Gender has just exploded as a central issue in these final weeks of the presidential campaign, as Americans prepare to elect either our first female president or a man facing allegations of sexual assault from multiple women across many years. Since the release last week of the 2005 tape capturing Donald Trump’s lewd comments about kissing and groping women, contestants of Trump-owned beauty pageants, a reporter and a Trump Tower employee, among others, have publicly accused the mogul of sexually harassing or assaulting them. Trump, for his part, has denied the allegations and has tried to focus attention on women who once accused Bill Clinton of sexual misbehavior.

For all this tawdry back-and-forth, there’s also been a remarkable openness in the way that women—and men—have talked over the past week about the role that sexism still plays in our society. On Twitter and Facebook, hundreds of women have shared personal stories of harassment and assault. Campaigning for Hillary Clinton, First Lady Michelle Obama delivered a searing and personal speech on Thursday in which she said Trump’s behavior “has shaken me to my core.” Meanwhile, the Republican Party is grappling with how and whether to support its candidate, at the risk of losing female voters. All this comes after more and more discussion in recent years surrounding assault in the military, on college campuses and in the entertainment industry.


Do the events of the past week make the election a watershed moment for women? We asked women from a variety of backgrounds whether the very public debate the country is now having about sexism is more a sign of what’s continued unabated for decades—or, perhaps, a breakthrough.

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‘Trump may be the best thing that ever happened to American feminism in the early 21st century’

Valerie M. Hudson is professor of international affairs and George H.W. Bush Chair at Texas A&M University’s Bush School of Government and Public Service.

Donald Trump may be the best thing that ever happened to American feminism in the early 21st century. Just two years ago, in 2014, we had a moment where women, primarily young women, were asserting that they no longer needed feminism, or weren’t feminists. But the roar you have heard from women about Trump is a unified and unifying roar.

We’ve been that 11-year-old the dentist groped, the 12-year-old the dirty old man on the subway exposed himself to, the 13-year-old whose uncle decided to groom for abuse, the 14-year-old scared to death walking down the sidewalk while men twice her size said the vilest things, the 15-year-old whose history teacher keeps wanting “special hugs” after class. We’re just sick of it, all of us. As First Lady Michelle Obama said today, “The measure of any society is how it treats women and girls.” By that measure, the United States is doing poorly, whether we are speaking of physical security, economic security, or representation in government and business. There can be no peace in the world or in our nation until there is peace between the two halves of humanity, men and women.

Let us make full use of this moment to put men like Trump—and there are still all too many of them, especially in the halls of power—on notice that their ambitions, even their careers, will be destroyed by their misogyny. And let’s also do something for those young girls, those 11- and 12-year-olds, so they know exactly what to call that ugliness when they first face it, and know exactly to do when someone tries to socialize them to be prey. In a strangely ironic way, Trump is helping us make America great again—for women—by reenergizing grassroots feminism.

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‘We could use another wave of female lawmakers’

Liza Mundy, contributing editor at Politico Magazine, is program director at New America.

These recent revelations and allegations around Donald Trump’s words and behavior have awakened such a massive expression of outrage, recognition, pain, solidarity and shared trauma. I think it’s fair to say that every woman who has been paying attention (and who could not?) has found herself reliving a series of painful yet common memories—maybe even more memories than she realized she had. The experience of being groped, or evaluated on your appearance, or dismissed, or made uncomfortable in an office or on an airplane, always when you least expect it; of hearing men talk about you and how you look; of feeling diminished and demeaned. As Michelle Obama pointed out in her speech, all this is so searingly familiar to literally every woman who has stepped onto a public sidewalk or walked down a street or into a workplace. The good news is that finally there is a sufficiently critical mass of women in journalism, on social media, and in public life, to push back and try to continue re-setting the norm (which, honestly, it feels like we have been doing for 30 years now, or maybe 300). And there are far, far more men who get it, and will speak out and act, than there were a couple of decades ago.

