Michelle Obama: ’It’s about basic human decency’

"It has shaken me to my core. Yes. This resonates. Michelle Obama has just delivered the speech of her life  ? of the lives of many women who watched events in the presidential election since Friday with an increasing sense of disbelief. How could we possibly, in 2016, have a major party candidate for president who spoke in such vulgar, demeaning, and exploitative ways about women, who then insists repeatedly that this is simply the way all men talk in private? The number of women posting on social media about their own experiences of casual sexual assault - by strangers, by partners - that they never spoke about due to the shame they felt shows the nerve this hits. The number of women who rejected Republican politicians seeking to distance themselves by first noting that they have women in their lives, demanding that men's reactions not be conditional on such comments and actions affecting them personally. The number of women who, after last Sunday's debate, reported feeling sickened by the Republican candidate's actions, speech, and menacing behavior, and saw in these echoes of experiences that we all have had at some time - but hoped were uncommon, exceptions to a better masculinity.