EDITORIAL: Trump’s vulgar conversation shows the need for change

Posted 10/13/16

Although his deplorable remarks were recorded in 2005, they were broadcast for the first time on the same day as the last of three local events highlighting the need for sexual assault awareness and prevention.

Trump’s recorded dialogue with …

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EDITORIAL: Trump’s vulgar conversation shows the need for change

Posted

Donald Trump was overheard by millions Friday making vulgar, lewd and disgusting comments that belittled women and treated them as objects.

Although his deplorable remarks were recorded in 2005, they were broadcast for the first time on the same day as the last of three local events highlighting the need for sexual assault awareness and prevention.

Trump’s recorded dialogue with Billy Bush of “Access Hollywood Live” illustrates the fact that we still have a long way to go. During the lewd conversation, Trump bragged that — among other, unprintable things — “I just start kissing (women). 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.”

In vulgar language, Trump also bragged that he “moved on” a married woman “very heavily.” His recorded statement that “I failed” referred to her refusal, rather than to any remorse on his part.

Here in Powell, members of a panel discussed sexual assault awareness and prevention last Wednesday. They stressed that prevention requires a mindset change, both for potential victims and potential perpetrators.

The attitude Trump displayed in the video is a prime example of a mindset that needs to go away. It shows no respect for women; it marks them as targets for making a score rather than considering them as human beings of equal worth.

Panelist Candace Anderson of Crisis Intervention Services said permission should be asked, without coercion, before any intimacy is initiated. “Can I kiss you?” “Can I touch you?”

No permission means no intimacy.

Jennifer Just, Title IX associate at Northwest College, said applying an unrealistic amount of pressure until a person gives in is not getting consent.

Panelists agreed that societal norms need to change as well.

High on that list is the tendency for some to blame the victim of a sexual assault instead of the perpetrator.

Sharon Bryant, mother of Berry Bryant, the Northwest College student who was raped and murdered north of Powell 20 years ago, took on that issue during a presentation at Northwest College last week.

“Too often the victim is blamed,” Bryant said. “Some blamed my daughter for her own death. My daughter didn’t cause her own death; she was groomed, and she was too trusting.”

Unfortunately, blaming the victim still is a common societal reaction. That is illustrated all too well during high-profile court procedures regarding sexual assaults, when it often seems the victim is on trial instead of the perpetrator.

In that regard, Hillary Clinton also has a checkered past. While Bill Clinton was president, she was known to help undermine the victims of his alleged sexual conquests.

The New York Times reported earlier this month that Hillary Clinton had privately “embraced the Clinton campaign’s aggressive strategy of counterattack: Women who claimed to have had sexual encounters with Mr. Clinton would become targets of digging and discrediting — tactics that women’s rights advocates frequently denounce.”

While Hillary’s reaction is not surprising under the circumstances, it certainly didn’t speak highly of her.

Sexual assault victims deserve to be believed and treated with compassion rather than being subjected to further hurt, as panelists said.

Bryant noted that progress has been made toward bringing the issue of sexual assault to the forefront, so perpetrators can be dealt with justly instead of cases being swept under the proverbial rug.

But, even as that progress is made, it seems we’re slipping farther behind in other ways. Public decency is under attack; online anonymity and social media seem to grant people license to harass and belittle. That behavior can contribute to a victim’s feelings of low self-esteem, which in turn, can make them more vulnerable to manipulations leading up to sexual assaults.

You don’t have to be a scholar of feminism to know that something needs to change. We’re calling for that change — a turn toward greater decency, courtesy and respect for women — and for all people.

NWC volleyball coach Shaun Pohlman expressed it well: “This is a man’s issue. ... It’s absolutely ludicrous, the culture that exists. It needs to change.”

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