Trump supporters won’t characterize comments as ‘sexual assault’

October 14 23:01 2016

After the video of Trump surfaced, at least four women have accused Trump of groping them or forcibly kissing them on the mouth.

The effort on campus to reduce campus sexual assault and rape culture can be seen by the variation of groups on campus that deal with these issues, including Vagina Monologues, Penn V-Day, PAVE, MARS and many others.

I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve fallen back on those statistics. “For women in our party and decent men in our party it’s an affront”. Giuliani and CNN host Jake Tapper, for example, got into a heated exchange this week when Tapper said he had been in many locker rooms and a fraternity, but had never heard a man talk like Trump on the tape.

Cooper redirected: “Let me add that, when you walked off that bus at age 59, were you a different man or did that behavior continue until recently?”

Trump isn’t the only one facing scrutiny for failing to acknowledge sexual assault. “I think it makes him a human”. The straight men I spoke to made sure to distance themselves from the Republican nominee, but didn’t exactly find what he said shocking.

But you know who isn’t shocked?

“You described kissing women without their consent, grabbing their genitals”, Cooper said. Even more alarmingly, the physical manifestation of this sort of language is pretty common too. I’ll believe it when I see it.

Donald Trump referred to his comments as “banter”. “That was the plan – they were trying to approve it and then someone leaked it”.

The response has been enormous.

Canadian writer Kelly Oxford called on women to tweet their first experiences of sexual assault on Friday.

Among those who tweeted stories back to Oxford were friends of Spring Weaver, 33. I was 8 and my parents were sitting two rows behind me.

“We see evidence that the shame and stigma that has silenced victims for centuries is finally crumbling; one needs to look no further than the #notok, #ithappenedtome, #whyIstayed and #FreeKesha hashtags on Twitter that demonstrate support for victims and thousands of survivors emboldened to tell their stories”, says Ms. Palumbo. You’re going to be the commander-in-chief of what’s known as the greatest country in the world, and that’s what’s coming out of your mouth?

Heather Arnet, CEO of the Women and Girls Foundation, found a silver lining in an “uncomfortable” yet productive conversation she had with her 14-year-old son in showing him the video prior to him watching the debate. Since launching his campaign, the New York Times and other publications have recounted numerous stories from female employees and pageant contestants about the way the celebrity mogul demeaned, harassed or even abused them. I’m going to help the African-Americans.

Numerous attacks took place when the women involved were minors. “You know I’m automatically attracted to beautiful – I just start kissing them”. We don’t know where the line is between a come-on and a crime. If you don’t do that, it just sounds harsh to say, but we have to build up the wealth of our nation.

That anyone seriously thinks Trump could have been considered the “winner” of last night’s debate just shows how low we’ve set the expectations bar for him.

Mr Trump points in the direction of Ms Clinton during the debate

Trump supporters won’t characterize comments as ‘sexual assault’
 
 
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