TO THE EDITOR:
I am writing today in response to the letter “Trump needs to step down from candidacy” by Edana Kleinhans. In the letter, she argues that Republicans ought to condemn Trump’s candidacy in light of his vulgar comments on women.
I agree wholeheartedly with Kleinhans’ message. The fact that America has a presidential candidate who so regularly verbally abuses women is embarrassing. Our country, and more specifically the Republican party, should be ashamed.
However, I do take issue with part of Kleinhans’ argument. “Do it for your wives, your daughters, your partners, your girlfriends and yourselves,” Kleinhans urges. It is high time that we stop placing the importance of respecting women on their relations to men.
Trump’s comments that he would grab women by their genitals should terrify you not because that woman is someone’s daughter or wife, but because she is a person who doesn’t deserve to be assaulted and dehumanized.
This rhetoric of linking female victims to male relations only serves to perpetrate rape culture by placing value on women only by the roles they play to men.
I bring this up not to criticize Kleinhans, because I, too, have made similar statements in hopes of making my feminism more palatable to those who are against the concept.
Rather, I raise the issue because society as a whole needs to reevaluate the ways in which we fight misogyny, and whether our methods help or hinder that struggle.
Mitra Norowzi
