When Trump and the Clintons fade into obscurity or prison, so will the fight against sex crimes for many people. It won't be over for sexual assault survivors or the hundreds of Americans that deal with sexual violence each day.
I want to preface this by saying it isn't just about stereotyping Republicans, wealthy and/or white men, etc. There is a certain irony that sexual assault is what caused so many establishment Republicans to backpedal, considering months ago when women being assaulted by the LGBT community was a top priority. The ignorance in recent years out of the Right from Ann Coulter all the way to Todd Akin is astounding. The media and many #neverTrump people tried months to throw Trump's words back at him and finally something stuck. There's a market for his comments about Muslims. There is a market for his comments about Latinos.There is apparently not a market for sexual assault, which is probably the only comforting aspect of this fiasco.
Had the media actually considered sexual assault a problem, though, the Clintons would barely have made it to the stage. The first thing I usually hear in rebuttal is that "Bill isn't running for president, Hillary is!" Great! Let's talk about how she was an accessory. Let's talk about how, according to longtime friends, pollsters, and former Clinton aides, she gave the green light on private investigators digging up dirt on Gennifer Flowers and other accusers. Clinton said in an Esquire magazine interview, "I would crucify [Flowers]," if given the chance to cross-examine. She's been quoted as needing to "savage her enemies" regarding accusers during her husband's career and once called Monica Lewinsky a "narcissistic loony toon."
Hillary Clinton is more than a woman who just stood by her man. This is an enabler and a silencer; this is a celebrity as well as a longstanding politician.
This was just from last November. As you can see, Wall Street isn't the only subject Hillary takes a public and private position on. She was even forced to backpedal on her campaign website this past February after Arkansas resident and Clinton rape accuser Juanita Broaddrick sent out a viral tweet.
The trickiness that comes with a visibility like this is that it puts sexual assault front-and-center while at the same time distancing it from the average person. In 2012 the flavor of the month was coupling sexual assault with identity politics. While the us vs. them was abrasive, there was some semblance of attacking and defending party platforms. What both of these candidates have done over the past few decades is viewed this election cycle in terms of character assassination rather than what it should be, a political issue. "Your fave is problematic," but the bigger issue is that they have a party standing behind them. We're also opting to be fed information by the media rather than holding them complicit in pitching these celebrities to us. Sports taught us that taking a knee during the national anthem means you can be criticized by peers twice who don't see issues with rape and assault, Hollywood taught us that you can be arrested for domestic violence and later be part of a scene about women's bodily agency in beating someone up. It's sobering to know that perpetrators can keep their careers while possible legislation becomes a hashtag at best.
If we let this issue become any less than a platform discussion, it will die like a trend. If we let the candidates and other celebrities pretend their personal lives don't affect policy, however, I think it will die as well.
