That is sexual assault.
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The comments do appear to fall under the definition of sexual assault as used by the U.S. Department of Justice. I had hoped we were better than that. But I have never heard another man brag about forcing himself on women.
But too many adult men fall short of this ourselves, especially when we are in “men’s only” spaces with guys whom we need to affirm our masculinities.
I have story after story from former female students who joined previously all male occupations about the struggle they waged for dignified treatment from men who thought talk about women’s private parts or their own sexual exploits was an integral part of the culture of their workplace. “Just kiss. I don’t even wait”.
If only they had the foresight to check out some old episodes of The Apprentice, a reality show which Trump starred in and co-produced for over a decade. “You can do anything”.
“You described kissing women without consent, grabbing their genitals”.
By stating that his words are “just words” completely minimizes the impact these comments have on women. “But for the most part, the locker rooms I’ve been in, I’ve never heard anything like that”.
“I want you to get some good looking hostesses here”.
Jacob Tamme, a tight end with the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons, asked that Trump “please stop saying ‘locker room talk, ‘” adding that “it’s not normal”. Disturbing things are said every day by people who then try to reduce these words to mindless banter or justify with “boys being boys”.
But these most recent comment revelations take Trump from mere sexist to potential perpetrator.
A shocking previously unaired footage from 2005 had surfaced in which Trump can be seen unabashedly bragging about trying to sleep with a married woman and being able to grope women as well. “The carnage all over the world and they look and see, can you imagine the people that are frankly doing so well against us with ISIS and they look at our country and see what’s going on”. While I’m not comparing Trump to Bill Cosby, it does conjure up the same mindset.
Donald Trump is an even bigger fraud as a “man” than he is as a “businessman”.
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Senior members of the Republican Party are holding a conference call on Monday to discuss the divided support of Trump following the leaked video tape. This isn’t D.A.R.E., Donald Trump, you cannot peer pressure the nation into believing that just because you’re talking about women this way means that everyone is. In the new response he said he regretted it, and that it was “wrong”.
