Welcome to 2016, where presidential candidates are caught on film bragging about sexually assaulting women and when his victims come forward their stories are debunked. A perfect example of how rape culture runs our society. We live in a world where boys are always just being boys, locker room talk is meaningless, and when girls speak out they are just seeking attention.
We live in a world where #NextFakeVictim is trending on twitter and Donald Trump, the republican presidential nominee, is fighting these allegations by calling his victims ugly. During his rally in Cinncinatti he stated “Yeah. I’m gonna go after – believe me -- she would not be my first choice,” Trump said. “That I can tell you. Man. We don’t know. That would not be my first choice. But you weren't her choice PERIOD, were you, Mr. Trump?
We live in a world where Trump supporters actually have the audacity to say "If you're sexually assaulted and don’t come forward you are part of the problem and you allow yourself to be a victim," and then wonder why women don't report their sexual assaults. Mr. Trump, you are every reason why. How can we move forward as a society if the man who could potentially run our country, publicly spoke out against his accusers saying they are simply seeking fame and to smear his campaign?
Donald Trump has a clear history of misogyny-- so would all of this really be out of character? Right before these women came forward he was caught on camera saying, "I just start kissing them. It's like a magnet. Just kiss. I don't even wait. And when you're a star they let you do it. You can do anything ... Grab them by the pussy. You can do anything." So why is it so unreasonable to think that a man who basically admitted to sexually assaulting women, actually did it?
The answer is simple-- we live in a rape culture propagated by people like Donald Trump and we simply accept it. We accept the violence, the cover-ups, the attacks on women who have reported. Just look at our justice system and the way rape cases are prosecuted. Instead of looking at DNA evidence and the facts of both sides of the account-- we turn to whether the victim was dressed "ready for sex," or if she had a past sexual history because somewhere in the mix all of that is somehow relevant. We let colleges sweep rape under the rug like a dust bunny-- unimportant. We let convicted rapists like Brock Turner out of prison after 3 months. We cause more of an uproar on facebook about a football player not standing for the national anthem than we do about the 1.3 American women raped every minute. And now we are letting a man like Donald Trump fight for the chance to run our country.
How can we make a change if the cause of so many of these problems is left in charge?
