With the U.S. election results, I feel concerned that America has elevated to the presidency an individual who, when I apply my clinical eye for evaluation of sexual pathology, does not fare well:
- A federal lawsuit was filed against Donald Trump for child rape. But the April 2016 lawsuit was not just simple rape charge but an allegation of sexual enslavement and multiple assaults ― of a 13-year-old girl, in which it is alleged that he threatened he would hurt or murder her and her family if she told, and with a comparison to another 12-year-old who “disappeared.” This legal case was officially dropped, reportedly because of harassment, bullying, and death threats, but the claims were not withdrawn. Was justice served?
- Trump is a known associate with a convicted level-3 sex offender, Jeffrey Epstein, also named in the April child rape lawsuit as a co-conspirator;
- There are multiple other rape/sexual assault allegations made against him, including one settled legally with a former spouse;
- He has made public statements sexualizing his daughter, which we know is covert incest, without apology;
- He has also been accused – and I have observed this behavior as reported in the media– of sexual harassment, stalking, bullying, of women; as well as denouncing men with degrading generalizations;
- He is opposed to marriage equality for LGBT individuals, transgender equality, and chose a running mate known for LGBT discrimination, threatening to undo the amazing gains we have seen in the past four years;
- He has also made repeated racist remarks, objectifying, threatening and belittling entire groups of people based on race, which we know is a form of harm; and,
- One of the first statements his campaign has made since election is that they keep a long list of enemies - essentially more of the threats - only now from the power position of President-elect.
To quote an article about this by lawyer Lisa Bloom @LisaBloom on Huffington Post from “Why The New Child Rape Case Filed Against Donald Trump Should Not Be Ignored,” in which she examined the legal accusations and finds them credible,
What do you call a nation that refuses to even look at sexual assault claims against a man seeking to lead the free world? Rape culture. We ignore the voices of women at our peril.
I think we live in a culture traumatized into silence by the prevalence of sexual abuse, violence and rape, frozen into shock and disbelief, not yet thawed into the natural outrage and empowerment to say “This is not okay. This is not sexual health. I will not enable this with my denial.”
It’s not just rape culture, it’s rape-trauma culture, and we need to heal this so we can end it. To do this we must see this. I ask you to see this with me.
A Guardian article I saw this morning titled “British campaigners warn of emergency over online child sexual abuse” reveals evidence that more than half a million men in the UK have viewed child sex abuse images online. This is a big deal, and it’s not just men looking at the images, it’s women too. And worst of all, children.
Gail Dines, PhD, @GailDines, author and founder of Culture Reframed, speaking to the American Academy of Pediatrics, brilliantly explains the role of culture and the pornography industry on the creation of sexual pathology, and how children exposed to such images can become confused as to who they truly are sexually, because their natural development is hijacked:
“The issue here is that an 11-year-old is basically watching for the first time sex as a role model somebody who is acting as a sexual psychopath.”
What kind of government leadership on this pandemic problem can we expect in the years to come? How can we as a community be a helpful voice in the new political climate? Can American citizens - or citizens from all countries - learn how to see symptoms of sexual problems, and recognize a public and sexual health threat?
In a dysfunctional family/community, we are silent, or the siblings fight each other and distract from the fact that a parent or other adult is ill and perpetrating among us. In a healthy community/family, we discuss it and problem-solve. And then we act. I call for unity in our fellowships and organizations, families and communities, nations and continents, beyond politics; a shared call for sexual health. Let’s figure out a solution together.
Please pass along this post or its sentiments as my call to awareness, and if so moved, action.
Staci Sprout is a Licensed Social Worker and Certified Sex Addiction Therapist trained in forensic evaluation of sexual offenders. She is also the author of Naked in Public: A Memoir of Recovery From Sex Addiction and Other Temporary Insanities, her personal story of overcoming sex addiction. More information at www.stacisprout.com. Sign up for a monthly newsletter with hopeful news about sex addiction and recovery here.
Need help? Visit RAINN’s National Sexual Assault Online Hotline or the National Sexual Violence Resource Center’s website.