This morning on CNN, official Trump surrogate Scottie Nell Hughes, gave us this little turd nugget with regards to the Trump tape from 2005:
"This morning, no woman woke up affected by these words."
She could not have been more wrong.
Damn near every woman who woke up today and heard the tape was instantly reminded of every unwanted unwelcome advance/grope/touch they were subjected to by a man, or men, who did so because they felt ENTITLED to do so. Many women, and I include myself among them, have had those memories triggered, and we are pissed.
My male friends and family are good decent people, extremely respectful of women, yet I don't think that they truly understand some of the experiences we have had as women and the harassment most, if not all, of us have been subjected to over the years. I'll give you some examples from my life's experience:
The first date I had with a boy at the movies. He thought it was perfectly okay to cup his hand over my breast during the movie. I was 13; or
I went to an all-girls Catholic high school. There was a guy who would ride next to the bus on the way home with his penis exposed for everyone to see; or
The boyfriend who thought he had the right to put me a chokehold because I didn't hear him calling my name; or
The guy who pressed his erect penis into my thigh as I was riding a crowded bus to college; or
The local district manager of a national restaurant chain who rubbed my ass and told me that he could get me into the management program if I really wanted it; or
My one boss who would have me personally deliver documents to a business associate who made it clear to my boss that he wanted to have sex with me; or
The attorney I worked with who would "accidentally" brush against me; or
Well, I think you get the idea.
These incidents happened to me when I was a young woman in my teens and twenties in the late 80s and early 90s, before I found my strength, before I found my voice, and they were done by men who were in positions to exert some authority or dominance over me. I was nothing more than a piece of meat. They did what they did because they believed, nay knew, that they could get away with it.
This is what women, even in this day and age, deal with.
I don't want sympathy. I don't want pity. I don't want apologies.
I want you to understand, and I just want it to stop.
This woman was affected by Donald Trump's words. And, so were literally millions of other women.
So, in short, fuck you, Scottie Nell Hughes.
UPDATE: Rec list?!?!?! Thank you! I had to get this off my chest. I have a very, very difficult time with apologists, especially women apologists, who defend this kind of deplorable behavior. Remember, Trump wasn’t some young, emotionally stilted teenager or college kid when he said what he said: he was a goddamn nearly 60 year old man when he said this! This wasn’t an isolated moment; it was a cumulative moment that represents everything he believes to be true. And for SNH to defend it is nothing short of complete delusion. — TM