A video consisting in a conversation between Donald Trump and Billy Bush in 2005 showing Donald Trump brag about his ability to sexually assault women because of his stardom has resurfaced. While many people are dismissing Donald Trump’s comments as ‘locker room talk’ there are others who believe comments as disrespectful as his are the source of the problem. Donald Trump and Billy Bush’s conversation helped uncover the enormous amount of sexism that still exists in today’s society.
Many people would agree that Donald Trump’s comments regarding women reflect women’s progress, but in reality the way people are reacting to his comments is a reflection on women’s progress. However, regardless of the reaction to Donald Trump’s comments, many people believe that women have made progress. Donald Trump’s comments have caused concern and raised the question, “How does the reaction to Trump’s offensive comments reflect on women’s progress? ” and many people have contributed their response to this question.
Many reactions to Donald Trump’s comments have caused people to become upset and their reactions are a reflection of how far we have made it in today’s society, but Donalds comments do not reflect women’s progress. Aishah Shahidah Simmons author of, “Still So Much Work to Do to End Violence Against Women” describes the work done to end women’s violence is never ending. She claims that conversations similar to Donald Trump and Billy Bush’s are occurring regularly, but the only difference is that they were videotaped.
She explains how women have taken to social media about their experiences with violence to have their voices heard. She states behavior like Donald and Billy’s become normal and will be excused as “boys will be boys. ” She states that attempts to brush off Donald’s comments will minimize the experiences of sexual assault survivors. Simmons targets her pathos at the people that would excuse Billy and Donald’s behavior as “boys will be boys. ” The usage of pathos is to have the people who would excuse his behavior understand the harm done to victims of sexual assault.
Simmons states that conversations similar to theirs are never ending and are occurring regularly. She emphasizes the importance women have of speaking about their personal sexual assault experiences so everyone becomes aware of the harm many men are causing. Simmons wants women to speak up about their experiences so their pain cannot be minimized. The brave survivors of sexual assault who are willing to speak about their experiences are helping everyone understand that sexual assault is important and cannot be diminished.
Danielle Dirks also shows how Donald Trump’s comments cannot be diminished. In the article, “Progress Would Be Accepting that Trumps ‘Locker Room Talk’ Illustrates ‘Rape Culture” Danielle Dirks, claims that Trump’s non-apology “locker room talk” excuse illustrates what feminist mean by “rape culture. ” She states that Trump and his supporters dismiss his jokes about sexual assault as normal and that we should tolerate men degrading women. She says their views diminish the seriousness of sexual assault as a violent crime and buries the experiences of many girls and women in society.
She states how research shows only a small percentage of men commit sexual violence but a large group of people would condone a man’s actions. She claims sexual degradation is dehumanizing and contributes to the widespread sexism that keeps women from achieving many things. Dirks utilizes data to show how Donald and Billy’s conversation regarding women is being dismissed as something unimportant. She explained how a study showed that only a small percentage of men would commit sexual violence, but a large group of people would disregard a man’s actions.
She supports her data by saying it contributes to sexism and wants people to be aware of the physical and emotional distress caused to victims of sexual assault. The reactions regarding sexual assault in today’s society are a reflection of women’s progress. Many people would condone a man’s actions if he committed sexual assault and disregarding sexual assault as something unimportant not only affects victims of sexual assault but also affects women in general. Women are being seen as weak and are not being taken seriously.
The people disregarding sexual assault are keeping women from achieving or not trying new things because of the fear of being treated differently because of their sex. The reaction to the problems in today’s society are reflections of women progress. Kay Hymowitz also expresses her concerns about the reaction to Trump’s comments using facts. Kay Hymowitz author of, “Despite Trump’s Comments, Women Have Made Progress,” claims that Trumps “locker room talk” reminded women of when they were victims of workplace sexual harassment.
She states many women have spoken about sexual harassment coming from Donald Trump or his company. Kay states that Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act prohibited sex discrimination, although until 1976 the federal courts expanded the definitions to include quid pro quo. The media included many stories of women who were afraid to press any charges in fear of revenge. Many companies established their own anti-harassment procedures and training. She claimed that studies found that men who completed the anti-harassment training are less willing to report sexual harassment and viewed women as weak.
She states that Trump’s comment haven’t set women progress back, but should be punished without causing discrimination towards men or women. Hymowitz uses ethos to support her claim that Trump’s comments reminded countless women of when they were victims of workplace sexual harassment. She supported her claim by expressing how women have spoken about their experiences of workplace sexual harassment. She emphasizes how unethical workplace sexual harassment was until Title VII of the Civil Rights Act prohibited it. She claims how unjust it was for women to have o go through harassment at work and supported when employers made their employees participate in an antiharassment training, although the study concluded that men were less willing to report sexual harassment if they participated in that training. Countless women have had to suffer from sexual harassment inside and outside of work, but the federal courts have understood the pain and made ethical decisions.
Dirks, Simmons, and Hymowitz share similar views regarding the question, “How does the reaction to Trump’s offensive comments reflect on women’s progress? They all believe Trump and Bush’s ‘locker room talk’ was unacceptable but they also believe there’s still a lot of work for women’s progress. Their ideas are similar but they express their concerns with different methods. Dirks uses facts to support her claim, Simmons uses pathos and person stories from victims to support her claim and Hymowitz uses ethos to convince her readers to not dismiss Trump and Bush’s conversation. Simmons opts in personal stories to defend her claim, she is making it more personal to make it harder for people to dismiss Trump and Bush’s conversation.
However, Hymowitz and Dirks use statistics to inform their readers about the importance of women progress. They all agree that diminishing sexual assault can stop women from achieving things and spreads sexism. Simmons would argue that sharing personal stories is more effective to support her claim while Hymowitz would argue that legal cases and facts are more effective to support her claim. They all agree that dismissing Trump and Bush’s comments will only worsen the situations that women face. Dirks would argue that Simmons way of stating her claim is ineffective because her only data is stories.
She would state that stories can be embellished while facts can be proven. Trump and Bush’s conversation has affected women’s progress in many ways. Violence against women will continue to exist if people continue to allow men to speak disrespectfully about women. Numerous conversation occur every day bragging about the violence done to women, but nobody bothers to speak up. Many people are even going as far as excusing their conversation as ‘locker room talk’ or ‘boys will be boys. ‘ If people continue to excuse the way women are being spoken about, the survivors of sexual assault will feel unworthy.
A 2001 study by Professors Bingham and Scherer evaluated a 30-minute training focused on sexual harassment. The study showed that regardless of the efforts to end women’s violence men who completed the training believed that both parties contributed to inappropriate sexual behavior and many men had a negative reaction to the training. Women have had to deal with being degraded by men in fear of losing their jobs. Despite Trump and Bush’s comments women have continued to make progress, workplace sexual harassment has been illegal for several years now and now a woman is in the running to be president of the United States.
Despite many women having to face difficulties, women have also made a lot of progress. The acceptance of Donald Trump’s comments condones sexism and while sexism is directed more towards women, sexism affects everyone. Women’s progress is going to be affected if we allow men to speak disrespectfully of women. Regardless of the existence of sexism, men are going to continue to have ‘locker room talk’ but women are also going to continue to make progress.
