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Let’s start out with a very simple idea: Violence against women is never funny. Or acceptable.
Yet, here we are with a famous young athlete openly laughing about a video of a woman getting slapped and knocked down, calling it “hilarious.” A locker room joined his laughter.
A golf company ad featured a woman being pushed to the ground with a leering young man standing over her.
A president snarls and lunges at a female reporter for asking a question.
We’ve heard the rationales.
The slapping video wasn’t real, it was just AI. It was supposed to be funny. The football player was caught up in the moment.
The golf ad was a spoof. Why can’t women take a joke?
The president was simply defending himself from aggressive journalists.
First, most of these rationales are thin excuses for bad behavior. They also normalize the abuse of women, which should never be normalized. Today, more than 100 women will be killed by an intimate partner. That’s not funny.
Second, we can hear the objections that we shouldn’t bring politics into everything. This isn’t about politics. The president’s behavior matters.
His behavior, like that of any leader of an organization, sets the tone. If he says and shows that belittling, insulting, and demeaning women is OK, it signals to other men that it is normal to think and act this way. It also sends a message to women that they need to tolerate such abuse.
Last week, the University of Texas football team came from behind to beat top-ranked Ohio State. It was an emotional upset victory. After the game, Texas coach, Steve Sarkisian, hurriedly pushed past ESPN reporter Holly Rowe who wanted to interview him. Brusque behavior, but maybe understandable given the hubbub after the game.
That interaction was quickly turned into an AI-generated video that showed Sarkisian slapping Rowe across the face and knocking her down.
Texas quarterback Arch Manning was asked about it at the team’s media availability on Monday. A wide smile spread across his face.“Y’all seen that one? That’s a good one,” he said, breaking into laughter. “Of him slapping Holly Rowe … it’s hilarious,” the 22-year-old added.
Manning, the nephew and grandson of NFL quarterbacks, has since apologized for his comments and behavior. “There is nothing funny about it,” he said of the video. “I know my words and actions were hurtful to a lot of people. I do not take that lightly and am deeply sorry for that,” he posted on Instagram.
We sincerely hope that Manning, and others, learned a valuable lesson about misogyny.
His comments come a month after Good Good Golf lost its sponsorship of a PGA event after it produced an ad showing a woman being violently pushed to the ground when she reached for a man’s golf club. The man then stands over her, menacingly telling her not to touch his driver.
It’s hard to accept that corporate and ad executives thought this was a good way to sell golf clubs.
Which brings us back to the president. Donald Trump has a long history of talking about women as objects to ogle, grab and demean. In recent months, he’s been especially rude to female reporters. He snarled “Quiet piggy” at Bloomberg News reporter Catherine Lucey who asked him about the Epstein files. He has repeatedly criticized and demeaned CNN reporter Kaitlan Collins who has asked Trump difficult questions.
Last week, Trump snarled at and lunged at Rachel Scott of ABC News. In none of these instances have other reporters visibly condemned the president or defended their colleagues.
This behavior, and comments about grabbing women in intimate places, sets a dangerous and permissive tone, which is especially troubling with domestic violence on the rise in the U.S.
We’ll say it again: Violence against women is never funny. Or acceptable. That message should come from the White House, the club house, the locker room and the board room.
