The Republican candidate for President is in trouble for his sexist behavior again. An old tape has surfaced. On the tape, Trump can be heard bragging about how he can grope any woman he wants. He boasts that he is rich, so he can simply grab women “by the pussy.”
When women across America express their disgust and outrage, Trump dismisses his comments as “locker room talk.” According to him, what he said was no big deal – “just words, people.” Trump claims lots of men talk like this. And the most bizarre part? Many men (and even some women) in this country agree with Trump and dismiss his vile comments as simply dirty talk.
1 in 5 women will be sexually assaulted at some point in their lives. Assaulted… But grabbing women by the pussy is apparently no big deal to a lot of people. And if a woman objects to Trump’s comments? Well, she is simply “overreacting.”
Kelly Oxford knows better. She was quite disturbed by Trump’s comments. So she went on Twitter last Friday night and asked women to tweet to her about the first time they were assaulted. “They aren’t just stats. I’ll go first: Old man on city bus grabs my ‘pussy’ and smiles at me, I’m 12,” she wrote. By the next day, Oxford was receiving a flood of first-person accounts of sexual assaults. And by Monday afternoon, nearly 27 million people had responded or visited Oxford’s Twitter page.
(Source: NY Times article by Jonathan Mahler,
For Many Women, Trump’s ‘Locker Room Talk’ Brings Memories of Abuse)
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What is a woman to do in the face of this endless stream of sexist abuse? How will this ever stop? And what do I tell my daughter?
Anyone who reads my blog, knows that I am a big proponent of love. I write often about the healing power of love. But what can love do in the face of this aggressive sexist behavior? And what is the best response a woman like me can make in this situation? These are the questions I have been chewing on for the past few days.
Here is where I am at today: Yes, we absolutely need to come from a place of love — this world desperately needs more love. But we must love ourselves first.
We must love ourselves from a place of POWER — a place where we stop minimizing ourselves by apologizing for our own needs, feelings, and opinions. We must love ourselves deeply, and own our power. Then, and only then, will we stop allowing other people to trivialize us.
We matter. Our needs, feelings and opinions matter. It is time for us to embrace how wise and powerful and important we truly are to the world.
Our time has come. We must not be silent any longer. It is time for us to stand up and say NO MORE! This crap is NOT OK. It is time for us to stand in our power and say NO to this type of bullshit. And you know what else? This is exactly what will change the world – woman after woman standing in her power and speaking her truth.
Can we love ourselves enough to stand in our power and DEMAND honor and respect? It is time. We must do this, for ourselves, and for each other.