Violence & Harassment

How Trump’s America Is Normalizing Violence Against Women

Under Trump’s America, violence against women isn’t just ignored—it’s become a deliberate political strategy. Powerful men accused of abuse are actively protected and celebrated by the Trump administration, while survivors and those who stand up for them are punished and silenced. (Just look at the attacks and public shaming Christine Blasey Ford had to endure after courageously coming forward with her sexual assault allegations against Brett Kavanaugh.) From legal interventions and judicial appointments to funding cuts, Trump has systematically dismantled protections for women and emboldened those who harm them.

‘Rape Club’: Trial Set for Prison Guard Accused of Sexual Abuse in Notorious California Women’s Prison

Earlier this month, a jury of ten men and two women was unable to come to a unanimous decision after a week’s deliberation. They were judging the trial of former correctional officer Darrell Wayne Smith, nicknamed “Dirty Dick,” accused of 15 counts of sexual misconduct. Smith was the last correctional officer to be charged with abuse at the now-shut-down FCI Dublin, as part of a sprawling federal investigation that convicted seven officers, including the prison’s warden and chaplain.

‘Barrage of Harassment, Intimidation and Violent Attacks’ on Abortion Clinics, Says National Abortion Federation

The National Abortion Federation (NAF) this week released their Violence and Disruption Report for 2023 and 2024, documenting widespread antiabortion terrorism against abortion clinics.

The report revealed that there were 1,199 violent incidents at abortion clinics in 2023 and 2024. The report also documented extensive disruption of services. (The actual number of incidents of harassment and violence targeting abortion providers is likely much higher than NAF’s reported numbers.)

“Let me be clear: There is nothing peaceful about the kind of protesting behavior we see at our clinic,” said Julie Burkhart, president of Wellspring Health Access in Casper, Wyo., and co-owner of Hope Clinic in Washington, D.C. “We have seen extremists try to invade our clinic multiple times in 2023 and 2024, intent on harassing our staff and intimidating our patients.”

First They Came for Kilmar

After World War II, German Lutheran pastor Martin Niemöller famously said, “First they came for the socialists and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak out for me.” We are watching this happen in real time with the Trump administration.

Donald Trump has targeted immigrants, such as Kilmar Abrego Garcia, with illegal deportation; then he came after workers’ rights, with cuts to overtime pay and rolling back rights to unionize; then he came for the hungry, with cuts to food programs and Medicaid; then he came for the low-income children, with the elimination of Head Start child care; then he came for the sick, with cuts to funding for medical research; then he came for women, with cuts to reproductive healthcare and funding for domestic violence shelters and rape crisis hotlines; then he came for disabled and elderly people, with cuts to Social Security and Medicare—and so much more.

Trump is boundary testing. If you give him an inch, he will take it all, until he has obliterated all resistance—and our democracy.

‘The Strong Do What They Please’: Dr. Judith Herman on Trump, Trauma and Tyranny

Feminist writers have long argued that there is an intrinsic relationship between patriarchy, rape and colonialism. The seizure of land by force is comparable to the seizure of a woman’s body—and historically rape and war have often gone hand-in-hand. 

In order to get a better understanding of how Donald Trump’s attitudes towards women might be related to his foreign policy, I reached out to Dr. Judith Herman, a world-renowned expert in trauma studies.

“The rules are pretty straightforward: The strong do what they please because they can. The weak submit because they have no other choice. And the bystanders are either complicit or too terrified to intervene, or just don’t care. These are the same rules whether we are talking about international relations or whether we’re talking about intimate personal relations.”

What It’s Like to Be Stalked by Your Neighbors—And How Gender Shapes Who Gets Believed

An excerpt from Human/Animal: A Bestiary in Essays (out April 22 from Wilfrid Laurier University Press), Chapter 5: “On Catching and Being Caught.”

“I knew enough stories of violence to know that if I did not try and something happened, I would be to blame. … I went to the police station … The tall white man with a buzz cut who came out to talk to me was dismissive. What do you want us to do, ma’am? I wanted a restraining order. Unless our neighbors were caught in the act of trespassing, unless we could prove without a doubt that we were being followed, there wasn’t anything they would do. …

“The camera was visible from where they parked their car, no branches or shrubs hiding its location, its lens pointed directly at where they stood. … Their yelling entered through our living room window and took up all the air in the room. Since the camera only recorded image, I felt I was watching a terrible movie with surround sound, their voices not coming out of the television, but through the windows, bouncing off the plaster walls. … I didn’t want to watch them anymore. I could not stop watching them. I know you have a crush on me. You want to watch me. You want to look at me. I know it.

“This sounds familiar. When children are teased, especially when it’s boys teasing girls, adults will often use crushes to explain away the trouble. He is pestering you (or worse) because he likes you.”

Thousands of U.S. Women Are Killed Each Year. Where’s the Outrage?

A spate of 11 femicides in Italy so far this year is making global headlines and prompting calls for “cultural rebellion.”  Yet femicide is far worse in the U.S., claiming thousands of lives a year, and comparatively normalized. It’s where the cultural pushback is needed most.

Last month, the U.N.’s annual two-week Conference on the Status of Women wrapped up in New York, having barely addressed growing threats of gender-based violence and without acknowledging the elephant in the room: how Trump administration policy swerves threaten to undo decades of progress for women, including women in the U.S.

Rearming Domestic Abusers: Trump’s New Gun Policy Threatens Women Across the Country

President Donald Trump restored gun rights to his friend Mel Gibson, who admitted to abusing his girlfriend. In a reality where domestic abusers are armed, women will suffer most.

—A gun in a domestic violence situation makes a woman five times more likely to be killed.
—Homicide is the leading cause of death for pregnant and postpartum women, with 68 percent of those homicides involving firearms.
—Black women face higher rates of intimate partner violence and are more likely than white women to be fatally shot.
—Forty-one percent of perpetrators in mass shootings between 2016 and 2020 had a history of domestic violence.

So why would any administration push policies that arm abusers? As always, follow the money. 

How Antiabortion Extremists Stopped a Beverly Hills Clinic From Opening … With Help From City Officials

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Ever since middle school, Jennefer Russo wanted to be a doctor—by the time she entered college she knew she wanted to be one who performed abortions. The reason was simple. As she told Ms., “I grew up watching the impact that abortion had on the women in my life, and I saw that it allowed them to have autonomy and relative control over their lives.”

Early in summer 2022 (right around the time the Supreme Court issued its Dobbs decision), Russo learned that a suite in a medical building located at 8920 Wilshire Blvd. in Beverly Hills was available. She began negotiations with the owner, the real estate investment trust Douglas Emmett, and on June 30, DuPont sent a letter of intent to the company to lease a suite there. It read: “Use: The DuPont Clinic is a private referral center for all-trimester abortion care.”

It would take only two months to stop the DuPont Clinic from opening.

(This article originally appears in the Spring 2025 issue of Ms. Join the Ms. community today and you’ll get issues delivered straight to your mailbox.)