Trump’s ‘adorable deplorables’ must be stopped
October 22, 2016
A Donald Trump rally in Cincinnati on Oct. 13 took an unsettling turn when BuzzFeed senior culture writer Anne Helen Peterson interviewed several ladies concerning their unwavering support for the GOP candidate despite rape allegations.
Peterson’s article is chock full of demeaning phrases from the mouths of women in support of Trump, who simply refused to understand the severity of his alleged actions.
Women who support Trump told Peterson about their opposition to Hillary Clinton, how Trump handles foreign affairs and, most prominently, their justifications for why the GOP candidate has supposedly been falsely accused of rape.
“‘Next time she should record it, if she wants people to believe her.’ [Trump’s female supporters] agreed that even if another woman came forward alleging rape, it would not alter their support, because she’d be lying,” wrote Peterson.
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I understand the importance of respecting conflicting opinions, and this column isn’t intended to libel conservatives who stand by Trump’s “values”; however, it’s clear that these women who stand by The Donald are products of the miseducation of rape culture — and they must be stopped.
From drawing parallels between how the women’s husbands and Trump speak, to straight up accusing the alleged assault victim of lying, these self-named “adorable deplorables” refuse to second guess their support for Trump.
When they dismiss Trump’s disrespectful language toward women as “guys just (saying) dumb stuff,” these women are refusing to acknowledge the deeper societal issue that is rape culture.
This justification is a form of the classic phrase, “boys will be boys,” which is problematic because it enforces the idea that men are naturally unable to control their impulses, when they are perfectly capable of doing so.
“Women love that. I’m not talking about assault here, but getting grabbed at, it’s a way of saying you’re still cute,” said one of Trump’s female supporters.
When these women claim such things, they’re spreading the message that consent is unnecessary for sexual contact.
When they declare that “Trump’s so rich. If he did that to you, wouldn’t you just sue him and get that money?” they are using The Donald’s celebrity status to excuse his alleged actions.
If we continue to accuse assault victims of slander and blame them for lack of evidence, like these women do, we will continue to sustain our culture of victim-blaming.
In fact, the National Sexual Violence Resource Center finds that only 2-8 percent of sexual violence reports have been proven false, and only 18-40 percent of rape cases are reported to police due to fear of disbelief.
When women who are voting for Trump justify the rape allegations made against the GOP candidate, they are reflecting a society suffering from rape culture that stems from a lack of education about safe sex. By electing a president with this legal background, we would be ignoring the severity of his actions and telling men it’s okay to sexually assault women because of celebrity status or because “she wanted it.”
As a woman, it’s disheartening to hear these comments come from people of my own gender, a gender that is too often the victim of sexual violence. 20 percent of the female population will fall victim to sexual abuse in their lifetimes.
These women are a prime example of why sex education and discussions about consent need to be implemented in high schools and universities across the country. These women show why programs like FYCARE at the University are so vital.
These women’s justifications are the reason why electing a candidate with Trump’s background could be so detrimental to our society.
Jamie is a freshman in Media.
Editor’s note: this article was lightly edited post-publishing for wording.