Mothers in the United States are teaching their children about sexual consent and assault following President-elect Donald Trump’s boasts about groping women, according to research published on Tuesday.
Roughly two in five US women think that women are more likely to feel unsafe and men more likely to feel entitled to treat women as sexual objects since Trump was voted into office on Nov 8, the poll by PerryUndem, a nonpartisan Washington-based research firm, showed.
The Republican billionaire businessman is due to be sworn into office on Friday amid heavy criticism over his attitudes toward women, much of it stemming from a 2005 tape in which he brags about groping women and making unwanted sexual advances.
As a result of his election, 50 per cent of women, and 35 per cent of men, who are parents, say they are teaching their children about consent or sexual assault issues, the polling showed.
Trump also opposes abortion rights, wants to pull government funding from hundreds of women’s health care clinics and repeal a national insurance program that pays for most birth control methods for women.
More than a third of women said they are feeling less tolerant of sexism in their own lives as a result of Trump’s victory, the polling said.
The release of the research comes just days before hundreds of thousands of women are expected to flood the nation’s capital for a Women’s March on Washington on Saturday, designed as a show of unity for women’s rights.
Hundreds of sister marches are planned for elsewhere in the United States and around the world. According to the polling, a majority found Trump’s comments on the 2005 tape about grabbing women’s genitalia unacceptable and consider the behaviour to be sexual assault.
However, among men in the Republican Party, which now controls both houses of the US Congress, two-thirds said they were not upset by the comments.
A third of the Republican men said they think men generally make better political leaders than women do, it found.
PerryUndem surveyed 1,302 adults online and by telephone Dec. 9 through Dec 27, 2016. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.4 percentage points. Democrats blast Trump’s pick for Education Secretary. At a similar point, before he took office in 2009, Obama was viewed favourably by 78 per cent of Americans. Before taking office in 2001, President George W. Bush had a 62 per cent favourable rating, according to the Gallup data.
“What is most likely to distinguish Trump’s inauguration is the number of protesters,” said Brian Balogh, co-host of American history radio show BackStory.
The National Parks Service has granted permits to protest for 27 groups. On Saturday, the National Mall will draw what organisers estimate will be about 200,000 people to a Women’s March to protest Trump.
The Women’s March, which is expected to be the largest protest, is aimed at bringing attention to human and civil rights issues. Honorary co-chairs of the protest include activist Gloria Steinem and actor Harry Belafonte.
