SU women react to Donald Trump’s sexist remarks

The Republican nominee began his campaign stirring controversy. The RNC tried to stop his impending nomination as the Republican candidate, but to no prevail. Mr. Trump seems to thrive off of “saying it like it is,” all the while creating political strife both inter and intra party.

But, has he gone too far with his remarks towards women? The women of Syracuse responded to some of Donald Trump’s infamous quotes, and here are some of their statements.

Donald Trump: “26,000 unreported sexual assaults in the military – only 238 convictions. What did these geniuses expect when they put men & women together?” (5/7/15).

Catherine Leffert, Freshman, Broadcast and Digital Journalism

“I think it’s ludicrous to think that putting men and women together in any situation equates to imminent sexual assault. And the fact that Trump said that is exactly what normalizes the culture of sexual assault in society today.”

 

Clara Vandeyar, Freshman, Political Science

“That is so bad; he assumes men are natural predators which is such toxic thinking. It normalizes sexual assault while assuming men are always predatory.”

 

 

Crystal Hendriks, Junior, Public Health/Psychology

“I think it’s ridiculous that he assumes that it’s okay for men to assault women. And by using the term ‘geniuses’ he dismisses that the sexual assault actually happens.”

 

Donald Trump: “Can you imagine that, the face of our next president? I mean, [Carly Fiorina]’s a woman, and I’m not supposed to say bad things, but really, folks. Come on. Are we serious?” (Republican Debate, September 16, 2016)

 

Emily Green, Freshman, Undecided in Newhouse

“That’s terrible, why is he wasting energy on battling people in his own party? And giving ammunition to his opponents with these unnecessary comments. Why can’t he just be quiet? He’s bringing the whole Republican Party down with him.”

 

Laura Norton, Junior, Flute Performance

“Trump has said many things about many different women, mostly about their looks and their looks in reaction to his opinion. I don’t think that is appropriate. In light of recent findings of this presidential candidate, I think people need to be careful about who they choose to represent our country, and people need to make sure the person the choose to represent them reflects their own opinions and ideas as well.”

Donald Trump: “I don’t think you understood what was — this was locker room talk. I’m not proud of it. I apologize to my family. I apologize to the American people. Certainly I’m not proud of it. But this is locker room talk.” (In response to a video resurfacing of Trump saying he likes to ‘grab women by the pussy’, October 9, 2016)

 

Sydney Sorokin, Freshman, Communications and Rhetorical Studies

“He just comes off as a sexist pig, it’s almost as if he’s making jabs at Hillary. He’s getting defensive because she’s a woman. ‘It’s locker room talk’ c’mon, that sounds like a rapist.” Sydney Sorokin, Freshman, Communications and Rhetorical Studies

 

 

Courtney Rau, Freshman, Broadcast and Digital Journalism 

“What he said was extremely disrespectful. There is no argument against that, but being a girl and having been surrounded by boys my entire life, I know how they interact with each other behind closed doors. That isn’t an excuse o justification, but overall I don’t think something brought up from so far in the past should affect his potential political future.”

 

 

Kennedy Patlan, Junior, Advertising, Womens and Gender Studies, Citizenship

“Reiterating that it’s just ‘locker room talk’ is really upsetting to me because of personal history. Basically he was normalizing it, which is a huge issue – especially on national TV. It gives the people the okay to act like that. It’s the ultimate representation of sexism, heteropatriarchy, and ignorance.”

 

 

Genevieve Pascual, Sophomore, Computer Science

“Even if he apologizes, it’s the fact that he passes sexual assault off as ‘locker room talk’ which promotes rape culture. He’s just an idiot.”