Recently at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton faced off in another heated debate. Some of the debate questions were on the subject of a recently released video recorded from 2005 of Donald Trump that included some sexually explicit comments about groping women. If you haven't seen it:

I’ve heard a lot of talk about the debate and that certain segment of it. I’ve seen a lot of people upset about it, myself being one of them. Also, I’ve seen people get angry because they think others are upset because of ‘lewd language’ when that’s obviously not the case. The problem is that Donald Trump is playing sexual assault off as ‘locker room talk,' and it’s not the first time he has disrespected women and several other groups of people such as people of different religions, disabled people and immigrants. It’s the way he most likely has been treating women his entire life.

Sexual assault is a serious issue. People are sexually assaulted every day, and it’s a very traumatic experience for a lot of people. It’s not something that you joke about, or belittle.

Here are some statistics about rape:

·Only 16% of rapes are ever reported to the police.

·61% of rapes occurred before the victims were eighteen years old.

·29% occurred when the victims were younger than eleven.

·One woman in four will sexually assaulted during her lifetime.

·7% of all American men will be sexually assaulted in their lifetime.

Here are some statistics on attitudes toward sexual assault:

·35% of college men indicated some likelihood that they would rape if they could be assured of not getting caught.

A survey of 11-14 years olds found that:

·51% of boys and 41% of girls believe that a man has a right to force a woman to kiss him if he "spent a lot of money on her."

·32% of boys and girls say it is not improper for a man to rape a woman who has had past sexual experiences.

·87% of boys and 79% of girls said rape is okay if a man and woman are married.

·47% of all those surveyed said it was okay for a man to rape a woman he has been dating for more than 6 months.

Anyone who has said something similar to what Donald Trump has said, is perpetuating rape culture, and the fact that people still want to vote for a man that perpetuates rape culture for president is beyond me. If you put this man in charge of running a country, you’re teaching that it’s okay to treat rape and sexual assault as something that isn’t important. You’re telling your children that this is the way you talk about and treat women. The thing is, though, it will never be okay.

Statistics used from http://listen.nycagainstrape.org/learn.html