Donald Trump has made a career out of insulting women, and he outdid himself in the now-famous audio tape on which he openly brags about being able to assault women and get away with it.

The latest scandal leaves no doubt about Trump’s deeply disturbing misogyny, yet his recent comments are offensive not only to women. He also insults men by claiming that his foul language and arguably criminal behaviour amounts to just “boys being boys.”

That’s the essence of the “locker room” defence that Trump and his surrogates put forward as his campaign visibly imploded from public revulsion against his recorded conversations with TV host Billy Bush and shock-jock Howard Stern. As the whole world now knows, he boasted that he’s able to grab women by the genitals and get away with it because he’s a star, and then gave Stern permission to call his own daughter Ivanka “a piece of ass.”

Trump seems to think all men talk and behave like this. When moderator Anderson Cooper confronted him in Sunday’s second presidential debate by saying that “you bragged that you have sexually assaulted women,” Trump dismissed it as simple “locker room” chatter. Rudy Giuliani, the one-time New York mayor and current Trump frontman, defended the Republican nominee by arguing that “men at times talk like this.”

No doubt some men do. But Trump’s vulgar caricature of males in general as rutting animals who demean women as soon as they’re behind closed doors is profoundly insulting. Decent men don’t behave that way and they should be offended to be portrayed in such a manner.

As Trump is now finding out, a lot of men feel that way. Start with the many athletes who don’t recognize Trump talk in the kind of banter that goes on in their locker rooms.

“Let’s get one thing straight. That’s not locker room talk, that’s sexual assault talk,” tweeted Colin Jones of the Carolina Panthers. Oakland Athletics pitcher Sean Doolittle added that, “As an athlete, I’ve been in locker rooms my entire adult life and, uh, that’s not locker room talk.”

Many top Republicans — led by House Speaker Paul Ryan — are now backing away from Trump, refusing to defend his increasingly offensive statements or campaign for him. They now fear he will drag their entire party down with him, handing control of Congress to the Democrats.

Somehow these Republicans managed to put up for months with Trump’s bigoted views about Mexicans, immigrants in general, Muslims, disabled people and, of course, women. They were willing to go along with him as long as he had a chance of winning. But now that he’s sinking fast they have suddenly rediscovered their forgotten principles and are fleeing the ship.

It’s good that most men are offended by Trump’s remarks. They should be. But it’s not enough.

There’s enough truth in Trump’s claim that he could get away with behaviour bordering on assault to be profoundly worrying. After all, the man he was talking to, Billy Bush, laughed along with Trump and condoned his words.

Men need to step up and shut down such talk when it happens. Standing by silently won’t do. Trump’s comments may kill his chances for the presidency. But the problem they highlight won’t go away even if Hillary Clinton makes it to the White House.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

Read more about: