As many as 15 women have come forward to accuse presidential candidate Donald Trump of sexual assault or harassment. The allegations began to roll in after a 2005 Access Hollywood video surfaced earlier this month. In the video Trump is heard bragging to former NBC anchor Billy Bush about sexually assaulting women. Trump denied the sexual assault allegations -- by insulting several of his accusers -- and also dismissed the language heard on the video as "locker room talk."
Many have pointed out that his so-called locker room talk is indicative of a larger societal problem; rape culture.
According to the CDC, nearly 1 in 5 women and 1 in 71 men have reported experiencing rape at some time in their lives. Approximately 1 in 20 women and men experienced sexual violence other than rape, such as being made to penetrate someone else, sexual coercion, unwanted sexual contact, or non-contact unwanted sexual experiences.
Rebecca Nagle is the co-director of FORCE upsetting rape culture.
Malik Washington is Associate Director of Sexual Violence Prevention and Education at the University of Pennsylvania.
Roxanne Melgar is the clinical director of TurnAround, a sexual assault and domestic violence center in Baltimore.
They join Tom to talk about the pervasiveness of rape culture.
On Saturday Oct. 22 FORCE, TurnAround and Gather Together are hosting Survivors Speak Out, a night of poetry and performances about surviving sexual assault. The event starts at 6pm at the Impact Hub.
