Donald Trump is a Trigger

Donald Trump is a Trigger

It’s been nearly three weeks since Donald Trump was dubbed President-Elect of the United States. In the wake of his victory, survivors of sexual violence are seeking healing—but they remain triggered by the barrage of abusive and blunt conversations about sexual violence that have come from the President-Elect himself. How do they move forward into a Trump presidency when Trump’s campaign reminded them, consistently and unrelentingly, of one of the worst experiences of their lives?




Triggers are as diverse as the survivors they affect and can range in response from sadness, discomfort, anxiety, panic attacks, dissociation, numbness, flashbacks, terror or freezing. A trigger is caused by the brain associating a smell, image, location, person, touch or even sound with a past traumatic experience the body has yet to process. In an article from Brain Blogger, Dr. Viatcheslav Wlassoff explained that neuro-imaging studies of the brains of individuals who suffer from PTSD showed that traumatic events actually alter the structure of the brain to be in prolonged states of hyper-arousal. It’s in these moments that someone is being triggered that their brain is actually responding to the imprint of a traumatic experience rather than an immediate danger.

When Trump’s 2005 interview tapes with Billy Bush originally surfaced in early October—in which he admitted on camera to “grabbing women by the pussy” and “moving on them like a bitch”—the National Sexual Assault Hotline saw a 33 percent increase in people calling in for their support.
Trump’s “locker room talk” demolished Sage Swiatek, a self-identified queer polyamorous woman, from filtering and coping with the continued triggers of her sexual assault as she had been for years. “I suffer from PTSD as a result of sexual assault which makes a trigger something that has very real consequences on my health and well-being,” Swiatek shared with Ms. “Every time there was a media uptick around sexual assault—like Brock Turner, for example—I was able to work through triggers by temporarily blocking myself from social media or avoiding places in which those discussions might be happening.”

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It’s not only the fact that Trump—a man accused by over 10 women of sexual assault and countless others of sexual harassment—won the election that has shaken survivors. It’s also the fact that millions of Americans thusly overlooked his history of violating of women when they voted. Trump’s election sent a clear message that in U.S. culture it’s still considered normal and even worthy of reward for men to see women as something to “grab” or “move” without consent. Trump’s presidency thus effectively silences survivors from reporting or even sharing their own stories for fear of backlash and judgement. Trump’s actions, words, articulated values and demonstrated beliefs illustrate how people have used—and continue to use—their privilege to have power over someone’s worth, voice and choice,” Grace Poon, the Coordinator of Sexual Violence Prevention and Education at Stanford University, told Ms. “When Trump illustrates this—whether it be through the tapes, his actions or words—it triggers survivors significantly because of their trauma that is related to experiences of invalidation and devaluation of their boundaries.”
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Although rape and sexual assault remain widely underreported, RAINN states that one in six American women and one in 33 American men will experience sexual assault at some point during their lifetime. If that number holds true, nearly 40.8 million survivors are living in the United States right now. Though we cannot change the outcome of the election, survivors can continue using our experiences to change the nation’s dialogue around sexual violence. Through our words, we will combat victim blaming and rape culture by continuing to remind the public that our bodies are not objects that can be violated and forgotten. In the face of adversity, we’re infinitely stronger together. As Yamasaki so perfectly reminds us: “No one, not even the president-elect, can take away [our] resilience, courage and healing.”

http://msmagazine.com/blog/2016/11/28/donald-trump-trigger/