One Take: Trump’s Impact on Assault Survivors’ Healing Processes By: Angeline Connelly Like far too many, I’m a survivor of sexual assault. I’m now 24 years old. I was raped in the backseat of a car when I was 17. It took me 5 years to even begin to address the resulting trauma. I encounter these experiences being shared largely on social media and amongst groups of likeminded and closely aged women, it’s inspiring and heart wrenching. As a member of a society which highly reveres a hierarchical structure, I intend to discuss the implications and ramifications of Donald Trump’s presidency on this large demographic, survivors. There have been endless pop culture references to Trump in the past 5 or so years, some including TV shows like SNL and Broad City. Broad City is a hyper-liberal show about two millennial women living in New York and was filmed immediately prior to and after the 2016 election with the final season being released in 2019. On the show they featured several political elements such as bleeping out the name “Trump” as if it were profanity, one of the main characters deals with difficulty orgasming after the election, and it even features a cameo by Hillary Clinton. They also dealt with several relatable topics like polyamory & being queer. They certainly tried and were true to their message. I’d like to argue that one of the biggest issues with Trump’s presidency is that it’s a mass scale regression that negatively impacts the movement for advocacy and subsequent decline of violent crimes. For the better part of the last decade there’s been an increase in visibility, largely demonstrated by the boom of the “#metoo” movement. Crimes such as rape, molestation, attempted assault can cause lasting effects on the brain. PTSD is common in survivors and interacts with the brain in a severe manner – perfectly mimicking the neurological signs of a stroke. Put simply,, the person’s body is physiologically sent back to the time of the attack, causing them to relive it. There are several vastly helpful forms of therapy including EMDR that many survivors have had success with. Anything can trigger these episodes as every experience and person is entirely unique. It’s important that we understand the physical toll. With Trump as president, there is no peace or sense of safety in the home. The constant media coverage has somehow managed to increase while all major social media platforms are faster and more up to date than news stations. News reporting is a race. When your bodily autonomy has been taken from you at any point, it’s not easy to hear “grab her by the pussy”. Trump’s entitlement to any woman’s body is wildly concerning at best. Seeing some responses to his “locker room talk” and hearing it being defended can be devastating to one’s sense of hope in humanity. It was surprising to see how many spoke out arguing that such speech and behavioral patterns were okay. Excellent tools to combat the incessant reporting are planned social media black outs & paying attention to your physical responses and needs. Societal trust has been at an all time low for years and it’s difficult to believe that Trump has done too much to improve that. Violent crimes are so difficult to report as it is with the knowledge of backed up rape kits and the defilement of your personal character in court, if you ever get to court. It is an intimidating, painful, and degrading process. On a macro-scale, the way that society responds to these crimes can be difficult. Nobody is exaggerating when they say people will ask what you were wearing when you were assaulted. On an adjacent note, I’d really love to know more about Trump’s connections to the late Jeffrey Epstein. On an ethical level, Trump’s behavior is justified by massive numbers of people everywhere which, as mentioned above. hurts the movement and perpetuates these harmful thought patterns and beliefs that so easily manifest in violent ways. On a philosophical level, what does this mean about what qualities we value in a leader? Or, what qualities are we willing to overlook? I can’t begin to answer these
questions in greater depth than speculation, but I feel it’s worth pondering. The movement needs to be able to bloom so that all survivors of all genders can be included in the conversation and protected.