Even so, there are still not enough women in public life, especially political life, and it would be heartening if the events of the past months inspire more women to run for office, in both parties. Maybe this sounds like a cliché. But during the past days, I have been thinking a lot about Anita Hill’s testimony during the 1991 Senate confirmation hearings of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, in which her allegations of sexual harassment were met with skepticism and hostility from an all-male Judiciary Committee. That spectacle famously led to the so-called Year of the Woman, in which an unprecedented number of women (just four, but still it was a big improvement) were newly elected to the U.S. Senate. This current moment feels like a similar cultural watershed. We could use another wave of female lawmakers; so let women rise up and run.

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‘This election has, quite sadly, brought that ugly reality to the forefront’

Debora Spar is president of Barnard College.

As elections go, this is uncharted territory. We haven’t been here before. And it would be naïve to say that the tenor of this extraordinary face-off isn’t due, at least in part, to the fact that one of the candidates is a woman. I come to this with a dual perspective—both as a woman who grew up in the ’60s and ’70s when a women’s place was more clearly, less equally defined, and as the president of Barnard College where, for the past eight years, I have the privilege of working closely with and guiding the next generation of women leaders.

When I was growing up, I knew that sexism existed because those were the days when you went to look for a job in the paper and it was labeled “Women wanted” or “Men wanted.” And that was that. Our students have an advantage because they’ve grown up not expecting sexism—which is wonderful, but it makes it so much harder when they get hit over the head with the ugly reality of sexism. It’s unfamiliar terrain, and there’s no doubt that this election has, quite sadly, brought that ugly reality to the forefront. The question arises: How do you balance your identity as a woman with your position as a front-runner for the nation’s highest office?

All partisanship aside, it’s disappointing how big a role gender has played in this historic election. The hope is that we can all grow and learn from it—and rewrite the rules for future generations.



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Michele Obama’s speech ‘gave me hope’

Lara Bazelon is an attorney and a contributing writer to Slate.

I listen to the “Morning Joe” podcast every day when I go running. I enjoy the show because of the lively debate and the diversity of viewpoints. I also appreciate Joe Scarborough’s conservative, often contrarian perspective even though I usually disagree with him. As a progressive woman living in San Francisco, I don’t hear voices like Scarborough’s a whole lot.

But this morning, Scarborough’s voice stopped me in my tracks, literally. The discussion centered around Wednesday’s explosive New York Times article featuring two women, Jessica Leeds and Rachel Crooks, who say that Donald Trump made awful, unwanted advances, kissing and groping them. Leeds and Crooks came forward only after hearing Trump flatly deny doing any such thing to any woman under pinpoint questioning by Anderson Cooper at the beginning of Sunday’s presidential debate. Why, Scarborough’s wondered, were these allegations—from the 1980s and 2005—only surfacing now? Viewers should be “skeptical” he said, not necessarily because the women were untruthful, but because of the timing. He backed co-host Willie Geist’s suggestion that it could be “oppo” research from Hillary Clinton’s campaign, sprung as an October surprise. After all, why now, after so many other “triggering” events?

Why now? Because these women had to feel, as Leeds put it, like “I wanted to punch the screen,” to take the tremendous risk that comes with telling the truth abut sexual harassment and sexual assault. They had to be in a state of outrage so complete that it momentarily dimmed feeling sick over what they had to know would be coming at them immediately after opening their mouths. Responding to a similar story by a former People magazine reporter Natasha Stoynoff, Trump scoffed, “Take a look, you look at her, look at her words, you tell me what you think. I don’t think so.” Of his accusers collectively, Trump said, “These people are horrible people. They are horrible, horrible liars.”

And now the world stands in judgment, the women’s veracity is the subject of worldwide public debate, their names and faces are splashed all over every social medial device. “Donald Trump sexual assault” is what Google will forever attach to their names. Yes, some have applauded their bravery, but others dismiss them as strategically timed Clinton-placed bombs. And that’s one of the kinder critiques. Watching as their stories were appropriated, chewed over and spit out in the media storm was depressingly familiar.

Here is what’s even more depressing. I am willing to bet that there are scores more women that Trump has treated similarly. Because we’ve all been there: groped, slapped on the butt, forced to repel unwanted advances from unattractive, unhappily married men decades older than ourselves. And we say nothing. I know I never have. We want to be known for our professional accomplishments, not our accusations. We don’t want our accusations to doom any hope of having the kind of professional accomplishments we seek. Which can be, and often is, the cost of telling the truth. It makes me sad to write these words. Because my daughter is 5 years old, and I want her to grow up in a workplace where everything I just described is impossible. When she, too, is inevitably propositioned and manhandled, I want her to speak out knowing that her words won’t be the only thing that anyone will ever remember about her.

