Locals React to Donald Trump’s lewd Comments

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF)- Just four days after the recording of Republican Presidential Nominee Donald Trump was released, more Americans are speaking out about the dangers of sexual assault.

According to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, one out of every five women will be sexually assaulted in their lifetime, which is why the comments like the ones made by Donald Trump, whether true or not, should never be taken lightly.

“You know I’m automatically attracted to beautiful– I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait, and when you’re a star they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab them by the *Blank* You can do anything.”

Those are words Donald Trump said back in 2005, but weren’t made public until Friday, and shortly after the audio was released, Trump had this to say.

“This was locker room talk, I’m not proud of it, I apologized to my family, I apologized to the American people.”

“Extracting politics from this situation, and just looking at the sheer language of what was said. There’s a lot of danger in writing off these comments as “Locker Room” talk. This is not locker room talk. That is dialog that sets the stage for sexual assault.”

Bergen Aldahir works as the, marketing and PR manager with Partnership, a rape crisis center in Chattanooga.
The non-profit has made it perfectly clear they have absolutely no political ties to either candidate, but do take comments like the ones Trump made, very seriously.

“Women who have been victimized by sexual assault are exponentially far more likely to abuse drugs and alcohol. They’re more likely to attempt suicide. They’re more likely to drop out of school. What’s scary about that is, we don’t want young men thinking that this is okay to be said in locker rooms. Any time someone says that they are groping, kissing, touching, grabbing anyone without their consent that is sexual assault.”

Troy Kemp, Executive Director for the National Center for the Development of Boys says Trump’s comments could also be used to educate.

“I think it’s important for men to step up and say, you know, that’s not right. That’s what we’re supposed to do, that’s what dad’s are supposed to do. That’s what men in this world are supposed to do, and so something like this is a perfect opportunity to have a discussion about the words you use and the intensions you have, cause there’s message sent and message received, and you can’t take it back once you say it.”

“See something say something. It’s really going to take educating the public about what is true locker room chat, and what is actually bragging about assault.”