often conflicts. One camp looks to public opinion data, which we will study, and argues that attitudes toward feminism have always been only lukewarm. There’s no evidence of a marked decline since Donald Trump hit the political scene. Feminism has been on life support for decades. An alternative view is much more positive: A majority of citizens holds many views that are consistent with a feminist agenda, and that was no less true on the day Trump was elected than in the years preceding it. Public attitudes toward feminist public policies, in other words, provide little evidence of feminism’s demise. Finally, there are those who focus on the dynamics of the 2016 election and conclude that the death knell for feminism was heard loud and clear with Donald Trump’s win. Many voters simply didn’t think that Trump’s long history of sexist statements and behavior disqualified him from being president. And even many of those who were troubled by Trump’s remarks and actions turned a blind eye as they cast their ballots. We will consider all arguments, weigh the evidence from multiple disciplines, and assess the long-term implications of a Trump presidency and whether the future of feminism is on precarious footing. Further, we will assess other times throughout history that scholars have asked and answered this very question.