Bailey Shrewsbury is a sophomore journalism major and writes "Taming of the Shrew" for the Daily News. Her views do not necessarily agree with those of the newspaper. Write to Bailey at bbshrewsbury@bsu.edu.
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In this wild and crazy election year, the standards for elections and candidate decorum have basically been thrown out the window. But when do you say enough is enough?
Unless you live under a rock, you’ve heard all of the terrible things Donald Trump has said, from mocking a disabled reporter to calling all Mexicans rapists. But when a tape surfaced of Trump casually bragging about sexually assaulting women, America seemed to face an even greater divide than before.
Whether you’re a die-hard Trump supporter or an undecided voter, someone bragging about sexual assault is not OK, ever. You may be asking yourself, yeah, that’s disgusting Bailey, but why does it matter that he said that?
According to a study about this election and its effect on classrooms by the Southern Poverty Law Center, more than one-third of teachers have observed an increase in anti-Muslim or anti-immigrant sentiment and more than half have seen an increase in political discourse.
If Trump’s constant negative talk about Muslims and immigrants cause this in our young children alone, how will his newest comments affect the people?
Rape and sexual assault are already an uphill battle in this country. According to the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network, two in three rapes go unreported and out of every 1,000 rapes, 994 perpetrators will walk free.
If that was the reality before Trump started bragging, what will the statistics look like now?
Sexual assault and rape are national problems. Thousands of rape kits won’t even make it to the testing lab, and the few that do may never be tested.
Many women who come forth and report their rapes face victim blaming. "Look at what she was wearing," and "well she was drunk" are some of the statements women are faced with.
A famous example of reported rape is the Brock Turner case. He served a mere three months for raping a girl. It didn’t matter that two bikers found him raping his victim, who was unconscious, behind a dumpster. He is still to this day referred to as Brock Turner, ex-Stanford swimmer, not Brock Turner, convicted rapist.
This case doesn’t make any victim want to step forward. This girl was thrust into the spotlight, called anything from a whore to a tramp. Many people said she shouldn’t have been drinking or she was asking for it with the way she was dressed. Alcohol doesn’t make you sexually assault someone. Alcohol is an inanimate object.
As a victim of sexual assault myself, I can tell you that I wasn’t asking for it. It was a normal day and a normal situation that turned violent quickly. I was wearing jeans and a hoodie and I was completely sober. I didn’t report my assault because I truly didn’t believe anything would come of it.
It doesn’t matter what side of the political spectrum you sit on, sexual assault and rape are never OK. It’s time that we pay more attention to these issues and protect the victims and take them seriously.
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