Sexual Harassment

Throughout the history of the United States, government officials have spoken about filthy things forgetting about the idea of political correctness entirely. Current president, Donald Trump, when referring to women has felt entitled to “grab ‘em by the pussy.” Some politicians have been corrected, yet to this day, some still continue to speak openly about their disgusting sexual desires that should clearly be kept to themselves. Women have dealt with suffrage far too long now to be constantly reminded that they aren’t respected for their individualism and viewed simply for their biological structures. Statements underestimating the impact of sexual assault/harassment are tolerated too much in our society and in our government.

Sexual harassment and assault have been a huge part of the United States’ politics for quite some time. Teen Vogue says in 1991, Supreme Court Justice, Clarence Thomas, had been accused of sexual harassment by one of his former employees, yet the consequences included absolutely nothing. Bill Clinton has had many accusations made against him regarding sexual harassment, yet nothing happened to him. George H. W. Bush was accused by seven women that he groped them inappropriately and once again there were no consequences. Throughout the course of history, women have had to tolerate these unacceptable behaviors and it is time responsibility is taken by these individuals of political power.

President Donald Trump, has been known to refer to women as animals and undermine women all together. According to The New York Times, when Trump was at the campaign rally in December 2015, he witnessed Hillary Clinton leave to use the bathroom. When she returned he continued to refer to her as a disgusting human being. Trump said, “I know where she went—it’s disgusting. I don’t want to talk about it. No, it’s too disgusting. Don’t say it, it’s disgusting.” Our president that has to deal with the pressures any president undergoes, can’t be mature enough to understand that women have periods. Trump’s mother had to "bleed" (as he would say), in order for him to have even been conceived. His raging testosterone is clouding the judgement of that. The New York Times states in 2012 Trump tweeted, “While Bette Midler is an extremely unattractive woman, I refuse to say that because I always insist on being politically correct.” This proves Donald Trump at least understands the meaning of "politically correct." That being said, there are so many problems in this single tweet. He not only contradicts himself in the same sentence but the irony in him saying that he insists on being politically correct is flabbergasting. According to The Huffington Post, in 2005, Trump was a guest on Howard Stern’s radio show and gave Stern permission to call his daughter, Ivanka, “a piece of ass.” How degrading is that to the female sex? It’s bad enough Trump saying he’d call any woman that, but to refer to your own daughter, really? Political correctness needs to be more involved in cases like these when some filthy minds just go too far.

Political correctness has been thrown around as a "taboo" word when it shouldn’t be. PC was created to eliminate prejudices in our society, not to create more as some would believe. Conservatives have manifested the idea that PC means altering the truth, but it really only puts boundaries on the standards of politeness in the things that are put out in the world. PC alters the way things are said, but it does not take away from the original statement. Political correctness was originally created not for our generation of “snowflakes” but to change the vulgar language stated by some. To even call our generation “snowflakes” is politically incorrect because of its offensiveness towards the generation. The term itself refers to our generation as being weak and easily offended, but really these individuals are simply trying to make the world a less vulgar place where equality is available everywhere.

Trump among others in our government have recently been accused of sexual harassment and sexual assault. Not only does Trump boast about his so-called innocence, but he feels compelled to defend the other men in power that are accused of assaulting women. According to ABC News, Trump ignored the allegations made against Kavanaugh and praised him for having “an impeccable reputation.” Our president is praising a rapist. Honestly, wouldn’t expect anything less from him. Another example from ABC News, is when Bill O’ Reilly was accused of sexually harassing five women Trump responded by saying, “O’ Reilly is a person I know well, a good person. Bill didn’t do anything wrong. Personally, I think he shouldn’t have settled.” When Trump’s campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, had accusations against him of sexual assault, Trump replied with, “Everybody said nothing happened. Perhaps she made the story up.” Trump always seems pretty convinced that women make these accusations up, but some of them are in such great detail, it would be hard to simply imagine them in your head.

The debate today on politicians being sexist in their speech boils down to the idea that women are making up the accusations toward individuals of power. Donald Trump has had many allegations filed against him, but he strongly denies them all. He questions why the victims haven’t come forth sooner considering he’s always involved in a sexual harassment case—which is no other’s fault but his own. Trump just brushes his own accusations off as well by simply calling these women “liars.” Hence when people began to question whether these women were really telling the truth and if it was the truth why did it take so long for these women to come forward? Being sexually assaulted and/or harassed shouldn’t be an embarrassment, but for many women it is viewed as one. Sexual assault and/or harassment itemizes women into believing they’re nothing but an object. Most women would like to forget about their past occurrences with sexual harassment and move on without recollection of what really happened. It’s a scarring event that can lead women to trust issues, PTSD, depression, anxiety, night terrors, substance abuse, and sometimes even suicide. The thoughts are haunting and to believe that anyone wants to downgrade the seriousness of these situations is astounding. Regardless of the heartless individuals that can’t see the impact sexual harassment has on our community, women rose above and created the ‘#MeToo movement. It is said that 81 percent of women have been sexually harassed at one point in their lives. Statistically speaking that’s 81 percent of women who should be offended by the insensitive "jokes" men in power use regarding sexual harassment.

Women in general have all experienced or know someone who has experienced sexual harassment/assault of some kind. It is a major problem today that our politicians are joking about it. The #MeToo movement has had a great impact on women today and the modern-day feminism. Politicians need to be censored more for what they say, because so much of it is offensive to the female sex. It is time our culture realizes the equality of all sexes.