Kristen Jordan Shamus

Detroit Free Press

Virtually every woman in America can tell you about a time when a man shouted, “Hey, baby!” at her, followed by some off-color invitation to pleasure him, or when a stranger, a boss or colleague sexually harassed her, intimidated her, leered at her, or touched her inappropriately.

One in 5 American women have stories they hold more closely about sexual assault or rape.

But for the hundreds of thousands of women who've taken to social media in recent weeks sharing their own raw experiences with men, there's power.

There's power in telling others what happened to them. And there's power in the realization that collectively, they can stand up to men like the Republican nominee for president, Donald Trump.

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"It’s almost like a time of reckoning about this," said Joe Magee, an assistant professor of management and organization at the Stern School of Business at New York University, who studies power in society. Women are saying, "now I feel like I have the ability to say something about it because people will listen now. People might have discounted that before, and say, that’s absurd. No one would ever say things like that to you.

"But now you have an example of Donald Trump on tape doing this. It takes away any threat of someone saying, 'I’m not going to believe you. It’s too far-fetched.' It’s not. It’s not too far-fetched."

When the "Access Hollywood" video of Trump surfaced earlier this month showing him talking to Billy Bush about his sexual conquests of unsuspecting and non-consenting women, California author Kelly Oxford posted to Twitter with the hashtag #notokay. "tweet me your first assaults," she wrote. "they aren't just stats. i'll go first."

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She posted about a time when she was 12, and an old man on a city bus grabbed her crotch.

That single post ignited a flame that continues to burn among women who've had enough with a dialogue that persists in America that boys will be boys, that women who dress a certain way are asking for it, that women who dare go outdoors alone after dark should have known better, that a woman who has a drink socially with a male colleague invited it.

Although Trump is often praised by supporters for unabashedly speaking his mind and being willing to say what others would never utter about all kinds of people — Muslims, military heroes and Mexicans — Trump also laid bare some ugly truths in this campaign about how he views women.

In Wednesday's debate, Trump claimed the women who've come forward in recent weeks alleging he made unwanted sexual advances on them on an airplane, at a nightclub, on the set of his reality show, at pageants, and at his estate, were all part of Hillary Clinton's efforts to sabotage his campaign.

"It was all fiction. It was lies, and it was fiction," Trump said. In the end, he stooped to name-calling, saying Clinton was "a nasty woman."

►[Donald Trump, in final moments of debate: "Such a nasty woman."]

►[Trump on female accusers: "Those stories have been largely debunked." Here's the fact check.]

Clinton was not easily rebuffed: "Donald thinks belittling women makes him bigger. He goes after their dignity, their self-worth. I don’t think there’s a woman anywhere who doesn’t know what that feels like."

And yet, some women seem to be all right with Trump's tactics. At rallies, some show up wearing T-shirts that say, "You can grab my pu**y." They wave signs that say "Women for Trump" and call themselves Trumpettes.

Shauna Shames, an assistant professor of politics at Rutgers University-Camden, said throughout time, there have always been women who are complicit in oppression. "There are always women complicit in propping up male power, but they are always a minority," she said. ​

But the swell of women who've taken to social media to rally against Trump — and America's rape culture — have sparked a social movement, Shames said.

They have turned what once were demoralizing experiences into a rally cry. As ugly as this campaign season has been, it has pulled off America's mask and shown us for what we are: A nation of people for whom the sexual victimization of women has been OK for too long.

"What a wonderful testament to feminism that women — not just women, but especially women — around the country are standing up to say, no, actually, we’re not going to live like that anymore," Shames said.

"That’s a way of living that makes us deeply dependent on men, deeply vulnerable and deeply unhappy and we won’t live that way anymore. It’s not harmless (locker-room banter). What’s surprised me the most is that our culture has come far enough to realize that."

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There is power in truth-telling, and in this moment women are not afraid to tell their stories, to share their experiences.

"At least he's shown that it’s possible in American politics for men to have their reputations damaged by treating women in this way," said Anna Kirkland, associate professor of women's studies and political science at the University of Michigan, where she also is associate director of the Institute for Research on Women and Gender. "And that’s something new. You know, this has really damaged Donald Trump and his brand. Billy Bush lost his job at NBC because it was too bad for business. It was too offensive. So that’s something."

It's done something else, too. It's led men to have real conversations about the way they talk about women. It's led them to see that they should intervene when they see or hear other men behaving inappropriately.

"I can’t really articulate why, but there’s something about this moment," Magee said. "I think it’s got guys checking what they say. ... People are thinking about what’s the potential impact of something I say to someone else’s security in this world. People should think about the implications of what they say for others’ well-being."

"The question is how long will it persist?"

Good question. The election is Nov. 8.

Women have the power to raise their collective voices at the polls to confront rape culture and make it clear that it's not OK — even if the perpetrator is affluent and a contender for the highest office in the land, the president of the United States.

Contact Kristen Jordan Shamus: 313-222-5997 or kshamus@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @kristenshamus.