Put down your torches and pitchforks, ladies and gentlemen. I know what I'm saying.
One of the largest blows to Donald Trump's campaign (and there were many blows) was the resurfacing of an eleven-year-old tape in which Trump "essentially admits he has a habit of sexually assaulting women." This brings the topic of sexual assault and the way in which we as a society address it into the political spectrum yet again. The article describes the wide-spread effects of Law Professor Anita Hill's testifying against Justice Clarence Thomas that he had sexually harassed her. It also cites the story of the many brave women who last year stepped forward to tell their stories of being sexually assaulted by Bill Cosby. Both events succeeded overwhelmingly in galvanizing women. If that were the case then, imagine now. "Perhaps Trump is the ultimate gift to feminists: a grabber and bragger who has focused the world’s attention on the outrages women quietly endure on a chronic basis without notice. And perhaps we can now see the mid-90s response to Bill Clinton’s own accusers — subdued or defensive among liberals on account of his women-friendly politics — as a near miss of an opportunity, a cultural shift that could have built on the momentum of Anita Hill, but never did."
Do you think that Trump's open admittance to sexual assault will give women a new way of seeing their own experiences going forward? Are Trump's actions the final straw in how our society views and quietly tolerates such horrific behavior? Should Kristian have chosen a less volatile article?
Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/14/magazine/after-donald-trump-will-more-women-believe-their-own-stories.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=first-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=2
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Kristian should definitely have not picked a less volatile article (says the feminist). I think that transparency and truth are glimmers of hope during this crazy election season. However, this scandal will not be the "final straw" in how are society quietly tolerates sexual harassment and assault. Our deeply flawed society is constantly turning a blind eye to this repulsive behavior, and, even though this scandal has blown up all over the county, I do not think that things will change. This glimmer of hope for change has excited feminists everywhere, but it did the same thing during the Hill trial and during the Cosby scandal. Change will only be enacted when we make it happen. These scandals are mere pit stops on the road to social revolution. Eventually, society will change, for now we must wait patiently and do the best we can.
ReplyDeleteKristian's article was fine, Kristian's method of posting links, however, leaves something to be desired ;). As I saw in a tweet the other day "Sandy Hook was effectively the end of the gun debate. Once America decided killing children was bearable, it was all over." In this situation, I think we're fighting yet another Sandy Hook. Can we stomach a presidential candidate in 2016 openly bragging about a very possible history of sexually assaulting women? I think we all know the answer to that. As we watch conservative lawmakers back down from their anti-Trump rhetoric, we know. As we watch people at his rallies shake their heads and say "well... I've heard worse", we know. We've lost the fight, this time. As I said in my last comment, though, I don't think that we should lose hope for reform in this country. Trump was a great gift for the Democrats (no matter how disheartening it is to see so much of our country consumed by a Demagogue's fervor), and as Kate McKinnon's HRC said last night "Trump is a giver. Just last Friday he gave me this election." But it's more than that. Trump is handing Democrats all three branches of Government. And with that kind of power, some legitimate reform can be made. And with such a powerful and historical ballot, I think it's foolish to even question that much of that reform will focus on women.
ReplyDeleteOoof.... :(
DeleteAny rational person would understand that Donald Trump is terrible for women. His openly bragging about sexually assaulting and harassing women in 2005 is just one in a series of deplorable (yes, Hillary was right) statements about women. Now, with something like 10 women saying he has grabbed and kissed him, there is not much of a doubt that his words are how he really acts with women.
ReplyDeleteI'm not quite sure if Trump's words or actions are the final straw in the way society views such behavior. Many people do not view the way Trump treats women as normal, and it is certainly not how my parents raised me to think. Many people are appalled by these remarks. However, many of Trump's supporters do not care. I can't fathom how anyone supports him after this new information. It seems that Trump's supporters view this behavior as normal, indicating much more needs to happen before sexual harassment/assault disappear.
Obviously, what Trump has said about women is absolutly horrible. Anyone who brags about assaulting, hurting, and/or manipulating someone else is a disgusting person. I did find it interesting, though, that a lot of people are speaking up much more about these comments, than some of his other offensive, horrible comments (of which there are many). I don't know how many minds this video reveal changed; if you're willing to put up with the racist, sexist comments already, why would adding assault to the mix change your mind? However, this story does seem to have more people talking about Trump's negative aspects, and, if people are really going to still stick to their decision to vote for him, I suppose a discussion is all I could hope for.
