538: What Trump’s Brag About Sexual Assault Reveals About This Election And Our Culture
The tape of Donald Trump bragging about being able to commit sexual assault has thrown the presidential race into turmoil, but it also raises issues that have less to do with electoral politics. Several FiveThirtyEight staffers got together to talk about Donald Trump’s comments about sex assault and the reaction to them. A lightly edited transcript is below.
blythe (Blythe Terrell, senior editor): We’re coming off an eventful weekend in the presidential election. On Friday, we saw the release of a tape in which Republican nominee Donald Trump brags about being able to get away with sexual assault — saying, “And when you’re a star, they let you do it.” And then says, “Grab them by the pussy.”
In this case, Trump was speaking into a mic in a TV show van and apparently didn’t realize he was being recorded. But he was clearly in a professional environment, which is another piece of it that was … surprising.
christie (Christie Aschwanden, lead science writer): I had a really visceral reaction to the Trump tape. It reminded me of times where I’ve been treated in a way that told me that as a woman, my ideas will never be given as much consideration as my body, at least with certain men. It’s a very disempowering, vulnerable feeling.
colleen (Colleen Barry, general editor): Yeah, I really dislike the “locker-room talk” characterization this is getting. “Locker-room talk” implies that everyone is vulnerable (read: naked) and the conversations that go on are 1. meant to stay private and 2. meant to cover the awkwardness of everyone showering together. No one here was vulnerable or in a situation where they should reasonably expect privacy — they were all prepped for a TV appearance, and they all knew they were miked.
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http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/trump-sexual-assault-chat/
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