Women fire back at Donald Trump’s rape culture tweet
For the past week, we’ve all been waiting for it. The moment when Donald Trump’s restraint regarding Dr. Christine Blasey Ford and her accusations against his Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh would snap. That moment is here.
It happened early Friday morning when Trump tweeted “I have no doubt that, if the attack on Dr. Ford was as bad as she says, charges would have been immediately filed with local Law Enforcement Authorities by either her or her loving parents, I ask that she bring those filings forward so that we can learn date, time, and place!” In other words, Trump was saying that if there was no such police report, Ford must be lying.
There are many reasons women don’t report rape, not the least of which is society’s tendency to put the victim on trial. Not being believed, or being told it was her fault, are two of the main reasons women are still reluctant to come forward. The premise was that if a woman was considered “promiscuous” then she probably “wanted it” or at the very least was “asking for it.” I grew up in the late 80s and “date rape” was only starting to be discussed as a real thing and “no means no” was hardly a universal concept. The rapes that were reported and prosecuted were “stranger in the bushes with a knife.” Had Ford even tried to report the alleged assault, no prosecutor in the country would have taken that case.
Here’s what makes Trump’s attempt to discredit Ford even more despicable: this is the same man who trotted out women during the election who had made sexual assault/harassment claims against Bill Clinton, all of whom came forward years after the alleged incidents took place. That Trump used those claims for his own political gain was not surprising, nor is the hypocrisy he demonstrates with this latest tweet.
However, a year into the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements, for Donald Trump to reinforce a talking point that epitomizes rape culture is further proof that there is no level too low for him to sink. But women were quick to react to this latest ignorant tweet, responding with their own stories under the hashtag #WhyIDidntReport which started trending almost immediately. There’s no doubt Trump will ignore these responses. However he will not be able to ignore the will of female voters come this November who have had it with Trump and his administration.
