Donald Trump and the Cultural Dismissal of Sexual Assault
As I am sure we are all aware, Trump has beaten Kamala Harris to the post to become the 47th President of the United States. These are incredibly frightening times for those living in America. Especially women and those from marginalised communities. These concerns reflect Trump’s record-breaking abuse of rights, his embrace of extreme anti-democratic and white supremacist ideologies, and his proposals to deport millions of immigrants.
These alone would be enough to assume he is an unfit and problematic leader. But... add onto this a plethora of allegations of sexual harassment and assault, and it is insane that he has won his second term. In this article, I look at how Trump’s criminal charges and sexual assault allegations have been overlooked during his 2024 presidential campaign and how this reflects a culture of dismissing sexual assault.
Trump’s Indictment
In 2023, Trump was charged in four separate criminal cases within five months. This makes him the first President in the United States' history to be indicted. These charges raise questions surrounding his political and ethical character in his second term of presidency and highlight concerns about his presidential accountability. How can such a powerful political leader be trusted when he himself has acted immorally and unlawfully?
Here is a quick breakdown of these four criminal charges that led to his indictment (courtesy of Politico):
On 30th May 2024, Trump was found guilty of falsifying business records connected to a payoff with Stormy Daniels - a pornstar he has been sexually linked to.
At the end of 2019, Trump and his advisors were charged with spreading false information about voter fraud, undermining results in states that Biden won, and pressuring Vice President Mike Pence to toss out legitimate results that undermined Trump’s success. These actions culminated in the (shit)storming of the Capitol on January 6th.
In January 2021, as Trump left the White House, he was accused of taking highly sensitive national security documents and storing them in his Mar-a-Lago resort.
Finally, Trump was charged with voter fraud in the state of Georgia during the 2020 election - the election he lost to Biden.
The fact that despite these serious charges, Trump still managed to win his second term shows how loyal his supporters are. These supporters, following Trump’s public distrust of the media and US legal systems, often overlook or completely dismiss serious charges made against him. So, even though these actions should discourage any voter from trusting Trump - the conspiracy theorists loyally band together to ensure that America can indeed become great again.
Perhaps the sheer amount of allegations made against the President has resulted in some form of scandal fatigue? Voters have heard of many Trump scandals, and they become less and less surprised by each one that comes to light. It’s become normalised for Trump to be controversial. This leads us to the copious amount of allegations of sexual harassment and assault against Trump.
Trump’s Sexual Assault Allegations
Since the 1970s, 26 women have spoken out against Trump’s sexual misconduct, and he has been found liable in court for sexual abuse. From accusations of rape, non-consensual kissing, and groping... Trump has continually been plastered in the media for his harassment against women.
Jessica Leeds stated in 2016 that in the late 1970s, Trump put his hand up her skirt and groped her breasts on a flight to New York, stating that his “hands were everywhere” like an octopus. Similarly, former model Amy Dorris said Trump “forcibly kissed and groped her” at the U.S. Open in 1997. Ivana Trump, Trump’s first wife, accused the president of raping her in a fit of rage during their marriage in 1989.
These are just a few examples of the many victims of Trump’s sexual misconduct and each should be listened to and taken seriously. However, it’s hard to believe that these allegations are being taken seriously with Trump’s re-election.
With the number of women coming out against Trump, his name became big in the #MeToo movement in 2017. The movement encouraged women to speak out about their experiences of sexual abuse and harassment, gaining power in numbers in an attempt to expose the systemic patterns of abuse and harassment against women across different industries at the hands of powerful men. Yet, many of these women speaking out (not just against Trump) were dismissed and viewed as fame-hungry and attention-seeking.
