The second presidential debate was highly anticipated especially after the long week that Trump had regarding the recent release of audio tapes where he is heard making obscene comments about women. The world was waiting and watching to see if Trump would offer any sort of apology, but all we really got was more justifications why it should not be something considered a big deal. Trump's apology went like this:
"I don’t think you understood what was — this was locker room talk. I’m not proud of it. I apologize to my family. I apologize to the American people. Certainly I’m not proud of it. But this is locker room talk. You know, when we have a world where you have ISIS chopping off heads, where you have — and, frankly, drowning people in steel cages, where you have wars and horrible, horrible sights all over, where you have so many bad things happening, this is like medieval times. We haven’t seen anything like this, the carnage all over the world. And they look and they see. Can you imagine the people that are, frankly, doing so well against us with ISIS? And they look at our country and they see what’s going on. Yes, I’m very embarrassed by it. I hate it. But it’s locker room talk, and it’s one of those things. I will knock the hell out of ISIS. We’re going to defeat ISIS. ISIS happened a number of years ago in a vacuum that was left because of bad judgment. And I will tell you, I will take care of ISIS. And we should get on to much more important things and much bigger things. It's just words folks, it's just words."
Not only did Trump unapologetically argue that his words were just words, and should be written off as locker room talk, but he argued that there are much more worse things going on in the world and his actions should be forgotten and moved on from. Absolutely not.
Lets be clear here that Trump's words were not locker room talk. He made disgusting statements including "grab them by the pussy" and that he kissed women without their consent. He stated that since he is a star "they'll let you do it". Athletes all around the world are speaking out on the matter making it clear that they do not approve of this disgusting behavior.
This is not locker room talk. I repeat. This is not locker room talk.
It is sexual assault. Do not confuse the two.
There are countless memes floating around the internet stating that Trump was just 'being a man' or 'boys will be boys'. This is the kind of thinking that has continued to be used as justification for sexual assault and rape, similarly to comments made in other cases including judge Robert Camp who asked a rape victim why she couldn't keep her knees together. It continues to leave assaulters unaccountable for their actions, teaching women that this is acceptable behavior. Men are not naturally predisposed to be rapists and sexual assaulters. Language like this gives the impression that they are, and it needs to stop.
It is mind blowing to me that after making such lewd comments, including the racist and sexist ones he's made, that he continues to have the following that he does, including women. Regardless of the fact that he made these comments in 2005, he made them. Time is irrelevant when it comes to this, because those women he assaulted have continued to live with that pain to this day. It didn't mysteriously disappear. Yes many men have made comments such as the ones he made, but those men are not running for president. Having someone who said those things serve as president only perpetuates rape culture and leads to women continuing to end up assaulted without seeing their attackers brought to justice.
Let's remember that this isn't Trump's first sexist moment. He spoke terribly of Alicia Machado, women journalists, and his opponent Hillary Clinton. He retweeted a tweet that said "if Hillary can't satisfy her husband how can she satisfy America?" This is completely inappropriate and should not be tolerated in the presidential election.
There has been talk about Hillary's relationship with her husband throughout this whole tape scandal and that is a new low for campaigning. Many have stated that she is just as bad because her husband cheated on her in the white house. There are dozens of articles claiming that because she did not leave her husband she is not a good role model for women, and is just as bad as Trump's tapes. This is victim shaming. To make such assuming statements about her romantic relationship, which has little to do with her leadership abilities, is completely inappropriate.
His behavior is the furthest thing from presidential, and it is insulting that this is the man who has gotten this close to presidency. I hope that come November 8th, Trump hears the voices of women and men all across the nation telling him that we do not stand for his racist, sexist, and twisted ideas of reality.