ReplyDeleteGreat line: "The party that once impeached Bill Clinton for lying about an affair has defended a man who bragged about sexual assault."
ReplyDeleteThere is a big difference between the millionaire and wannabe playboy Donald Trump and the millionaire wannabe credible Republican Donald Trump, but this distinction only exists in Trump's mind. In the public's eye, people don't change, especially with such misogynistic comments being discovered at the time of a presidential election; this release will obviously negatively affect Trump's vote, and is yet another reason the Republican party needs a serious transformation.
I find it disgusting that feminists apparently need men like Trump to get the ball rolling on gender equality and bring light to issues that should no longer exist to such a massive scale. Even if people are speaking about sexual assault more often today, many conversations are not positive. In fact, people are still not seeing what the big deal was. Many Americans are more offended by Trump saying “pussy” than him talking about grabbing it. “Grab” is the REAL problem word in that sentence. Non consensual grabbing—that is the biggest problem, although there are obviously many more. While more light is being shed, not all the rays are getting to the best places, which is showing some real issues about the American population. It’s good that many Representatives are un-endorsing Trump, but it’s terrifying that many are not. “Of course it’s bad, but…” is not a safe response to Trump’s released tapes. I actually have witnessed more Trump lawn signs since the scandal then before. Why? I’m not sure. Also, only after Trump’s scandal did many of his supporters start calling Bill Clinton a rapist, which is untrue seeing that his affair with Lewinsky was consensual and is absolutely irrelevant because Trump is the wrong doer now, not Bill.
ReplyDeleteHopefully recent events in both the political and pop culture landscapes regarding treatment of women will be a splash of cold water in the face of American society. History has shown us that people generally don't act or protest until prompted by an event or string of events. In this weird and perverse way, Trumps words may be helping women, indirectly of course. Women are seeing this as an opportunity to speak out, believe their own accusations. It's a shame that it took this long for society to foster this type of motivation toward women to speak up and "believe their own stories", but at least it is happening now.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Jay. It does seem that Trump has provoked a change in confidence for women to speak up about sexual harassment. It is odd to think of Trump as helping women, but hopefully at least one good thing will come from the Trump campaign. That good thing might be caused by Trump being an awful human being, it's a good thing nonetheless. That being said, a lot of people still unwaveringly support Trump, so maybe that group of people doesn't see sexual harassment as a serious issue or doesn't think Trump is sexually harassing women. I hope people don't think this, but at this point people are thinking crazy things so I wouldn't be surprised.
DeleteHonestly, I don't think this will further gender equality that much. Of course people find it disgusting how he speaks about women and the way he sees women. But, almost all of the focus is on trump, skipping past the part about gender inequality/sexual harassment like we've dealt with it, which we haven't. People are ignoring it in this case as they do all the time. Some people see Trump as disgusting, some people don't care, and very few see it as a problem that has even spread to the supposed leaders of this country. With this attitude, we'll never be able to deal with this kind of behavior because people think we already have. Instead of only bashing Trump for being disgusting, we should also be focusing on the widespread problems of gender inequality and sexual harassment.
ReplyDeleteI think Trump's comments let the issue of gender equality resurface on a larger scale, but I don't think it's the last straw. Just look at how Trump even tries to justify it, calling it "locker room talk", when multiple professional athletes (which Trump surely isn't) have come foward to say they have been in locker rooms their whole lives, and have never heard anyone speak as Trump did. The problem is that people like Trump, and his supporters, don't really see a problem with what he said. Instead, they almost sympathize with him and allow yet another Trump scandal to slide by, looking at it as a younger and less mature Donald Trump who spoke. I think once Trump loses, it will be a re awakening for many, politically and socially.
ReplyDeleteWhat's sad about this claim is that it's taken society this long to realize the crisis of sexual assault and with a figure like Donald Trump. While more and more women are coming out and are vocalizing their experiences, which is certainly something to applaud them for, they have received some backlash among social media. This part of the story is sadly all too familiar to women who try to come out about their situation, and it's often the reason why many women don't even come out in the first place. This won't be the last straw, because of how deeply rooted sexual harassment and assault is in our society. As for gender equality, while we won't see any significant change because of how Trump "justified" the tape, we may begin to see a more violent push for gender equality.
