You Do Uterus: Domestic abuse is still as prevalent as ever


Kylie Cheung | Daily Trojan

Last week, members of the news media were placed in the awkward position of deciphering which was the more important story: the allegations that former White House secretary Rob Porter beat his ex-wives, or that members of the White House staff — including Chief of Staff John Kelly — many have known about the allegations prior to the news breaking. Within a day of allegations against Porter surfacing, allegations that former White House speechwriter David Sorenson had also beat his former wife were reported on as well. While both Porter and Sorensen promptly resigned, not only was the White House confusing and contradictory in its claims about when they learned of the accusations, but President Donald Trump was also unsettlingly amicable in his subsequent statements about both men, as he wished them the best and praised their job performances and characters. Over the weekend, he shared a tweet lamenting how accusations were ruining men’s lives.

Placed in context with the Trump administration’s history, while still concerning, Porter and Sorensen are hardly anomalies. Steve Bannon, Trump’s former chief adviser, was charged with a misdemeanor in 1996 for assaulting his ex-wife. (The charge was dropped later on.) Trump’s first labor secretary nominee removed himself from consideration after old allegations that he assaulted his former wife resurfaced. Tim Nolan, one of Trump’s state campaign chairs in Kentucky, pleaded guilty to multiple counts of child sex trafficking on Friday.

Additionally, on top of adamantly defending Roger Ailes and Bill O’Reilly, two men with laundry lists of women who have accused them of sexual misconduct, the president himself has been accused by over a dozen women of similar misconduct. These accusations include one from his first wife that he had allegedly beat her and committed spousal rape, dating back several decades ago. In 2015, Trump’s lawyer claimed marital rape was, “by definition,” impossible.

Violence against women and domestic abuse seem to be more prevalent in this administration than perhaps any in recent history, which isn’t much of a surprise to anyone with a vague idea of Trump’s platform stacked with policies that negatively affect women. But it’s not just the Trump administration. Domestic abuse remains a problem in this country at large, and a problem that’s too often buried and neglected in the absence of high-profile news like what has emerged from the White House recently.

According to the latest statistics compiled by the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, every minute, 20 people face physical abuse from an intimate partner. One in three women and one in four men have been the victims of physical violence by an intimate partner. One in five women will face sexual assault or attempted rape, with the perpetrator more likely to be someone they know and are close to than anyone else.

Violence against women is arguably among the first causes feminism took on, which often leads to the misconception that it has become an obsolete issue. In feminist scholar Rebecca Solnit’s Men Explain Things to Me, a book that reads as an almost prophetic examination of the Trump era, gendered violence is a focus of the work, as it analyzes how the erasure and dismissal of women’s voices has been a quiet, key factor in perpetuating domestic abuse. In many anecdotes recounted by Solnit, women who come forward to report being stalked, threatened or abused are dismissed by law enforcement and those around them, eventually yielding fatal consequences.

Stories like those of the women whom Trump’s aforementioned former staffers allegedly victimized are all too common because of pressures to remain silent, and the misogyny and inaction they face upon coming forward. The lack of available resources and politicization of violence against women form yet another barrier. Republican-led dissent against the Violence Against Women Act, most recently due to its inclusion of anti-discrimination clauses for immigrants and LGBTQ folks in 2013, has always plagued the law from its passage to its renewal. More recently, funding for rape kits and adequate reproductive health care for survivors — a seemingly bipartisan issue of women’s safety — is also often strained across party lines.

Violence against women is finally receiving attention again due to revelations in the Trump administration. And while recent, high-profile events certainly deserve our attention, so, too, do the thousands of cases taking place every day out of the public eye.

Kylie Cheung is a sophomore majoring in journalism and political science. She is also the associate managing editor of the Daily Trojan. Her column,“You Do Uterus,” runs Thursdays.