Donald Trump, by association and the absence of denial, smacks of misogyny, and a distinct failure to comprehend “consent.” He could have contradicted his attorney’s inaccurate claims about spousal rape. He hasn’t.
Decades ago, men owned their wives and children. The practice was called “chattel,” and it is still prevalent in the laws and philosophies of several countries, even today But here in the US, society spurns the concept of spousal possession, and in NY State, where Trump and his former wife, Ivana, lived, marital rape became a crime in 1984.
None-the-less, Trump’s lawyer, Michael Cohen, babbled on to The Daily Beast about an early 1990’s incident in which Trump allegedly raped Ivana. In her divorce proceedings she stated that he was angry about the outcome of surgery to eliminate a bald spot and took his anger out on her, ripping out her hair and sexually penetrating her by force. Cohen incorrectly stated “You can’t rape your spouse.”
CONSENT, the key to sexual contact
The laws on rape should and can be simple to understand. Rape is all about lack of consent. And consent cannot and does not occur when it’s induced by force, duress, or deception. Can we make it any easier to understand?
Even victims don’t comprehend their own defilement
Back then, when the Trump incident and ultimate divorce took place, there was very little support for victims of wrongful sexual exploitation. Even though Ivana couched her complaint in terms of “feeling raped,” she simply didn’t recognize that, indeed, she’d been raped. While she waffled on calling Trump a rapist, she never waffled on the description of what transpired, which, if true, indeed, was rape. She stated, “I didn’t mean it in a criminal way.” Ivana…… there is no such thing as non-criminal rape!
Often victims simply want to get on with their lives and will deny the obvious. The shame of being raped by someone you trust is an extremely difficult cross to bear. She knows Trump exceptionally well and knows how ruthlessly he’ll devour any enemy. The last thing she needed was to put herself in that position.
No matter who the victim is, no matter what the relationship is that exists between the parties, no one has the right to violate another person’s sexual sanctity by force, duress or deception….. not a perfect stranger, and certainly, not your wife and the mother of your children!