ReplyDeleteIt pains me to say this, but Trumps words may be helping women by giving sexual assault more media coverage. By giving more women the confidence to tell their stories, it is a step in the right direct although the action that prompted this certainly was not. However, this entire thing has been seen before in history. Our first presidents owned slaves and while some were opposed to it, many were not. This country has always tolerated horrific behaviors to some extent, but it does change with enough time and coverage.
ReplyDeleteIf Trump's leaked audio recording sank his career, Natasha Stoynoff's report is the final nail in the coffin. It's disturbing to think that such a man had a chance of achieving the presidency- and even more so that some still defend what he said as "locker room talk." Based on the backlash, it appears this testimony will have a similar affect to that of Anita Hill's against Justice Clarence Thomas, potentially mobilizing female voters against the candidate. At least this revelation has spread awareness about this issue with certain politicians and figureheads- Stoynoff notes she originally blamed herself in part until the tape was released.
ReplyDeleteKristian chose a great article and topic and if he didn't, someone else would've probably proposed these questions at some point. But, regarding society, I think it's providing hope considering how active people are becoming with this. It's a little bit of hope considering some republicans are embarrassed and disgusted and just don't know what to think. I also think that nothing will change. Situations like this are disregarded very quickly too often so unfortunately I don't think the noise it's raising will last very long. Society has always turned their heads at disgusting behavior such as this and worse so I wouldn't be surprised if this had little effect on anything at all honestly.
ReplyDeleteI deeply hope that this glorious series of events will encourage anyone who has been sexually assaulted to have even more confidence in seeking help. Unfortunately the last straw for this issue won't come around for some time. Trump's deplorable actions have helped everyone take another step forward in the right direction, but it will take more time for victims to be completely comfortable with sharing their stories. I find it interesting that sexism has become a pivotal battleground.
ReplyDeleteI find it disgusting that what may help our society move forward is Trump's molestation of women; however, as vile as it is to know that women have been sexually harassed by Trump, it is also hopefully going to do some good. With all the women who are coming forward against Trump, hopefully others who have been molested by people who aren't famous will come forward. The things done by Trump may encourage other women to come forward and discuss these things, as the media coverage given to Trump will lead to (hopefully) more awareness of the situations endured by other women. While I think it's appalling that nation needed this sort of publicity to realize what is going on everywhere, I hope that at least something good will come from it.
ReplyDeleteI would find it hilariously ironic if the actions of powerful public figure harassing women in the past and keeping a quiet lid on the whole ordeal as a result of said power would end up backfiring on that same exact figure due to his potential election into a greater seat of power, bringing a much more public focus on the same issue in society as a whole. As horrible as Trump's words were, they may be so carelessly used and dismissed by Trump so as to outrage people into making this a bigger issue, which by all means, this issue should be. However, I get the feeling that if more people don't keep speaking out, that the whole matter will die out and become dismissed again. I hope that Trump's actions appear so disgusting that we as a people will have to face these issues and take strides to reform them, but I'm not so sure about how much further our society may focus on this issue when we tend to get outraged over certain topics then get distracted and move on to something else, accomplishing nothing.
ReplyDeleteI personally believe that a Trump presidency would not benefit the problem in the slightest. They may bring more people to testify against it, and the Anita Hill story is a convincing argument, but Trump doesn't merely do the actions, he glorifies them. This may disgust women, but it will not change the atmosphere of rape and misogyny in America. The problem may get better with time as Trump disgusts more and more women, but as of now, he is dismissing such actions as "locker room talk", and with such obvious dismissal of serious issues, I believe the problem will get worse before it gets better with Trump in office. I can understand the argument that it may be helping women by pushing it to the front of the media, but it will fade as it always does, and also is setting a precedent of dismissal for men in America who do such actions. It may encourage women to speak out, these actions, but it also encourages men to deny and dismiss them. Hopefully the article is more correct than I am, but I personally think that this will not necessarily benefit women the way the author projects it will. And this was an interesting article, and a good choice.
ReplyDelete