This culture of undermining women’s accounts of sexual misconduct reflects a broader global issue of the ignoring of women’s voices. Often women do feel a sense of safety in numbers - they are more likely to be believed if other women have also spoken out, compared to speaking out about their abuse alone. The more evidence against the offender, the easier it will be to convict them. But many see this as simply ‘jumping on the bandwagon’ to damage a man’s character - especially relevant as many of these women came out during Trump’s 2016 election campaign. Just because many of these women spoke out at the same time during his campaign does not undermine their legitimacy.
Since the recent news of Trump’s re-election, women across America have expressed their fears of having a misogynistic sex offender as their country’s leader. Many of these women have expressed their interest in partaking in the South Korean 4B movement. The 4B movement advocates for women to abstain from heterosexual marriage (bihon), giving birth (bichulsan), dating men (biyeonae), and heterosexual sex (bisekseu). The movement is indicative of a growing disdain for the mistreatment and abuse of women at the hands of men. The success of this movement can already be seen in the declining birth rates in South Korea.
Why are so many women being drawn to such a movement? What do they think it will achieve? As previously mentioned, Trump has an insanely loyal fanbase, and many of his supporters are staunch defenders of his misogynistic views and comments. Here are some examples of genuine Donald Trump quotes:
He stated in a 1992 New York magazine piece: “Women, you have to treat ‘em like shit”.
His comments on his daughter, Ivanka: “I don’t think Ivanka would do that [pose for Playboy], although she does have a very nice figure. I’ve said if Ivanka weren’t my daughter, perhaps I’d be dating her.”
He called a lawyer “disgusting” for requesting a break from a deposition to pump breast milk.
These are shocking statements. What isn’t shocking are the statistics from Trump’s re-election - Trump won 55% of the male vote and also picked up more male voters than his 2016 election. Misogynistic men are drawn to Trump for his similar views on women, giving him a platform. The fact that Trump has gained more young male voters is scary because it shows that young men are continuing, and at a higher rate than before, to be influenced by outdated misogynistic views. This is terrifying for women because misogynistic behaviour will become more normalised, and Trump's anti-feminist sentiments will continue to be platformed for an even larger male audience. I by no means think that having a female President will stop men's misogynistic views and behaviours because that would be naive. But... it would be far better than having an active misogynist and rapist as President - what a great role model!
Trump has even thanked viral right-wing misogynists theNELK Boys and Joe Rogan for boosting his chances at becoming president. They have been influential in pushing pro-Trump rhetoric to their largely young male fanbase. Kieran Press-Reynolds wittily writes that this is resulting in a worrying “brand of bigoted alpha manhood that has won out as the dominant form of Gen Z masculinity”. The rise in young men subscribing to a Trump-like mindset is scary and will have trickle-down effects on the treatment of women by men in society as a whole.
Now, I am not a big fan of Kamala Harris - I disagree with many of her policies and stances such as her weak stance on Palestine. But at a time when abortion laws are already under threat in certain states, her abortion policies would work to safeguard the right for women’s bodily autonomy. Following the 2022 Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade under Trump (allowing states to restrict access to abortion), there is potential for a national ban on the procedure. Trump hasn't spoken directly about his stance on abortion recently, but his appointment of three conservative judges to the Supreme Court shows that he wanted abortion rights to be restricted.
Final thoughts...
Looking at Trump’s ability to overcome his indictment and become President for a second term whilst simultaneously being accused by many women of being a sexual offender shows that his criminal activity is constantly being overlooked. It also highlights the long-running culture of not taking sexual assault victims seriously - once again, evident in the election of a sex offender as the President of the United States.
It is important not to forget these women’s stories.
These victims need to continue to be heard because if the President of the United States can’t be held accountable, what does this mean for the average sexual offender? We must remember that under Trump, women are not safe. The dismissal of his sexual assault allegations represents the broader issue of his misogynistic policies that undermine the rights of American women - from sexual assault to abortion policies.
We all know (I hope) that Trump is a terrible person, but let’s not allow his allegations to become normalised to the point that they become unimportant. We need to keep talking about them to ensure a culture of normalising sexual assault and harassment victims doesn't continue.
