In the last week, more than seven women have come forward after years of silence, alleging that Donald Trump, the GOP presidential nominee, sexually assaulted them or was inappropriate. Their claims come a week after the disclosure of the Access Hollywood tape in which Trump can be heard saying, among other things, that he can grab a woman’s genitals and get away with it because he is a star. Trump has denied all claims of sexual assault.
"These vicious claims about me of inappropriate conduct with women are totally and absolutely false," Trump said during a rally in Florida.
But just as in 1991 when Anita Hill testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee about her alleged sexual harassment by Clarence Thomas, then a U.S. Supreme Court nominee, the allegations have reminded women that they’re not alone—that they can trust what they experience.
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.
The stories emerging about Trump, as well as his own words, could give women a new way of seeing their own experiences with sexual assault going forward — as part of a pattern of male behavior that has been noted, flagged and loudly denigrated.
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