It’s not just locker room banter — it’s rape culture.
Not long ago, when I thought of the name Donald Trump, I would think of certain words to describe such a man. Incompetent, corrupt, brazenly rude. Let’s not forget sexist and racist. But in recent weeks, after leaked tapes revealed some frightening and frankly disgusting conversations, new words come to mind.
Rapist. A menace to society.
Let’s be honest, we knew he was a womanizer from day one, but now Donald Trump admitted on tape, without shame, that he sexually assaults women. He said that he grabs them by their genitals, but he didn’t use such pleasantries in describing his actions.
In case you were wondering — this is rape culture. This is how a man who is running for President of the United States is perpetuating rape culture. By simply stating he grabs women by certain body parts, their ‘pussy’ in particular, simply because he can. He’s a “star”, he said. Who’s going to stop him?
Wake up everyone, because maybe if we try really hard, we can stop him.
During the recent debate Sunday evening, Anderson Cooper questioned Trump on the recordings from 2005 multiple times. Trump dodged the questions because, well, of course he did. He repeatedly referred to it as locker room banter, but it cuts so much deeper than that. By calling this ‘locker room banter’, he is letting it seem small and insignificant when it is no such thing. It is huge. It is a glaring issue that needs to be addressed.
It represents how women are treated every day by men, whether it be by a spouse or a stranger. It wasn’t just banter, it was a description of how an alpha male like Trump overpowers women physically — it was an explicit description of how he sexually assaults women.
I can’t help but wonder, who on earth is still planning on voting for this man?
We already had so many problems with Donald Trump, but this was perhaps one of the worst stories to be leaked on the Presidential candidate. We already knew he was racist, we already knew he wants to ban Muslims, and of course we already knew he is an outright sexist. But now he was caught red-handed bragging about his actions of sexual assault against women. He even made lewd remarks about his own daughter’s body on several occasions, including when she was just 16 years old. How can we possibly give him any more room on this world stage.
Somehow, other stories of Trump’s past were buried, including accusations of raping a 13 year old girl and his ex wife. He is also accused of attempting to rape a former business associate. He used his so-called star power to keep his victims quiet for the most part, threatening to ruin a 13 year old’s life if she ever told anyone.
Anyone in denial of rape culture’s existence can hop on social media to see the outpouring of tweets with the hashtag #NotOkay, which began flowing in after the remarks of Donald Trump were heard all over the world. There are thousands. And this is why we can’t ignore what was said. Women deal with sexual assault and harassment every day, it’s more common than most people think. This is because we so often don’t talk about it out of fear and shame.
Letting this slide would mean letting society normalize rape and sexual assault in our every day lives. Women shouldn’t have to fear walking alone at night. Women shouldn’t have to fear walking into a bar alone only to be grabbed by her breasts or genitals. If we let Trump get away with these comments, we’re allowing rape culture to exist. We’re letting men like Trump get away with despicable crimes. Women aren’t just mothers, sisters, daughters and wives. Women are people. Why do we seem to forget that this fact alone means we are deserving of respect and equality.
His apology was just an attempt at saving face, an excuse for poor behaviour. But realistically, he should have known better in 2005 to not say such things. He was a grown man with grown children. He certainly hasn’t changed his views on women, in fact he has a very clear lack of respect for women of all walks of life. We can see that in so many ways, but most certainly his sexism and misogyny rears it’s ugly head in how he treats Hillary Clinton during debates.
Leering behind her, making faces while she speaks, cutting her off and belittling her. He must be blind to the fact that he is shutting out women in his campaign, and his actions and words are going to greatly affect voter turnout when it comes to the female population. At least, I hope it does.
Even if Americans don’t necessarily like Hillary Clinton, she is still the lesser of two evils. At the very least she has the expertise and experience when it comes to running a country. She knows about foreign policy, she understands how government works, and she’s not new to the White House. She was Secretary of State after all.
Clinton is articulate and precise, she’s prepared and intelligent. Trump is none of these things, but he is a loud man, and somehow this has managed to overshadow Clinton in some voters’ minds.
It truly baffles me that anyone has given Trump credibility at all. At this point in time, I see U.S politics as some sort of circus show — how much further can Trump push the boundary? How far can he go before every last person realizes that he should absolutely not be the leader of the Free World. I’m at a loss as to how he even got this far to begin with.
His view on women should be the breaking point, when we take a step back and realize, it’s 2016, women’s bodies are not here for men to grope. Rape culture needs to be destroyed, and we’ve come way too far and struggled for far too long to be disempowered, silenced and degraded. We don’t need this. We don’t deserve this. We deserve more, a society where those running for President show respect and professionalism towards not only women, but everyone.
