Rape survivor: Trump’s words are ‘demoralizing’
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) – Comments Donald Trump made 11 years ago about groping women are coming back to haunt him.
A secret recording was released over the weekend, and now sexual assault victims are speaking.
“You don’t have the right to make someone feel as if they’re nothing more than your toy,” said Tamika Bennett, a sexual assault survivor.
She said Donald Trump’s words about grabbing women brought back many of her old feelings.
“It’s demoralizing. I’m no one of importance, I don’t have the type of resources that he has, but I’m still a person, I’m still a human being, I’m still a citizen,” said Bennett
We met with Bennett at Coburn Place. It’s a safe haven on 38th Street for victims of abuse.
She first came here in 2007 after escaping her abuser.
“It would be absolutely unacceptable for me not to step up even if it’s uncomfortable,” said Bennett.
The recording happened during a taping for Access Hollywood. Trump was talking with Billy Bush
“I moved on her like a b—h, but I couldn’t get there. And she was married. Then all of a sudden I see her, she’s now got the big phony t–s and everything. She’s totally changed her look,” Trump was heard saying on a hot mic.
While he’s since apologized, Trump initially watered his comments down to locker room banter.
“This is not locker room talk. This is rape culture talk,” said Julia Kathary, the executive director of Coburn Place.
Coburn Place provides housing for up to two years. They have thirty-five apartments for victims and their families.
“Both people that were involved in the conversation are really just as guilty for it. It is up to men to hold one another accountable,” said Kathary.
Kathary says if anything, this should spark a conversation between fathers and their sons.
“I think that dads need to be talking with their sons, and mom’s need to be talking with our sons that this kind of behavior and these kinds of words when we hear them we need to bump up against them and say, ‘No, that’s not how I feel about women, that’s not how we’re going to talk about women,’” said Kathary.