Dear Mr. Trump,

I ask you to picture this: A twelve year old girl is sitting on the bus. She’s wearing a t-shirt, plain pants, and sneakers. There are two boys in front of her and they begin to talk to her. They’re 14, and they talk to her about how they want her number, want to grab her, want to have sex with her. Mr. Trump that twelve year old girl is now seventeen, and genuinely scared for the present and future of this country and the safety of the citizens in it.

America has an enormous sexual harassment problem, to the point where over ½ of the population deals with this issue. According to a 2014 study on catcalling by SSH, a whopping 65% of women say they’ve been sexually harassed. Among that 65%, 23% had been inappropriately touched, 20% had been pursued, and 9% had been raped. In a telephone survey by Penn, Schoen, and Berland Associates, they found that 87% of the 612 women they surveyed had been harassed by a male stranger. Over half of this 87% had been physically attacked as well. Words hold weight. Behind every foul word uttered at women, and even young girls, lies action.

When women are sexually harassed, a psychological change takes place. According to the Joyful Heart Foundation, effects of harassment include; changes in views of trust, shock, fear, and self blaming for allowing the harassment to take place. By normalizing sexual harassment, you normalize fear, vulnerability, and psychological damage. Especially when you talk about women the way that you do.

I’ve been hearing a lot about your “locker room talk” lately. I hope I’ve conveyed to you in this letter that your words are never just words. “Locker room talk” like yours is what creates men like Brock Turner, the Stanford rapist who was only sentenced to three months in county prison. If you truly want to make America great, sexual assault is an issue you need to tackle before, on, and after November 8th.

Thank you for taking the time to read my letter Mr. Trump.

Sincerely,

Maria Lloyd.