With the presidential election in less than a month, tensions are high in America as we decide which presidential nominee from either the Democratic or Republican party is suitable to lead our country. Among other topics, rape culture has become increasingly popular in a conversation that has been addressed upon multiple occasions these last couple months.

Rape culture can be defined as the normalization and excuse of sexual assault and violence toward women, especially perpetuated by the media and pop culture. It entails victim-blaming, romanticizing and glamorizing rape, and objectifying the bodies of women. Almost all of these situations can be found in the modern world through pop songs, social media, television and movies, and more. Although this concept is not new, we now have the means in which to express it.

Somehow, rape culture has now entered politics. On Friday October 8th, NBC released a tape from 2005 that included the US’s republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and former employee of NBC’s Today Show and Access Hollywood, Billy Bush, discussing women in extremely vulgar and lewd terms. Since then, Trump has had a decline of support from the Republican Party and has issued an apology, causing uproar around the country and even the world. While Trump has been facing repercussions of massive opposition from the general public, there are some people defending his actions, stating that everyone speaks like this behind closed doors.

In the tape, Trump speaks of his sexual tendencies, preferences, and past sexual assaults, with the presence of cameras and microphones. He speaks of these topics with people he does not know personally, in a professional environment on the way to record a segment about his cameo in the soap opera Days of Our Lives with Access Hollywood.

To start off the video, Trump recounts the sexual advances he made on a married woman while he was married to his current wife, Melania Trump. Next, Trump brags about groping and sexually assaulting women on the premise that he is famous. While using derogatory words, Trump and Bush objectify and minimize women, describing the bodies of women they find attractive in a predatory way. Possibly the most controversial line in the tape, “Grab them by the p**sy. You can do anything,” is said by Trump to Bush.

Upon the release of his video, Trump and his team issued an apology video on Facebook. Here are some excerpts:

“I’ve never said I’m a perfect person, nor pretended to be someone that I’m not. I’ve said and done things I regret, and the words released today on this more than a decade-old video are one of them. Anyone who knows me knows these words don’t reflect who I am. I said it, I was wrong and I apologize.

However, he has tweeted that he is a perfect person.

In addition, although the video is a decade old, Trump was 59 years old at the time, and prior to that, as well as since then, there have multiple documented accusations of sexual assault, rape, and verbal assault.

After speaking of how his travels around the country have changed him, Trump continues with:

“Let’s be honest, we’re living in the real world. This is nothing more than a distraction from the important issues we’re facing today.”

On the contrary, an extremely daunting and important issue that Americans face today is in fact rape culture. Just as equal rights for all races, religions, and sexual orientations has without a doubt been a struggle in America since the beginning of its history, so has the right’s of women. Trump is discounting an issue that, according to the Rape Abuse & Incest National Network, affects 1 in 6 women, and every 2 minutes someone in America is sexually assaulted. Since 1998, about 17.7 million American women have been victims of attempted or completed rape. In addition, there are about 288,820 victims (age 12 or older) of rape and sexual assault each year in the United States. While Trump is focused on unemployment, illegal immigration, and terrorism, which are all crucial topics to be discussed, he has failed to recognize sexual assault as an important issue, especially when it affects thousands of Americans each year and continues to be a rising problem in the US.

To sum up his video, Trump discounts his actions and projects his wrongdoings onto the Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton, and her husband and former president Bill Clinton.

“We are losing our jobs, we are less safe than we were eight years ago and Washington is totally broken. Hillary Clinton and her kind have run our country into the ground. I’ve said some foolish things, but there’s a big difference between the words and actions of other people. Bill Clinton has actually abused women, and Hillary has bullied, attacked, shamed and intimidated his victims. We will discuss this more in the coming days. See you at the debate on Sunday.”

In this final statement, Trump claims he has said “foolish” things, rather than acknowledging the magnitude his words have. He also claims that these are just words, even though in the video he claims to have acted upon them. If he is lying about these actions, why does he feel the need to boast about sexual assault? He is promoting rape culture in multiple forms, whether he did sexually assault women or not. His claims in the Presidential Debate on October 9th saying it was “locker room talk” reveals that he believes his words were meaningless and casual. How is raping someone meaningless or casual? Not only is he saying these lewd comments as a man, but also as the potential president of the United States. In addition, saying something behind closed doors does not mean the words do not matter. That is when the words matter. Those are the statements someone says when he or she is not held to a standard and has no one to impress.The actual act of sexual assault happens behind closed doors as well. If the statements are said, what is stopping the actions from occurring? The claims that Trump made in the tape and apology video are exactly what people do to justify sexual assault and rape. Ordinary people say those statements, do those actions, and others fall victim to it. Why would Trump be any different? What would he say or do behind the closed doors of the White House?