In powerful op-ed, Anita Hill explains why Trump's remarks matter far beyond 2016

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published 11 October 2016

In a moving op-ed published in The Boston Globe on Tuesday, Brandeis University professor Anita Hill argues there is one big flaw in the conversation about Donald Trump's graphic comments about women: It was all about Donald Trump.

Hill, who accused Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment 25 years ago, writes that for conversations about sexual harassment to really create change, they must consider the women involved. When we talk about the 2005 tape featuring Trump talking about grabbing women and using his celebrity status to get what he wants, Hill explains, we should be talking about more than just how this affects Trump's shot at winning the Oval Office:

We must understand the harm that sexual harassment and sexual violence causes. Missing from the conversation this weekend, which focused almost exclusively on the character of the offender, was concern about the victims of sexual violence. At virtually every dinner table this weekend, people talked about what should happen to Donald Trump's political ambitions. But little consideration was given to what impact the brutish behavior he claimed to have had on the women he victimized. How many of them talked about Arianne Zucker, the young woman in the leaked video who Bush cajoled into hugging the same two men who had just joked about forcibly kissing her? Did she know she was the butt of a sexual gag? Or did we wonder what happened to Nancy O'Dell, the woman who rejected Trump's advances? [Anita Hill, via The Boston Globe]

Though Trump's comments are inextricably part of the contentious presidential election, Hill contends that if the conversation can extend beyond the context of 2016, it can make a difference in how sexual harassment is perceived. "Regardless," Hill writes, "this backdrop does not relieve us of the responsibility to leverage this moment to help guard against sexual harassment and assault."