That possibility seemed remote to me until I watched Michelle Obama’s speech in Manchester, New Hampshire, on Thursday afternoon. I sat, riveted in front of my laptop, as she called Trump out in a voice choking with emotion. Righteously indignant, spot on, standing strong behind the women Trump had abused—behind every woman who has had to endure that kind of abuse—the first lady was a thousand times more powerful than the petty, disgusting tyrant she was dismembering. And it gave me hope.

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‘What I hope we don’t forget is that this energy isn’t the election’s invention’

Alexandra Brodsky is co-founder of Know Your IX and Skadden Fellow at the National Women’s Law Center.

I have little doubt that 10 years from now we will remember 2016 as an explosive moment for gender politics. Feminist agendas have found a national platform, from Ilyse Hogue, the president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, talking about her abortion at the Democratic National Convention to substantive debate about paid family leave to widespread conversation about sexual harassment. What I hope we don’t forget is that this energy isn’t the election’s invention; politicians must grapple with gender justice because of renewed and powerful grassroots organizing. I don’t think Americans would be so quick to recognize non-consensual kissing and groping as sexual assault without the last few years of sustained, visible work by gender violence survivors. We wouldn’t see this shift away from euphemistic discussion of abortion if reproductive justice organizers hadn’t demanded it. That's good news. Election season is almost over, but the newly re-energized movement is just getting started.

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‘The window is open’

Eve Ensler is author of the Vagina Monologues.

I believe this election season—Donald Trump, his racist misogyny and the rape culture that has been both revealed and unleashed during this campaign—could be the tipping point. We are in a deeply ugly moment. It is as if the secret story that has poisoned and destroyed so many women’s lives has risen to full view, and now we cannot turn away.

Women have been working for most of our lives to get people to understand that violence against women—one out of every three women will be raped or beaten in her lifetime—is a core issue of our times and the methodology that sustains patriarchy. This is the moment for women and men to rise and demand the necessary transformation in our thinking, in our behavior, in our discourse, in our educating boys and girls about sex and intimacy and love and consent. This is the moment for women to say no more. We are equal, we are powerful, we are brilliant, we are beautiful, and we will no longer accept one more man degrading us, grabbing us, raping us, intimidating and harassing us at work, at home, in school. And this is the moment for every man to stand with us and make our liberation as important to him as it is to us.

The window is open. We need to get our bodies through so it never closes again.

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‘What further steps are we going to take to end this kind of abuse?’

Elizabeth Holtzman, formerly a member of Congress representing New York’s 16th district, district attorney of Brooklyn and comptroller of New York City, now practices law in New York.

The leaked video of Donald Trump has already become a watershed moment for America. Trump’s boasts about sexually assaulting women—the assaults would be crimes in most places in this country—has exposed his predatory character. Growing numbers of women are coming forward to tell their own stories of his abusive conduct. This has upended the presidential race. Trump is now very likely to lose. His appeal has plummeted drastically. He has become an object of revulsion and contempt.

But this is a teaching moment for America. The women coming forward now did not do so before because they feared humiliation, retribution or simply being ignored. The question for our country is: What further steps are we going to take to end this kind of abuse, and make women who are victims feel able to challenge the abuse when it happens, instead of years later and without needing a predator’s video confession for support? In casting a vote against Trump for president, voters can also send a huge message to would-be predators in both the public and private spheres: Don’t think you can get away with sexual assault.

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‘The 2016 election is a game changer’

Sophia Nelson is a journalist and author.

First Lady Michelle Obama’s remarks on Tuesday afternoon in New Hampshire say it all: “The measure of any society is how it treats its women and girls. The shameful comments about our bodies the disrespect of our intelligence. The belief that you can do anything to a woman. It is cruel. It’s frightening. And the truth is, it hurts. It hurts.”

