This weekend I chose to read the New York Times article, “Donald Trump’s Trail of Comments About Women.” I chose to look at this article with hesitation, but I was genuinely interested in what would be included. The commentary was really just a collection of direct quotes from presidential candidate Donald Trump from as far back as 1991 up till 2015. To summarize, select quotes from Mr. Trump imply that a woman’s value may depend on her appearance, flat-chested women will never be a “10”, and that women should have all of the responsibility in raising the children a couple may have together.

I am a passionate feminist and reading all of this hateful speech coming from the next potential leader of the free world really made me take a step back. I am not writing this to discuss my beliefs; however, this article really made me reflect on certain things in my life. Many of my family members share many of the same thoughts regarding women and have always made it very clear to me through out my life what they thought my role ought to be. Their thoughts pushed me to be the best version of myself and I always set out to prove my worth as a student and community member instead of my worth based on my appearance. However, many other women will continue to believe what their family members/friends may tell them or what they hear coming from a presidential candidate for example. I used to want to prove my worth, but now I realize my actual goal is just to encourage other women to follow what they actually want to do with their lives. Therefore, I find this speech extremely hurtful towards that goal and I have a hard time believing so many people are okay with Mr. Trump’s words.