As a man in the U.S., I am deeply offended by Trump's "Men's Locker Room" talk rationale.
Donald Trump boasts about how he can sexually assault women by grabbing their genitals and forcing himself on them. This display of sexual violence has rightly infuriated many in this country. Many women have courageously come forward to confirm that he has acted as he has boasted. As a husband and father, I am embarrassed and offended by his assaults on women like my daughter.
As a global educator, I am deeply troubled by Trump's assaults on women, but I am equally offended by what he implies about me as a man in this country. I'm no sports jock, but as someone who was on the high school wrestling team many years ago, and as someone who frequents gyms, I have never heard any men talk about assaulting women as offensively as Trump in any locker room I've ever entered.
But, I am even more offended that he is associating me as a male with his bias and violence against women. This is the most outrageous offence against me as a man. How dare he suggest that American men talk and act like this in or outside of locker rooms.
What he has described as normal "men's locker room" talk is totally not where most men in this country are coming from and it's an insult to us. Maybe in his isolated realm of anti-women business friends (although I doubt if even they say such things), he can claim that this is normal--in order to justify his sexual violence, but this is just not what men in the US are about--in my experience.
As we know many professional and collegiate athletes have already come forward to deny such language in their locker rooms.
I realize that I am only 68 years old and so have not heard conversations of his peers of 70 years of age, but I challenge him to come up with men who confirm that his abusive language and actions are normal and part of actual "locker room" banter.
Is there even a single man who agrees with Trump that this is normal for US men?
So, we as men in this country need to say "NO! This is not how we speak or act against women."
I hope you will join me and so many other men in saying "NO" and voting "YES" for the next president of the US, who happens to be a woman.
Ed