Enabling Rape Culture 2016

No. Just no.  No more “boys will be boys” and “that’s how men talk.” JUST NO.
I sit at my desk at work and scroll through my Facebook feeds on my break and I am disgusted…. Maybe that isn’t the right word because it is rude…. Ashamed, maybe… Disappointed, absolutely.  I cannot believe the amount of WOMEN who have made these excuses for Donald J Trump, GOP Nominee, and the horrible things that he has said about women and the things he has said he’s done to women.
There is no excuse. As a woman, I have a voice and I’ve held back for so long that I cannot do it anymore.  I haven’t wanted to step on toes or offend anyone, but if you’re offended by my opinion on a man who wants to be the President of the United States then please stop reading this now because I don’t want to hear your “criticism.” However, as I scroll through the social media I have grown to loathe leading up to the election, my heart just crashed onto the floor because I cannot believe the words that I am seeing… I literally just read a post on Facebook written by a woman with a daughter that reads, “Everyone is overreacting about something he said 10 years ago” and that we need to “get over it.” I can’t get over it. I know too many young women who have been assaulted and they can’t get over it. That is not the kind of human being I want running the country that I live in and love. I can’t get over it because he never apologized for his words. He has never felt any kind of regret for the way he has treated women or the way he has spoken about them.
It is one thing to not have clear answers as to how you’re going to run our country if you win the election, it is a completely different thing to continue to spew poisonous words about women from your butthole-shaped mouth.  This is not about the fact that he said this comment (“Grab them by the p***y,” in case you are unsure of which one I’m talking about) years and years ago.  It’s the fact that he has continuously shamed women throughout his career and throughout this election process and has never felt any remorse for the things he’s said.

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For lack of a better word, Donald Trump is a rapist.  Moreover, he’s okay with it. He is the sexual predator that we can’t get away from because he’s a public figure.  He’s the white, privileged, cisgender male who will never be convicted for the things he has done if ever accused of rape.  He has the money to pay off anyone who threatens him and he has the influence to stay out of prison just like Brock Turner. And yes, I feel that is a fair comparison because it is every bit true. Any man who can say what he says is no gentleman like he claims.
This is enabling the rape culture that so many people have been working to eliminate.  Instead of telling men (and women) that we need to respect each other’s bodies at all times, this just told men that they can do what they want when they want because women just want them to do it.  But that is WRONG.  My body is not your property and just because you think I might “want” you, doesn’t mean you can just grab me by my lady bits and take me. What are we supposed to teach our children when they hear these comments? How are we supposed to tell young boys that they have to respect women and get consent before they do anything if the potential leader of our country clearly doesn’t know what consent is? We learn by example and many people look up to the POTUS as a role model, Donald Trump is the potential role model for our kids…. Just think of that the next time you say, “Just get over it.” You might as well be telling the daughter who comes to you for comfort after she’s been assaulted at a party to “get over it” because you are part of the problem. Accepting that he said this as a good thing is accepting that rapists will never be properly convicted and we’ll have more Brock Turners running around our country claiming, “President Trump said that I could take what I want.” 
This is not “locker room” talk.  This is inappropriate and degrading.  I’ve never been in a men’s locker room so I cannot be one hundred percent in saying this, but I feel like your average person has a little bit more respect for a woman than Donald Trump does. I also believe that men like to talk about sports, the hot tub, or the steam room when they’re in a locker room, but I’ve probably watched too many TV shows and movies to know what real life is. Saying “boys will be boys” is barely acceptable when they get into fights with other bits, it should never be an excuse when they sexually harass or rape another person or even allude to it in private conversations. I’ve heard the way some men talk about actors and how hot they are and what they want to do to them, but to take those comments seriously is another life of its own. Women talk to the same way about sex, just a little more privately, but we don’t go around saying “girls will be girls” when they get into hot water, we criticize them. 
“Boys will be boys” is no longer an excuse. “Boys will be boys” is not a defense when a girl is assaulted. “Boys will be boys” no longer applies when you’re 70 years old. “Boys will be boys” and “locker room talk” and “that’s the way men talk” is no way to move towards equality.  “Boys will be boys” keeps women oppressed in my eyes and that is no way to live. We cannot make excuses for a man who has repeatedly said lewd things and has repeatedly tried to tell the country that women are less than human unless they are 5’10” and 100 lbs.  We cannot let him be the role model for our daughters and their future husbands.
Electing this less than human, vile dinosaur means we protect the rapists and the sexual predators.  Electing DJT means we have to listen to his “words” for four more years. He doesn’t have any solutions. He doesn’t have any plans.  I have never felt emotional, mentally, and physically unsafe because of the fear I hold in my heart about the potential POTUS. I have never felt unsafe to live in the country I have grown up loving.  We live in one of the safest countries (which was referred to as a third world country by the GOP Candidate) and I am afraid of what my future looks like under President Trump. 
 I didn’t write this with the intent of changing your opinion…. We are too far into this and everyone is pretty set on whom they will vote for in November.  Nevertheless, remember, a vote for Donald Trump is a vote for future Brock Turners. I never had the intention of revealing who I was voting for because I fear the rude comments and judging looks I will receive from people after posting this, but I can’t stay quiet any longer.  I kept creating lines for Donald Trump to cross before I posted something political on my website and this was the last line I could tolerate. 
 No matter whom you are voting for, remember to go out to the polls on November 8.  All votes count and we have to let our voices be heard. 
#ImWithHer


*this post was edited to reflect the correct date for Election Day.