It has been seven days since the "Trump Tapes" have been released to the public. Seven days of constant articles, videos, and posts of different opinions on the matter. So before you read on, I want to make it clear that this is not a just another opinion piece. This is a humanitarian piece.
Last night, my friends and I were walking through an apartment complex to a party. A number of boys were standing on a balcony nearby, drinking beers. They then began to scream at us, "Nice legs!", "Damn mama come over here!" and "Where you goin'?" Being a woman, I am used to this. "Cattle calling" is something us women learn to deal with from a young age. However, what followed was not something I expected. The boys turned to each other, high-fived, and said in reassurance, "It's just locker room banter! Haha!"
But, it is not just locker room banter. Actually, it's not even happening in the locker rooms. Portland Trailblazers guard CJ McCollum exclaimed, "I haven't heard that one in any locker rooms..." And he's not the only one. What occurred when Mr. Trump said those profanities was something that happens every day, and I'm not denying that Trump has anything to do with the culture that is already present. However, the justification of the matter is what scares me. "
"This was just locker room talk." - Donald Trump
"He's a reality star, not the Pope!" - Tomi Lahren
"I'm hoping that the news industry will actually become very mature and say look, we're just not going to deal with these peripheral issues." - Ben Carson
This is not only the degradation of women but the creation of rape culture. Do we want our daughters growing up in a world where acts of profanity and violation by men are justified? Where she is taught she is not only treated with less respect than a man but treated less respect than a basic human being?
We can see throughout history that women have consistently fought to be equal to men. Before 1920, women did not even have the right to vote because the public said they were "incapable". They said "women should not be concerned with politics" since their husbands could represent them instead. It was said, and it was justified.
"It is a woman's duty to be delightful, ornamental, and useful, and she could not be more so with the vote. If she had it she would not know what to do with it. Where the ballot is placed in the hands of those unfit to use it there follows ruin, rapine, and terror. Let us not repeat previous disasters. Woman is no more fit for the ballot than to be a trapeze performer or bareback rider." - Martha McCullouch Williams
However, in 1920, women gained the right to vote due to the Women's Suffrage movement. Yet today, headlines read "Trump Supporter Rally for Women to Lose the Right to Vote with #Repealthe19th". I kid you not.
It deeply saddens me to see these things come to light, but it saddens me more that I have begun to see the repercussions of these events in my daily life. I am a 20-year-old young woman, and I am being told I should not be able to vote in my first election. I am a 20-year-old young woman, and I am being yelled at from balconies about my appearance only to be justified as "locker room banter".
Only this not locker room banter. This is society. And I choose not to succumb to the hate and the disrespect. It is 2016, not the 19th century, and its about time we start acting like it.
