To be crystal clear

what two consenting adults engage in sexually in private
appreciation for the physical aspects of the opposite sex
reading a book with sexual content
having sexual thoughts about other adults
having conversations about sex
explicit sex talk between consenting adults
actual locker room banter
cheating on your spouse

are not in any way at all related to

Donald Trump saying, "Grab them in the pussy. You can do anything."

Not in any way. 
None of those things are the same as what he said or in any way related.

Attempting to relate them is blindly existing in rape culture.

Attempting to pass it off as just words that liberals are pearl clutching over is absurd. No one gives a good fuck that he used the word pussy. People care about how he said he would grab women by the pussy in a manner that implies lack of consent. Lack of consent is not something to joke or be flippant about. Lack of consent is rape and rape is absolutely something to be concerned about. Acting like it isn't is doing everyone on this planet a disservice.

Attempting to invoke the marital issues of the Clintons and Bill's sexual conduct or misconduct will not lessen the blow of a presidential candidate with a cavalier attitude about how he can take anything from women, whether they consent or not. Let's be honest, this is just the latest misogynist bomb out of Trump's mouth. Are we surprised? No. Are we finally finished putting up with it? I hope so. There are some people who hate the very air the Clintons breathe, and I'm not taking that away from you. Among other things, you are pissed about a blow job Bill got in the Oval Office 20 years ago and how horny and immoral he is. You've been banging that drum for 20 years, so I'm sure you'll excuse us while we take some time to deal with sexual assault language by a candidate who says he respects women but clearly does not. Women make up over half of the population. It's a problem. 

Attempting to blow this off as a distraction from the "real issues" of the election says to me you are happy to live in a world in which women's bodies are assumed to be property of others to do with what they wish and that you won't ever do or say anything to change that.  You're concerned about national security. I get that. What about bodily security for everyone, not just the males?

You can give me any excuse or justification or bullshit about how what he said is not important or a big deal and I will simply tell you I don't care. Because it's a big deal to me. And to many women and men. 

I don't know if you can hear it where you are. It's loud around me. An army of women is marching as we speak. Some of us are out screaming and stomping in the streets. Some of us are looking out the window through the blinds, standing in solidarity in living rooms hoping no one sees us but standing just the same. Some of us can only light a match to illuminate an ideal of equality in our minds, but we're there. It takes all kinds in this army.

I cannot and will not be silent about this. This is not politics. This is humanity and equality and respect and safety and I will press on it and demand it and remind you of it. Loudly and with absolute conviction. That's my role in this army.

If that's not a role you're comfortable in,  that's okay. There's a place for everyone in this army. Men, that means you too. Even if you've stood by in the past while others made comments like Trump's or even if you made them yourself. Perfection is not expected. A willingness to admit when you've been wrong instead of trying to pass it off as not a big deal or turning it around and pointing at someone else for doing something similar in an attempt to excuse yourself is required. So is trying to do right in the future.

By the way guys, we don't need you to stand up for us or protect us because we're the weaker sex, or because we're your daughters or wives or mothers. I know...I've fallen into the invoking relationship trap myself. But I'm finished doing that. I'm not asking someone to treat us equally because of who we are in relation to them anymore. I'm asking them to treat us equally because we are someone.We need you to stand with us - to stand beside us in solidarity - because we are people who deserve the same respect and bodily autonomy you have. Across the board.

Trump is not yet a part of this country's government. Whether he is in the end is up to you on November 8. But plenty of us are currently represented by people who support him. You might want to check and see where your representatives stand before Election Day - hopefully they're not like Jeff Sessions from Alabama who, in his desire to defend Trump, stated that he is unsure if grabbing women by the genitals is sexual assault. I'm not sure about you, but I don't need people like this writing bills or laws in this land.

I'm going to need a minute

Last Thursday night, I sat on my couch and watched a daughter introduce her mother as a major party presidential nominee for President of the United States.

Until I saw it, I don't think I believed it would ever happen.  In fact, it would take me a few days to really understand how important it is to me because I was so overwhelmed that it actually happened.

It's very, very important. Regardless of your politics, it's huge.

If you're a white man who has always seen someone who looks like you in power, you probably think it isn't a big deal. If you know how hard the road has been and how many woman have walked it, you know it's monumental. From an article on USA Today:

• This female nomination came 168 years and nine days after the first women's rights conference in Seneca Falls, NY
• This female nomination came 150 years after Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton founded the first organization dedicated to suffrage for women of all races
• This female nomination came 144 years after Susan B. Anthony was convicted for voting in the 1872 presidential election
• This female nomination came 96 years after the approval of the 19th Amendment barring gender discrimination in voting
• This female nomination came with thoughts for suffragettes Alice Paul, who in an effort to win the right for women to vote was on a hunger strike while confined to a jail psychiatric ward and force fed raw eggs through a tube; Lucy Burns, also on a hunger strike to win the right to vote, held down by five people and fed through her nostrils; Dora Lewis, knocked out by guards who threw her against a metal railing over her insistence that women be allowed the right to vote

This nomination is a big fuck you to everyone who has ever said 

girls don't do that / don't be so bossy / Smile! / that's not a career for women / you do that like a girl / calm down / he picks on you because he likes you / just deal with it, you're lucky to have a job / women can't handle that / you do that well for a woman / you're too emotional / you're not emotional enough, what's wrong with you? / she was asking for it  / you should be at home / slut / she must wear the pants in that relationship / insert yours here

This nomination is

encouragement / empowerment / strength / hope / possibility / reassurance / insert yours here

Things will never be the same for little girls in this country again, in a fantastic way.