Temple Taggart McDowell. Cassandra Searles. Jennifer Murphy. Natasha Stoynoff. Mindy McGillivray. Jessica Leeds. Rachel Crooks. Lisa Boyne. Kristin Anderson. Cathy Heller. Karena Virginia. Jessica Drake. Ninni Laaksonen. Juliet Huddy. Tasha Dixon. Jane Does 1, 2, 3, and so on.
A steadfast belief in white people’s right to be innocent until proven guilty in this country has resulted in a system in which rape is a nearly consequence-free offense, particularly for anyone rich enough to throw money at their problems. The nature of sexual crimes means they are almost always witnessed exclusively by the perpetrator and the victim. Even in cases where there is evidence, it is easy enough to claim that a woman who is anything less than a nun in a full habit “asked for it.”
A credibly accused rapist has sat in the White House, flexing a controlling, if often incompetent, hand over the country for 28 months. Most of those accusations surfaced before he won election. They continued to come out after he stepped into the Oval Office, claiming that space as his own with the same derision and spite with which he entered the dressing rooms of naked teenage beauty pageant contestants. He has stood on the White House lawn in ill-fitting suits, sneering and slouching and defending the reputations of men in his employ who were accused of violently abusing women.
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There are no content warnings on stories about the United States President. No italicized editor’s note at the top, warning readers that they’ll have to read the name of a credibly accused sexual predator over and over. TV and radio hosts provide no warning before they play clips of his grating, oily voice. There is no concern for the woman whose vision might blur when she hears that voice as she’s driving to work, who will suddenly feel short of breath, who will reach wildly for the dial, desperate to get away from that reminder of this country’s most fundamental truth: Women are worthless in America.
Too dramatic? I disagree. How else should we interpret the fact that this nation elected to its highest office a man who has been accused of rape by this many women? What else should we take away from the inaction in response to these allegations by the entities supposedly meant to check and balance government powers? Why is it OK for members of Congress to simply carry on?
This is not a media criticism issue. What is the media supposed to write this week? Another Woman Details Rape By U.S. President. You’re mad that the New York Times didn’t find an A1 space to follow a book excerpt run in another outlet, or that executive editor Dean Baquet eventually conceded that the paper of record underplayed the story?
I’m mad that the people whose salaries we pay don’t have to answer a single fucking question about what the fuck they’re doing about it. If Congress does not have the power to launch an investigation, to hold hearings for these women, then tell us that. Tell us that you are impotent by design, instead of by choice.
Don’t tap dance around the truth. Don’t call it “those actions” (Julian Castro), “the charges” (Bill de Blasio), “all of this” (Eric Swalwell), “these allegations” (John Delaney), “it” (Andrew Yang), or even “serious allegations” (Kamala Harris) or “very serious charges” (Tim Ryan). It’s not enough. It’s not enough to say there “aren’t any real surprises” (Elizabeth Warren). Calling what Trump is—again—charged with doing “sexual misconduct” (Cory Booker) or even “sexual assault” (Joe Biden) is not enough.
Call it what it is: rape.
Out of respect for the bravery of these traumatized women, and all of the women in this country who are re-traumatized every day that they have to hear his name after the word “president” or hear his voice on their morning commute or the nightly news while they’re making dinner, call it what it fucking is. And tell us what the fuck you’re going to do about it.
You are working with an accused rapist—many times accused. What are you doing about it?
You are not as powerless as we are. You have platforms that we, the people, have given you. Even if you don’t have the legal authority to take action against this person, you can at the very least tell us that you see and share our pain and frustration, and not be silent about it. And if you don’t, all you’re doing is showing us that you’re not fit for the office you hold.
Maybe you don’t believe women will make you pay a political price for this. Maybe you think that by not addressing the accused rapist-in-chief, the worst-case scenario is that victims will be ground down and go silent, and that violent, abusive behavior will become even more accepted, and Democrats will have more reason to avoid policing their own party based on some playground-level finger-pointing of who’s worse.
And perhaps some of us will be ground down, and go silent. It is understandable to see the current situation and decide to go underground: it is logical, rational. What on earth could be the benefit of coming forward in a culture that at best ignores you, and more likely will seek to destroy you? It might also be logical and rational for men to look around and deduce that there are, in fact, no consequences, that they truly can act with impunity against anyone they please.
But it would be dangerous to discount the rest of us, and our growing numbers. We have been radicalized, and every time you try to hide from this ugliness, our radicalization grows.
Temple Taggart McDowell. Cassandra Searles. Jennifer Murphy. Natasha Stoynoff. Mindy McGillivray. Jessica Leeds. Rachel Crooks. Lisa Boyne. Kristin Anderson. Cathy Heller. Karena Virginia. Jessica Drake. Ninni Laaksonen. Juliet Huddy. Tasha Dixon. Jane Does 1, 2, 3, and so on.
Now we add E. Jean Carroll’s name to the roll call. How many more have to come forward and be ignored before this country stops being so surprised that the abused, devalued and discarded bodies of its women are coursing with rage?
