Donald Trump and his Misunderstanding of Sexual Assault

Donald Trump is considering a presidential run in 2016 as reported by the New York Post. A $1 million commission to research his electability state by state is expected to determine his decision, but Trump is no stranger to thinking about running for president.

At the dawn of the 2012 election, Trump took his “Maybe” campaign all across the media, concentrating mostly on conservative outlets, which proved to be a receptive platform to all his criticisms of Barack Obama, whether they were driven by policy or by conspiracy.

Despite his waning popularity and downward trend in the polls, he held onto the illusion that he was a top contender in the Republican Party and most able to challenge the president in the general election.

He withdrew his almost-bid from that 2012 race and has continued to assert himself into the spotlight through the social media outlet Twitter. But he has gone from bickering and bashing other celebrities through Twitter feuds to voicing his political opinions in 140 characters or less.

And when the Pentagon reported that the number of sexually assaulted soldiers rose to 26,000 last year, Trump took to Twitter, writing, “26,000 unreported sexual assaults in the military-only 238 convictions. What did these geniuses expect when they put men & women together?”

Trump went on to say that the military generals didn’t want to invite women into the service, as though the addition of women made the staggering rise of sexual assaults inevitable.

According to Trump, the co-mingling of men and women amid the restrictive environment of the military is what makes men prone to sexual violence against women.

He very plainly asks, “You throw women into the mix and so what do you expect?” The answer to such an inquiry is simple — we expect other individuals to respect our bodies wherever we may find ourselves in the world and if this standard is not met, appropriate repercussions to be taken and followed through with.

He is undeniably victim-shaming in this tweet, but this perspective of sexual violence is a trap. When you blame the victims for demanding and expecting equality in the armed forces, you’re lumping together every member of the predominantly aggressive group, in this case, men, saying they all share the same likelihood of inflicting sexual violence.

It’s a dangerous rationalization as it relieves the aggressor from taking full responsibility for his crimes, saying that we shouldn’t have given him the opportunity to commit a rape, and so really the fault lies with the victims and the legislators who fought for a co-ed military.

When you fall into the trap of blaming the victim you corner yourself into a false generalization that all men are prone to sexual violence if the opportunity presents itself. And moreover, it doesn’t give credit to the civilian and servicemen who stand alongside women every day and treat everyone with the exact respect that they deserve.

Trump assumes that if we didn’t “put” men and women together, we wouldn’t be seeing these kinds of spikes but that’s not true.

The truth is that out of the 26,000 reported sexual assault victims, 12,000 were women while the remaining 14,000 were men. Thus, more male military members are being assaulted, making it even more of a men’s issue. The sad reality is that even if we take women out of the equation, the problem would still persist, and that is not something to be glossed over.

In a Trump America, wherever there’s a co-mingling of men and women, be it the workplace, the city streets, bars, high schools and college campuses, there’s an opportunity for sexual assault. Thus, the solution would be to separate women from the workplace, give them their own schools, designated bars and eateries and all will be solved.

Separate but safe.

Except that there are still same-sex assaults in the military… and everywhere else.

This is not about women joining the military or the result of repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, or any other progressive change that’s come to the armed services. This is about sexual predators, how they can infiltrate anywhere, even the sacred and honorable military. This is about the broken system of justice, which falls outside the realm of the civilian court system and fails these victims on a regular basis.

There are men and women who fought for equality and justice among all realms of our society, and that includes the military. We are given the choice to join the armed services, and when that opportunity finally presented itself to women, those brave individuals jumped at the chance. And of those who were taken advantage of, abused, ignored and silenced, many still hold the military in high esteem. They continue to be proud of their service and the choice they made but are gravely disappointed in the handling of sexual violence.

What they’re asking for is change, not shame, not blame, not excuses, nor denial.

What we need is an administration that will fight for real solutions that preserve the integrity of our co-ed military, protect the men and women in uniform and deliver true justice for the crimes against them.

But we cannot expect this from Donald Trump, not while his strategy for a safer America is shutting women away behind locked doors, removed from the outside world instead of making that world safer, more just, encouraging future victims to come forth with their own stories.

That is not the whole of the job as Commander in Chief, certainly, but such insensitivity definitely matters, particularly when 53% of the electorate are women.

Disclaimer: This post was written by a Feministing Community user and does not necessarily reflect the views of any Feministing columnist, editor, or executive director.

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