Women React With Fury to Donald Trump’s Remarks, but Some Offer Support



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Dolly Ali on Saturday in Manhattan. Mrs. Ali, 40, said she was not shocked by Donald J. Trump’s lewd remarks, saying “He is who he is.” Credit Demetrius Freeman for The New York Times

WASHINGTON — Sandra Trafton, a financial consultant from Pittsburgh, suspects there are plenty of men who crassly discuss women’s looks and their own sexual pursuits in private. But she prefers not to give them so much as a thought, and has largely succeeded — until now.

Visiting Washington on Saturday, Ms. Trafton, 46, grimly studied the front pages of dozens of newspapers on display outside the Newseum, noting how each had treated Friday’s revelation of a tape of Donald J. Trump having a vulgar conversation about pursuing women he found attractive.

And she grappled with what to tell her 10-year-old daughter, who was excited to watch the second presidential debate between Mr. Trump and Hillary Clinton on Sunday night.

“I’m outraged that I have to protect her from the news, even though she’s completely interested in politics,” Ms. Trafton said. “I’m sure there are 100,000 men out there that think the same way as him. I just really don’t need to have it in my face for the next four years.”

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Taylor Dittmar, 20, in Bryant Park in Manhattan on Saturday. “It is terrible the things Trump has said,” Ms. Taylor said, “but to be honest it doesn’t surprise me.” Credit Demetrius Freeman for The New York Times

As growing fury over the graphic tape threatened the future of Mr. Trump’s campaign, interviews with women around the country on Saturday turned up indignation and disgust. Many said it came as no surprise that a wealthy, powerful man — especially one with the bravado that Mr. Trump has consistently shown — would judge women by their looks and describe them as easy sexual targets.

But some said they had taken pains to avoid relationships with men who might talk about women that way, and others said they could not imagine men they know doing so.

“My father would never say that about anyone,” said Taylor Dittmar, 20, a senior at Salisbury University in Maryland. “As a human being, I can’t fathom why anyone would want to treat people like that.”

Cheryl Dolinger Brown, a psychotherapist in New York, said she was particularly galled that a man of Mr. Trump’s age, 70, would be engaging in sexual braggadocio. The tape was made in 2005, when Mr. Trump was 59 and newly married to his third wife, Melania.

“I guess there are many guys who talk like this when they’re younger, in the locker room kind of way, to try and make friends,” said Ms. Dolinger Brown, who is 64. “But I certainly think as men grow up that many of them do not speak like this. My husband would never talk about women like that, ever.”

She added that she worried the tape of Mr. Trump would “encourage that type of behavior to come out from the background,” essentially legitimizing it. “It’s the opposite of how we want people to behave in our society,” she said.

Not every woman agrees. Dotann Dunton, a home health aide from Brooklyn, said she was not offended by Mr. Trump’s comments and dismissed them as banter. Ms. Dunton, 62, said she had been a registered Democrat, but became an independent so she could vote for Mr. Trump.

“It was 10 years ago,” she said of the tape. “We all say things 10 years ago that we change our minds about later. It was just men’s talk. Females, we do the same thing.”

If people were offended by Mr. Trump’s comments on the tape, “They need to grow up,” she said. “Big deal already.”

But Pene Charles, 61, a retired school principal visiting New York from Sydney, Australia, said the comments were a very big deal. Mr. Trump should be held to a higher standard than other men who engage in “trash talk,” she said, because he is seeking to lead the country. “I’d like to see better from our leaders, Australian and American,” she said.

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Dotann Dunton, 62, in Manhattan on Saturday. “It was just men’s talk,” said Ms. Dunton of Mr. Trump’s remarks about women. “Females, we do the same thing.” Credit Demetrius Freeman for The New York Times

For Cindy Hollowood, 60, a Republican from Saratoga Springs, N.Y., what Mr. Trump said on the tape was “inappropriate at the least, and disgusting.”

Ms. Hollowood, who was visiting her daughter in Washington, said she still planned to vote for him. Pointing to Bill Clinton’s affair with Monica Lewinsky while he was president, she added, “is far more disgusting to me than a few inappropriate comments. Bill Clinton’s actions are deplorable, and not only that, but Hillary turns her back on them.”

Dolly Ali, 40, a medical billing supervisor from Queens, also said that she was not offended by Mr. Trump’s comments.

“He’s honest about a lot of things that people don’t want to bring out to the public,” she said. “He’s not hiding it. Honesty is very positive.”

The type of comments that Mr. Trump made on the tape, which included boasting about groping women and about aggressively trying to have sex with a married woman, are common, Ms. Ali said.

Hillary Clinton has an 83% chance of winning the presidency.

“I wasn’t shocked because that’s every day you hear it, from businessmen to kids,” she said. “It’s men talking and he’s honest about it. He is who he is.”

Ms. Ali said she used to be a registered Democrat, but was now independent and had not decided whom to vote for in the election.

Arielle Levy, 27, who lives in Washington, said that she and her friends “surround ourselves with a lot of very sensitive people,” so they rarely encounter the type of loutish talk that Mr. Trump used on the tape.

Ms. Levy is a diversity and inclusion trainer and has given school presentations about “how to empower yourself as a young girl, hearing that kind of talk.”

“Men shouldn’t speak about women that way,” she said. “And more broadly, people shouldn’t speak about people that way.”

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