Women Participate in Speak Out and Call for End to Sexual Violence: This Stops NOW
October 12, 2016 – New York, NY – NOW New York gathered at Columbus Circle across from the Trump International Hotel to protest and repudiate Donald Trump for diminishing the seriousness of sexual assault; for his long record of victim-blaming and woman-hating rhetoric; and to unite women and men to say #This Stops NOW. It’s time to #Take Rape Seriously. Survivors of sexual assault or on-the-job sexual harassment shared their stories and spoke out against Trump.
Sonia Ossorio, President of NOW New York said, “The pressure is on for Republicans. Will you support Donald Trump or will you support women? With his litany of hateful rhetoric against women, Mexican people, immigrants, Muslims and others, the G.O.P. should have dumped Trump long ago. This is really the only choice for our country.”
Ossorio added, “This is a watershed moment. Donald Trump may think it’s just ‘locker room’ talk, but all women have experienced sexist comments, sexual harassment, or even sexual assault. Through his outright misogyny, Trump has inadvertently shined a spotlight on rape culture, and women and men are uniting to speak up with their voices and, more importantly, with their votes.”
With chants of, “Donald Trump, have no doubt, feminists will vote you out!” and “Groping women is more than talk, Donald Trump it’s time to walk,” the energized crowd of women and men railed against Trump as unfit for the presidency.
NOW New York and our allies call for an end to sexual violence and the trouncing of Donald Trump in this election:
This Stops NOW: What Donald Trump said is not just “talk.” What he described is sexual assault and what he defined is rape culture.
This Stops NOW: Donald Trump’s comments reflect his values and those laid out by his campaign, whether it’s his view of sexual assault in the military, his campaign’s victim-blaming comments about rape, or his long and well-documented history of misogyny.
This Stops NOW: Women and men are standing together, because the movement to end sexual assault and shut down rape culture goes way beyond Donald Trump.
“With breakthroughs on the case against Bill Cosby, the riveting statement of the survivor in the Brock Turner case, and the exodus of Republicans from the Trump campaign in response to his misogynist ways, the floodgates have opened. Women are going public, and we are liberating ourselves from shame. We will no longer tolerate violence against women or a culture that supports it,” said Ossorio.
NOW-NYC advocates for the women and girls of New York City, by working to promote women’s reproductive rights, secure women’s economic empowerment, and end violence and discrimination against women.
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