But some good could come out of this conversation. I believe that this is indeed a watershed moment for women in politics much like in 1992. That year, after the Clarence Thomas/Anita Hill hearings in 1991, the country woke-up to the most overt sexism and poor treatment of women, and an historic number of women were elected to Congress in 1992. This year, Donald Trump has exposed us once again to the dark side of the corporate, entertainment, wealthy male “locker room.” He has exposed us to the private things that men of power and influence still think about women who are their equals or not. And the implications in this election are enormous. I can tell because my phone is already ringing off the hook from corporate and industry leaders asking for help training their workforces to deal with the male culture that still dominates. I also am getting lots of requests from churches about training for male clergy. I think this election will have huge consequences in every part of our country.

Hillary Clinton, I believe, is one of those people, much like President Obama, who was destined to lead us at a certain time in our history. I think that it is providential that God would see fit, in the midst of all of this “mess” to elevate a woman to the presidency. It’s time. I am a lifelong Republican who will vote for Hillary. And I am really excited about the prospect of having a woman lead us because women lead differently. We have better empathy skills, emotional intelligence skills, and we are better multi-taskers. The 2016 election is a game changer—one that will be written about for hundreds of years to come.

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‘Clearly, misogynists across this nation think the first female president is a big honking deal’

Amanda Marcotte is a politics writer for Salon.

We’re an unsubtle country, so I suppose it makes sense that when the Democrats put up the first female major party nominee for president, the Republicans go with a man who brags about how he likes to “grab them by the pussy.” No reason for a light touch when we’re having a national panic about women getting out of the kitchen and into the Oval Office, I suppose.

A lot of people like to pooh-pooh the historical importance of the first female president, because, after all, it’s not like it’s going to fix all sexism or even get women equal representation in all levels of government. But clearly, misogynists across this nation think it’s a big honking deal. That’s why they threw all common sense and decency out the window to run a guy that, no matter what else happens, they could be assured would act like a gross pig to Hillary Clinton’s face. Every woman who has been sexually harassed recognizes the impulse: If they can’t make you stay at home, they will at least make your journey into public spaces more unpleasant. It’s just happening on a national scale now.

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‘Women are leaving the party that once promised them safety’

Juliette Kayyem is former assistant secretary at the Department of Homeland Security, a faculty member at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and author of Security Mom: An Unclassified Guide to Protecting Our Homeland and Your Home.

It is hard to imagine now, but there was a time when Donald Trump could have gained some traction with female voters. Terror attacks in Paris, Brussels and San Bernardino in late 2015 and early 2016, followed by the Orlando terror in early summer, raised the possibility that the proverbial “security moms”—suburban, college-educated white women who ranked terror and the safety of their homes and children as a primary motivating force—would overcome any apprehension toward Trump and hurt Hillary Clinton’s base. Trump was never going to win the female vote, but he could put sufficient dents into her appeal, as George W. Bush did in 2004. Trump, riding the wave, even repositioned his “Make America Great Again” to “Make America Safe Again.”

The Islamic State might be a threat, but it hasn’t moved the female vote. And this past week may have redefined the “security mom” in a much more personal matter. As women abandon Trump with every new allegation of sexual harassment and predatory behavior, it is the very same demographic—the suburban college-educated mothers—that aren’t prioritizing terror of the jihadist kind but terror of the sexual assault kind now. And they are leaving the party that once promised them safety. As Michelle Obama’s speech made clear today, as well, these mothers are also raising daughters.

In all my years working in homeland security and writing about my career—whether responding to threats from Al Qaeda or ISIL, hurricanes or tornadoes, anthrax or H1N1, plane crashes or oil spills—I have never mentioned, once, the safety concerns that so many of us feel on such an intimate level. Working women like me have long laughed off or even forgotten those slights and inappropriate behavior—until last Friday’s video reminded me of all those times when forging a career in a predominantly male field, and having three kids, wasn't without its abuses.

The security moms are back, but they are defining security in their terms. Thankfully.

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‘It’s up to the women’

Jill Lepore is professor of American history at Harvard University and a staff writer at the New Yorker.

“It’s up to the women,” Eleanor Roosevelt liked to say. This time, she is quite entirely right.

