A silver lining in #TrumpTapes story
- Published
Call me Pollyanna but I'm starting to see a silver lining in "Pussygate".
The outpouring of revulsion at what Mr Trump said in that now infamous videotape shows how much attitudes towards women have changed.
As women have assumed more influence in the workforce, there's more discussion about what is OK and what is not - and more now falls into the "not OK" pile.
Is the gender playing field level? Of course it's not, but it's clear that what was acceptable in, say, the 1990s, is no longer acceptable today.
Sexual harassment should be zero. It's not, but progress is being made, thanks in part to what Mr Trump condemns as the tyranny of political correctness.
There's a plausible case to be made that Bill Clinton wouldn't be able to get elected today with his past sexual history. The repeated allegations of assault, harassment and even rape would surely have been more of a political liability in 2016.
President Clinton's affair with Monica Lewinsky was consensual. There's no video tape of him denigrating women in general or suggesting he could do anything he wanted to women because he was commander-in-chief.
But there was definitely something unsavoury about a very powerful man having sexual relations with an intern, especially given Mr Clinton's widely reported past.
It all smacked of droit de seigneur.
Many women were appalled at the time, but the Lewinsky affair didn't actually hurt Mr Clinton's poll numbers.
In early 1998, when the scandal broke, his approval ratings were 50%. At the end of that year, they had risen to 70%.
Research by the University of Iowa suggests the affair didn't undermine the public's overall opinion of Bill Clinton's character.
Donald Trump compares himself to Bill Clinton but he's missing the point. Women have more of a voice today and we expect more from the men we work with. Our tolerance for what Mr Trump dismisses as "locker room" banter is wearing thin.
We are mothers, sisters and wives. We are also chief executives, astronauts, generals, prime ministers, chancellors and editors, Why should we have to put up with men talking about us like that, anywhere, even in the privacy of their "locker rooms"?
We know the stats on rape and harassment are still far too high. Somewhere between one in three and one in five women are victims of unwanted sexual advances.
Just look around your office or your school or your family and do the maths. It's not pretty.
But social media is giving women a louder voice.
Take a moment to look at the twitter feed, external of Kelly Oxford, the Canadian writer who asked women to share their stories of harassment after the video emerged. It's sobering reading.
Thousands of women have tweeted their experiences and at the time of writing this, they still are. A veil is finally being lifted on what was once a taboo subject.
What's heartening is that the overwhelming majority of men seem to be as appalled as women at what Mr Trump has unleashed.