To watch the recent debate was both painful and a reinforcement of the raging misogyny rampant and ubiquitous in society today.  Not only is Donald Trump wildly unqualified to be a Presidential candidate, he also acts inappropriately on stage time and time again, which is not a quality that someone who leads should have.

Trump repeatedly interrupts, yells, and the substantive content of his speech is always extremely misogynistic. The fact that he brought up Bill Clinton’s actions to smear Hillary Clinton’s name on national television was ridiculous. Especially given the fact that he was in the process of being held accountable for his “locker room talk.” How is she conflated with the actions her husband takes as an individual? Marriage to another person does not automatically mean that you are directly responsible for that person’s actions.

Another point about Trump’s response is the fact that he dismissed the language on tape as “locker room talk.” Even if we can all concede (hypothetically) that it was just locker room talk, that he was exaggerating his actions in a private setting, his speech is still offensive and has real, material implications. Bragging about sexual assault serves to uphold toxic ideas.  Nonchalant and casual mention of sexual assault in a dismissive, even in a private setting, is destructive, unhelpful, and reinforces a culture that allows sexual assault to happen.