Alix Lane
With the 2020 United States Presidential election fast approaching, Americans will be facing the decision of whether or not to vote for current President Donald Trump or former U.S President Barack Obama’s Vice President, Joe Biden. The past four years have seen quite a shift in the political and cultural sphere of the U.S. The country, it can be argued, has never been more divided. The rise of things like white supremacist movements and the women’s march all show a growing divide over attitudes toward the current leadership in the States. It can seem like a rather hopeless time for women in politics, with men like Donald Trump who have repeatedly shown sexism and misogyny towards women being elected in and showing little to no consequences for their actions.
I remember being in grade 12 hearing the infamous video of Trump saying he would grab a woman by her vagina because he’s a celebrity, which apparently means you are excused from common human decency. To this day, Trump has had at least 25 women accuse him of sexual misconduct, the most recent being just last month. His tactic has been to deny every claim made against him, which has put more power in his hands over the victims, further spreads the message that women should not be believed, and that men in these high positions are, to some extent, untouchable. This probably would turn a voter towards Joe Biden, right?
Unfortunately, Biden has his own history of sexual misconduct. There are at least several allegations from women that claim there was some form of inappropriate physical contact had. Both these men’s claims span decades and to this day have had no real investigation into the truth behind them. Regardless of whether the claims are true or not, it is disheartening as a young woman who can vote to have to hear these claims about the candidate you are electing to run your country and “look out for your best interests.”
It is also interesting to note how in this era of the #MeToo movement where the goal is to destigmatize sexual assault, these claims seem to get lost in the media to other campaign issues, having seemingly no effect on people’s opinions as they just brush it off. Sexual assault is a delicate issue with real people’s lives being affected every day, and I cannot imagine having a claim against a President of the United States or a Presidential candidate be ignored and given such little thought. It is the ultimate slap in the face for these women when people like Judge Kavanagh went through extensive questioning over one claim, still landing the position none the less, and these men are not being treated as such, even with being elected into the Oval Office come the next couple of weeks.
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