First, let's just get one thing straight: we live in a highly misogynistic society. Rape trials often end in a sentence that was meant to protect the rapist or their future, instead of serving justice that the victim deserves. Case and point: Brock Turner. It is a game of "what was she wearing" or "what did she have to drink" instead of a lesson to teach men not to rape women. Justice hardly ever prevails in rape cases; at least not like it should.

The idea of explicit consent is not one that is ingrained in our society like it should be. It doesn't seem to be something everyone can wrap his or her minds around. The idea of 'yes' meaning yes and 'no, stop' meaning she doesn't want this is apparently too complicated. Some people don't understand that if someone is too drunk to walk or is passed out behind a garbage can, you shouldn't have sex with them. But I digress— the point is that we as a society often accept the mistreatment of women. Women are constantly told by men that we are less than, that we must prepare ourselves not to be raped or assaulted instead of teaching men not to do the raping. Women are objects that are used for pleasure and when they try to be anything more than that, they are looked down upon. At least that's how Donald Trump views women.

Donald Trump has a terrible track record with women. He's had multiple wives for a reason (one even publicly said he assaulted her). He's either calling them pigs, insinuating that if they have opinions they must be on their periods, or assaulting them. Not only has Donald Trump been accused of assault and rape multiple times, he has an upcoming trial for allegations that he raped a 13-year old model. A man who has been accused of rape multiple times is in the running to be our next president. Even if all of these things weren't true (there is evidence and video that proves otherwise), the fact that multiple women have felt violated by this man should be enough to prove that he should not be running this country. It’s not one woman— it’s multiple women. If we learned anything from Bill Cosby it's that men are capable of using their power to silence women and their abuse. Young women should not be looking up to a man like him. He also should not have control over anything pertaining to women's health laws or anything that controls women.

If we can just ignore for a second all of the other reasons why Donald Trump is a catastrophic candidate to run this country like: his blatant racism, his lack of experience, his list of bankruptcies, his temperament, or the fact that he refuses to release his taxes; the fact that he is on video encouraging sexual assault should be reason enough to disqualify him from this election. A video surfaced on Friday, October 7th, that shows Donald Trump making lewd and vulgar comments about women. In this video, Trump is heard saying that he, "doesn't even wait" before kissing women. Doesn't wait for what exactly? Consent? Her to give him the go-ahead? Either way, this is a mirror of assault. The things said in this video are disgusting, especially coming from a man who wants to run this country. Another horrendous aspect of this video is after you can hear them hoot and holler about how hot the woman they're about to meet is, Bill Bush thought it was a good idea to tell said woman, give Donald a hug! You don't wanna hug the Donald? Trump reciprocates by telling her Bill wants a hug too! Hugs all around! You can tell that the woman wasn't planning on hugging them and was uncomfortable that she was being forced to do so. When will men learn that if a woman wants to hug/kiss/touch/talk to you, she will on her own accord. We don't have to be told what to do. We especially don't want to be forced to do it either. Trump is also married when this interview happened so not only was he degrading towards women, but he was disrespecting his wife. His supporters will bring up the fact that Bill Clinton cheated while he was in office and the only thing I'm going to say about that is that Bill Clinton isn't running for President, and if you have a problem with him cheating, why are you going to elect a man who has done that and worse?

In the video, he can be heard saying, "And when you're a star they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab them by the pussy. You can do anything." Let's try to wrap our heads around this for a second. The man who is currently running as the Republican candidate for President said that he can grab women by their pussies just because he's famous. With that logic, imagine the things he'll think he can get away with as the most powerful man in the country. Trump supporters are trying to turn his lewd behavior into a reason to call democrats or anyone against Trump 'too sensitive'. The thing is I, and many others, don't find a huge problem with him using the word 'pussy' as many have tried to argue. The problem is with the word grab. He could have used many other words; touch, caress, or even enter when describing what he does to a pussy, but instead he chose grab. Grab. Grab alludes to an act of violence or of force. Kidnappers grab children. Rapists grab their unsuspecting victims. Donald Trump grabs women.

Many of Trump's supporters are trying to write this off as 'locker talk'. I mean, boys will be boys, right? Wrong. It's time for us as a society to call bullshit on this idea that men are men and we can expect no less of them than the crude behavior that some exemplify, Donald Trump for instance. For one, it's giving men an extremely low expectation of their morals and never allowing them to be better than before. Second, it's telling women that we should expect men to treat us terribly because that's what they do. It's also telling men that this behavior is acceptable when it's not. This 'locker talk' is not what happens in locker rooms, according to men all over social media. The things that Donald Trump is saying on this audio are that reflecting assault and a lack of respect for all women. Not to mention, locker talk is done in private, Trump said these things on national television knowing he was being recorded. If he feels that comfortable saying these things to someone he isn't close with while being recorded, imagine what he could be saying to friends while in private.

Trump released an "I'm sorry if this offended you" apology directly after word of the audio leak starting getting around. He later tweeted a video apology. It is clear to anyone who watched that this video was incredibly scripted. Donald has a way of showing his passion through pursed lips and flopping toupeebut in this video, he shows no emotions and clearly doesn't believe in what he's saying. He also takes the time after saying how he's going to be a better man to bring up Bill Clinton's past discretions. Classic Donald. We're assuming he doesn’t understand 'change for the better' very well. Maybe his speechwriter can explain the meaning of that next time.

As for his supporters, they are what I'm really afraid of. The fact that anyone can justify this behavior is mind-boggling. How they can defend someone who promotes and jokes about sexual assault is not a decent man and is definitely not presidential material. Some supporters I've talked to have even said that they don't respect him. Shouldn't you respect someone you're voting for? Their defense of this man's views on women goes hand in hand with their views on people of color. Trump supporters don't want Mexicans in America because 'they're all rapists' but we're okay this behavior? So really what they're saying is they only like it when rich white men do the assaulting. While the fact that these women 'could be your mother, daughter, grandmother, sister or friend' is a valid argument, it is more than that. Women are people and we are more than just sisters and daughters. We are people that deserve to be treated with respect, especially from the President of the United States. Trump has made it clear that he is not capable of that.

It is important to realize how much influence the President can have over not only the laws, but also the minds of the American people. Trump's behavior when it comes to important subjects is deplorable; note his racism and greed. This video, just like all the evidence we've had before, shows that this man has no respect for women and that is not someone who should be running a country. Please take the time to do your research before you write off his behavior just because he 'apologized'. Note that this is how Donald Trump has always behaved and will continue to behave. He is not worthy of respect. He is not worthy of the Presidency.