I just watched Ana Marie Cox get unexpectedly verklempt over the description of how one of Trump’s victims felt after he assaulted her. The woman’s husband said that, at the time, she was less upset about the gross unwanted kiss than about the fact she would not be able to hold him accountable because of his position of power. I wasn’t looking at the television but those seconds of silence while she recovered and shared that she had been assaulted and felt the same caught my attention and I looked up.
And maybe I’m projecting but the other women on the panel looked sympathetic in a way that made me think they’re no strangers to the feeling either.
I know that feeling too.
I sat in disbelief when I heard the woman who Trump groped on the plane saying to the effect that if he’d stuck to grabbing her breasts she wouldn’t have done anything but when he tried to grope under her skirt “that was it!”. Seriously? Like we don’t think anyone will actually give a damn if some ahole grabs our boobs? We’ll let a guy grab our boobs without saying anything, as if this is okay or not worth reporting? Easier to put up with it?
I think most women know that happens all the time.
I had a roommate in college that rode the bus through the local VA so there were a lot of men riding with her. One man openly groped her on the bus in front of a bunch of people, and no one helped her. They all just looked away as she tried to put her hands between this creep’s scummy hands and her body. Like it’s none of their business that a college student is being physically attacked in front of their eyes. I can’t remember the exact words but apparently one guy said they would have stepped in if he had done something serious but they figured she was handling it.
Groping a stranger’s body isn’t “serious”? Fending off an attack alone is “handling it”?
Today I was at the car wash and this guy starts chatting up a young girl and my inner mom showed up so I listened casually to the conversation. Eventually he says “are you 18?” and she says “I’m 16”. He wisely stepped down his game but he stared at her as she left to the point where I came close to telling him to keep his fucking eyes to himself, she’s fucking 16!!!! When he walked away, another woman mentioned she likewise started to listen as this jerkoff chatted up a teenager. She works at a shelter and sees plenty of women who’ve been abused and exploited.
WE ARE WATCHING.
So now I read that women are lining up to vote and you know, it’s our fucking TIME to stand up and end any further legitimizing of men’s shitty comments and behavior as bravado, “locker room talk” or “boys will be boys”.
I spend time on other sites that started out as a place for Bernie supporters to continue their advocacy for him and his policies and have morphed into a cesspool of trump advocacy and Hillary bashing. Do I suddenly see Hillary in glowing terms that I haven’t felt before? No. Have no new-found enthusiasm for Hillary Clinton in a vacuum. But how anyone can honestly say that someone this vile is a better choice is beyond me. And it’s about time we ended the boys’ club.
This is a disgusting man. He’s a symptom of a systemic problem in our society. If he were even remotely competent as a presidential candidate this should disqualify him. But he is not remotely competent. He has no qualifications to support his candidacy. And so many faults.
And we need to repudiate him in every way, and draw a line in the sand: No, we will NOT have anyone who speaks or acts this way represent us. This sort of talk and these sorts of behaviors cannot stand. That’s not who we are as a nation.
Brian Williams: “When do we reach toxicity?”
Nicole Wallace: “We are already there. We are choking on it.”
Damn straight.
Every girl who is too young to vote, and every girl yet to be born is counting on us to end Trump’s quest for the White House and strike a blow against this walking symbol of the denigration and objectification of women.
Enough of this man.