A woman is a human being. That should be enough

“What if it was your daughter/sister/mother?” is the common argument against Donald Trump’s latest despicable remarks. So does this mean only those women deserve respect?

Ladies and gentlemen, we’ve done it.

At long last, we’ve reached the Trump tipping point.

Just when we thought the Republican nominee couldn’t come out with a sound bite more shocking than labelling nearly 12 million Mexican immigrants “rapists,” inviting the assassination of his Democratic archrival (“Let’s see what happens,” he said, about disarming Hillary Clinton’s bodyguards), and voicing his admiration for “highly respected” Russian dictator and enemy of human rights Vladimir Putin, “The Donald” has done what he does best: exceed expectations with horrifying consequences.

In never-before-seen footage obtained by The Washington Post, Trump can be heard making lewd comments while on the set of Days of Our Lives, boasting about using his star power to coerce women into sex and assaulting them by “grabbing them by the pussy.”

This stunning display of lechery — and from a man who once remarked on his daughter’s “nice figure”, that’s saying something — happened way back in 2005, when Trump was slated to make a celebrity cameo on the American soap opera.

Condemnation came fast and fierce, with many Republicans — including former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Senator John McCain, and Governor Gary Herbert, among others — withdrawing their support for the GOP candidate. As his allies began to desert him one by one, Trump pushed a half-hearted apology, but it was apparently too little, too late. His approval ratings — already lagging behind Clinton’s since the first presidential debate — have waned since his comments surfaced, according to the Wall Street Journal.

“I hate you.” “I hate you, too.” (Pic: AFP/Robyn Beck)

We saw as much during the televised second presidential debate, with moderator Anderson Cooper taking Trump to task over his “bragging” about his sexual exploits. “You described kissing women without consent, grabbing their genitals,” Cooper said. “That is sexual assault. Do you understand that?” Apparently caught off guard by this directness, Trump could only mumble a vaguely noncommittal response, deflecting the conversation to ISIS.

Meanwhile, using the hashtag #NotOkay, scores of sexual assault survivors took to social media to share their personal stories of being harassed by men who felt entitled to their bodies — men like Donald Trump. One expression appeared time and time again as part of this dialogue: “What if it was your daughter/sister/mother?”

This rhetoric, though well-intentioned, is ultimately detrimental. For starters, the idea that men should treat women with respect because, duh, they’re related to a women operates on the assumption that men are naturally less empathetic than their female counterparts and need to be convinced to empathise with the other half of the human race.

But studies have indicated that if men really are less compassionate, that’s largely because they’re socialised to be. Comparisons like those mentioned above only serve to reinforce this misconception — while giving males an excuse to treat females other than their blood relatives with sexist contempt.

What’s worse, this line of thought reduces a woman’s worth to the relations she has with men and completely negates her personhood. Is a woman who is no one’s wife, sister, or mother somehow less deserving of menfolk’s respect? Not bloody likely. Can’t it just be enough that she’s a human being?

Bottom line: we shouldn’t insult the men of the world by acting as if we have to cajole them into showing the bare minimum of human decency.

More importantly, women don’t need to and shouldn’t have to ask to be respected. They demand it. And if you’re smart — pay attention, Mr Trump, because if your ghastly performance during the most recent presidential debate is any indication, you haven’t quite nutted this one out yet — you dare not refuse.

Originally published as A woman is a human being. That should be enough