An article at The Thought Erotic, October 2016.

by Courtney Morgan

TW: Sexual assault, rape culture, suicide

Last Friday, October 7, 2016, was a big day in the media for sexual assault. President Obama signed the historic Sexual Assault Survivor’s Bill into law. The same day, Access Hollywood released tapes of presidential candidate, Donald Trump, in 2005 bragging about his propensity toward, and ability and history of committing acts of sexual assault against women. And I, that evening, just happened to watch Audrie & Daisy—the documentary (which premiered at Sundance and released on Netflix September 23), about the sexual assault cases of two American teenage girls, Audrie Potts and Daisy Coleman. This imbroglio of mixed messages sort of felt like an average day in America—but it also painted a pretty clear picture of what needs to change.

The Sexual Assault Survivor’s Bill is important legislation, which extends some key rights to survivors of sexual assault, focused on the collecting and preserving of rape kits.[1] This bill is necessary, especially considering the difficulty rape victims have proving their claims. It is also not nearly good enough,[2] and addresses only one very small piece of the very large problem.

The truth is, there is only so much legislation can do, especially when confronting rape culture and institutionalized sexism and cissexism in trying to protect the victims of sexual assault.[3] Legislation is not enough, when prevailing cultural attitudes and media representations send the message that women[4] are commodities and that rape culture is normal and okay. Which brings us, of course, to Trump.

Read the full article here at The Thought Erotic.