Donald Trump ― and now his son, Eric ― are officially as clueless about sexual harassment in the workplace as they are about everything else.
On July 26, when asked about the Gretchen Carlson and Roger Ailes sexual harassment lawsuit, Trump Senior told USA Today that he’s skeptical about the (now more than 20) allegations against Ailes and that the whole thing is “very sad.” He also said that he believes his daughter Ivanka “would find another career or find another company” if she faced any harassment.
On Tuesday morning, Eric Trump piggy-backed on his father’s comments, telling “CBS This Morning” that his sister “wouldn’t allow herself to be subjected to [sexual harassment].”
It should come as no surprise that a candidate who admittedly doesn’t “know what is going on with the women,” would also not know what’s going on with workplace harassment. And now that his son has chimed in with equally harmful rhetoric about sexual harassment, it’s safe to say that the Trumps are completely out of touch with issues that affect women.
Perhaps someone with Ivanka’s vast amounts of privilege could get up and walk out of a job every time a dude did or said something creepy. But for most women, that unfortunately is not the case: One in four women will experience workplace harassment, according to the National Women’s Law Center. Fatima Goss Graves, the center’s vice president, said in 2015 that most women ― especially in fields where women are underrepresented ― won’t report any harassment. “Because of the significant barriers to entry, women who suffer harassment in nontraditional jobs may be especially unlikely to report harassment for fear of retaliation,” she said.
The idea that women choose or don’t choose to be sexually harassed is toxic rhetoric that inherently places the blame on women rather than the men who harass them. And while Eric Trump’s comment may appear to be a small-scale blip in the context of his father’s massively bombastic campaign, statements like these ― and the fact that people actually believe them ― should not be overlooked.
It’s this very mindset that allows for violence and harassment of women to be so frequently ignored and belittled, and that works against women when they pursue any kind of justice after enduring abuse.
Above all else, there is no room for this rhetoric in a presidential campaign.
Editor’s note: Donald Trump regularly incites political violence and is a serial liar, rampant xenophobe, racist, misogynist and birther who has repeatedly pledged to ban all Muslims ― 1.6 billion members of an entire religion ― from entering the U.S.
Related
Before You Go
