For those who do not know, recent news was released covering an explicit conversation between GOP presidential hopeful Donald Trump and NBC Today Show Host Billy Bush. The conversation goes a bit like this:
“I moved on her like a bitch, but I couldn’t get there. And she was married,” Trump said. “Then all of a sudden I see her, she’s now got the big phony tits and everything. She’s totally changed her look.”
Maybe excusable at this point? Maybe.
“I’ve got to use some Tic Tacs, just in case I start kissing her,” Trump says. “You know I’m automatically attracted to beautiful — I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait.”
Oh, and it gets worse.
“Grab them by the p---y,” Trump says. “You can do anything.”
If that is "locker room banter" then I am completely and utterly thankful I have never entered a locker room. And if that is locker room banter, then consider my father, brother, boyfriend, and close friends a bunch of disgusting animals.
Undeniably, Hillary Clinton and her husband the former President Bill Clinton have committed inexcusable acts. They should be held accountable for those as well. But right now, I would like to focus on the man who could potentially be our commander in chief in a few short months.
I am utterly shocked that this charade has even gotten this far.
Undoubtedly, we have moved forward progressively as a society. It is no longer considered acceptable for husbands to beat their wives, and women have more places in the world than just the kitchen.
But men like Mr. Trump are promoting the degrading and dangerous rape culture that still flows through our worlds as a dark and thick undercurrent.
These "words" are not excusable because they are not "actions." No, these words might never become actions, and who knows if they ever did, but words carry the utmost of power. Young men across the nation are hearing these things and are subconsciously internalizing them. Next time they are faced with a situation of a potential rape, words like these might pop into their heads and make them realize that their actions might not have consequences.
In a world where women are constantly fighting for their place and their equality, words like those that fell harshly from Donald's lascivious lips are endangering us more than ever.
I am a woman, a human, and I deserve respect. Just like all of my female counterparts across the world.
I am not just an object of sexual desire, and you cannot just kiss me without consent, or "grab me by the pussy."
Locker room banter and "boys will be boys" are no longer excuses. The men of our society, our brothers, uncles, fathers, boyfriends, husbands, etc. all need to be held accountable for their actions and words and the eventual string of events that they set off.
Women are facing very serious and dire issues in the world right now like child marriages, rape, molestation, sexual assault, and a slew of other problems.
If it makes it easier for you to grasp, these women are your mothers, daughters, sisters, aunts, grandmas, nieces, and every other woman you know.
Oh, and along with those titles, we're also humans and deserve some basic decency and natural rights from our human counterparts.
