Priyanka Nenawra | Contributor
Featured image: Recent remarks made by Republican candidate Donald Trump have resulted in a dramatic loss of support, both from voters and Republicans due to the perpetuation of rape culture. | Amir Yazdanparast
With great political power comes great social responsibility. In a perfect world, politicians would have the best interests of every demographic of a population at heart. But after the second United States presidential election debates, it’s obvious that this isn’t the case. Recently released recordings of Republican candidate Donald Trump included his bragging about forceful tactics he used to lure women. Though apologies were made regarding the comments, whether these apologies were genuine or not, they do not address the real issue: rape culture.
“Whether it’s a boss, co-worker or the public, saying sorry is not always enough to win back broken trust,” said Shayna Frawley, PhD candidate in human resource management.
If the incident itself wasn’t enough to make voters and viewers uneasy, Trump’s defence of his past comments definitely was.
He referred to the explicit sexual assault description as “locker room talk.” With these three words, he trivialized the experiences of sexual assault victims all over America and the world. He attempted to create an idea that fantasies of sexually harassing women are just another topic that would come up in a light-hearted conversation between men in a social setting, such as a locker room.
Rather than recognizing the severity of his insulting comments, Trump used his position as a male at the top of the socio-economic pyramid to defend himself.
It is this mentality that feeds the dangerous but prevalent rape culture that plagues society today. While talking openly and happily about any other crime would never be a social norm, bragging about sexual assault has, and will continue to be, something that society condones.
“[Trump is] engaging in destructive dialogue by bragging about sexual assault, shaming the survivors and—adding insult to injury—he and his supporters attempt to normalize the whole situation by brushing it off as commonplace ‘locker room conversations’,” says Roshni Khemraj, third-year political science student, Women Empowerment Club executive, public speaker for Because I Am A Girl and member of Canada’s Youth Advisory Council.
“This mindset is damaging for everyone—for women who are subjected to assault and sexual actions, for men who are unfairly depicted as frequently engaging in deplorable conversations like the ones Trump engages in and for children who [are] getting a severely distorted idea of life by listening to Trump’s misogynistic hatred,” adds Khemraj.
Had the comments from Trump been lighthearted words about tax evasion or drunk driving, would the backlash from the public, and perhaps the Republican party itself, be stronger? Perhaps. Trump’s comments minimize the issue of sexual assault into one that simply affects females, where rape-centric comments are an acceptable social norm, brushed off with the “boys will be boys” excuse.
Heterosexual males are often portrayed as boastful and proud of sexual relations, comparing them to conquests. Media and social norms render romantic relations as a race with sex as the prize.
Perhaps this was the mindset of Stanford student Brock Turner, who in 2015, raped a woman and then sent boastful messages to his friends with pictures included.
Society’s forgiveness of sexual assault perpetrators is a large part of why rape culture continues to exist.
This is why categorizing rape fantasies as “locker-room talk” is dangerous. People of all ages, children, teens or adults, can certainly recognize Trump’s position of dominance. Love him or hate him, Trump is one of the most talked-about individuals in the world right now. He has become synonymous with fame, wealth, power and now, politics. While plenty of people understand Trump to be misogynist and intolerant, audiences are likely to become impressionable to what they see on their screens.
Unfortunately, there may be a few who will see the quick forgiveness of Trump, explaining
his comments are not a form of sexual assault.
This brushing aside, minimizing and forgiveness are the epitome of rape culture, further perpetuating the victim-blaming and ignoring of real sexual assaults.
This culture cannot exist any longer. A clear indicator of a patriarchal, male-dominated society, rape culture diminishes the idea of equality. It promotes the idea that as long as it is said in the right place and at the right time by the right person, any comment is permissible. Sexual misconduct is not an issue to be joked about. As a society, we need to condemn the idea that discussing sexual assault can be used as a means to assert one’s dominance and power. These kinds of ideas do not belong in society, in the media, in politics and definitely not in the locker room.
