Originally Published in the Cleveland Plain Dealer
You may be shocked by Trump’s offensive comments about women, but let’s be honest: There are much deeper issues at play that transcend this one misogynist. Our American society has normalized a culture of sexual anarchy, and its adverse effects continue to be uncovered in a number of ways, regardless of whether the public knows it or not.
Think about it. Is it not absolutely ridiculous that pornography is a multi-billion dollar industry with approximately 40 million Americans being regular visitors to porn sites? Is it not disturbing that virtually all movies and TV shows have some form of explicit sexual content, and that, in some cases, sex is used as a device for humor? Women are constantly exposed in society’s expected manner of dress. The number of cases of infidelity, teen pregnancies a illegitimate births are staggering to think about. Certainly, the nearly 300,000 victims of sexual abuse in America has a direct relationship of at least correlation if not causation with these circumstances. And remember, those are just the reported numbers.
As the moral fabric of our society continues to crumble, major changes must be made in our position on modesty and sexuality. The ugliness of the Trump Tapes are nothing so extraordinary; instead, similar attitudes are commonplace.
Labeeb Ahmad, Vice-Chairman, Muslim Writers Guild of America
North Canton
