By Julia Tarnow ’17, Staff Writer

I hope you don’t think the title of this article implies in the slightest bit that America as of right now is safe for women, or in fact has ever been safe for women.

Whether you would like to admit it or not, the prevalence of rape in America is astounding. According to the Rape Treatment Center at UCLA Medical Hospital, 1 in 6 women in America have experienced attempted complete rape, and according to the United States CDC, 1 in 5 women will be raped in their lifetime. You can argue that the statistics are incorrect or try to invalidate the issue, but the truth is that rape is a fear that every single woman has to worry about. 

This is evidenced by the fact that when I am walking alone in New York City at night, I always make sure to be on the phone with someone and stay in populated areas, because I am afraid. Or the way my cousin casually tells stories about guys taking advantage of girls when they drink too much at their frat parties. I know rape is too common when my mom won’t let me take a subway or train home late if a guy is not with me. Rape is something I am forced to think about regularly, and I am sure that a lot of girls can say the same.

Enter Donald Trump. While he has dominated the election season with his willingness to say anything and everything that comes into his mind, a couple weeks ago, we heard something that cannot be ignored or defended. When talking about a woman with Billy Bush, a former radio host, he said, “Just in case I start kissing her. 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. And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything.”

This is a presidential candidate.

This exclamation is a perfect example of a non-consensual situation. When Trump says, “I just start kissing them…. I don’t even wait,” he is saying, very blatantly, that he could care less what the woman wants, he just goes for it. Due to the fact that he is a “star” he can get away with it.

This idea that “You can do anything” is exactly what we feminists are trying to combat. If in his world “grabbing ’em by the ____”* is something that seems okay not only to say but actually to do, I cannot even fathom what a Trump presidency would look like. That “’em” he is discussing is not a group of people that can be objectified, as he has so clearly done.

While what Trump said is clearly a horror, what is more scary is his categorization of this conversation as “locker-room talk”. If this is locker-room, then Trump just further proves that America must change. It cannot be acceptable to talk about women like this, even in a male locker-room.

Next, I would like to make a remark on the Republican reaction to this conversation. While I am happy that Republican figures are withdrawing support for his campaign, I’m disappointed it has taken this much time. Trump has offended too many minority groups and yet Republican figureheads only recently decided to stop supporting him–not when he proposed we brand Muslims (just as Jews were in the Holocaust), not when he called Mexicans rapists, and not even when he refused to condemn the white supremacists supporting his campaign. Republican figureheads finally decided that Trump was unfit for presidency when it impacted them directly, as they have daughters, or wives, or sisters, or mothers. They should not be dropping their support for Donald Trump solely for the sake of their families, they should be dropping their support for the sake of any persecuted person. Every individual deserves to have basic human rights, and each politician is responsible for ensuring that every person, regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, or sexual orientation has those rights.

To my readers:

I clearly don’t support Donald Trump. However, even if you support Trump, I hope you understand the frustration I feel. When a person invalidates the genuine fear I have about being raped by spewing statistics at me that women are not raped as often as we think they are, it is horrifying. When someone tells me that Donald Trump is not being serious, it scares me even more. Calling Trump’s remarks, “locker-room talk” makes sexual assault seem trivial, when it is far, far from it. You should stand up against sexual assault not because you care deeply about a woman in your life but because women are not objects. We are human and we deserve respect and security.

*Trump’s word choice has been deleted so as to avoid acknowledging the pejorative expression with a full quotation.”

**If you or anyone you know has experienced sexual assault, please talk to someone who can help you.