I did not vote. I made it public that I did not vote, and I received a lot of heat for it from family and friends. I have also been informed (by a few) that I now hold no right to state an opinion about the election results. And that's fine, maybe a tad hypocritical, but fine. This article is not about who won, it is not about my opinion on who won. This is about the things I have witnessed since the results, and this breaks my heart. This article is for women post-election results.

There is this thing called the "glass ceiling." I believe you all have heard of it. It's a thing, a barrier, a restriction specifically for women everywhere. We are now beginning to shatter it, to stomp it into non-existence with all that we have, but this election would have been the final, single tap that would obliterate this barricade. This would have been it: the first woman president. We would have done it, finally proven ourselves to the rest of the world that we, too, could handle it all. Unfortunately, we did not reach this goal. Instead, the presidency once again resides in the grasp of a man.

Let us pause for a moment. "Finally proven ourselves to the rest of the world." This sentence irritates me, or rather, infuriates me. We, us women, should not have to prove anything. We should not have to compete for the respect of the opposite sex when in fact we are all the same: human. We should not have to fight for attention, fight for a few moments of silence so we could say our piece, only to be once again yelled over and told to "quiet down, the men are speaking." This is not a thing anyone should experience, especially not someone who differs only from a man based on what is between our legs.

This is not a bash on men, there are many out there who do, in fact, value women. Who do, in fact, respect the one who brought them into this world. However, the one who will now in 60-some-odd days lead our country, lacks the respect for women. You can deny all you want, that is your opinion, I suppose. But when it is all over national television the way in which he treats, or rather, degrades, slanders, tosses aside and disrespects females, it speaks volumes. Not only to the women who have had to endure being belittled during his campaign, but to the young and old men watching and soaking up this contempt. It is because of those words, because of that disgusting phrase, that women once again need to prove themselves.

I was in class the day after the election and a young, black girl came in. She looked truly upset and I could tell she had already been crying. I didn't say much as class was about to begin. A friend next to her leaned over and asked if everything was alright. She shook her head and unfolded events that practically punched a whole in my gut. She told a story of the prior hour in her class. She said she was on the phone with her mom, discussing the election and how she was, "unhappy with the results." She hung up since class was about to start, when the boy in front of her spun around. He told her, with venom dripping from every word, "If you don't like the election results, you can take yourself back to Africa." Someone in the class overheard her and asked what she did. This is where my heart shattered. She laughed, that sarcastic, fed up laugh you force out. She said, "What could I have done? I'm black and a woman. Tell me who would represent me."

I turned to social media to find more instances like this. Shaun King (https://twitter.com/ShaunKing) a justice writer for the NYDaily held all the fuel I needed. Throughout the past 24 hours, he has been tweeting and retweeting any written act against someone due to race, ethnicity, beliefs, gender, etc. in the "justification" of our new soon-to-be President. What stood out to me was the number of women among these crimes. One girl had her hijab ripped off by a group of boys. Another woman was told to "go back to Asia" and was then grabbed by the man who said it. A black woman was harassed by a group of four men at a gas station, showed they all had guns on them and was then told "if there weren't any witnesses around I would kill you right here." An Asian woman at a gas station was verbally attacked by a white man, who jumped out of his truck and yelled at her, saying "We won. Get the f*** out of my country." One woman was beaten and robbed, the two men who were wearing Trump shirts taking her wallet and head wrap after that had hit her multiple times with "something metal." A black woman awoke to her car spray-painted with "Trump Rules" and "Black B****h." There are countless more.

Maybe by not voting I failed my fellow women, and if that is the case I am so sorry. Maybe by not voting, by not taking a stand against a man who values women just as much as the dirt he walks on, I relinquished my "rights" to complain and state an opinion about the results of the election. If this is, in fact, the case, if this is a unanimous belief, then I will express myself one last time and be done with it (even though freedom of speech is a thing).

I am scared. Not only for myself as a young, growing woman, but for all of the woman of any race, ethnicity, age, religious belief, etc. I am not blaming Trump. He did not go out on live television and say, "hey, everyone go harass a woman in the name of me." However, due to his public claims and actions and very public pending court trials, he is being used as justification. And that is his fault. And now he is going to be leading our country, leading our young men. If it continues, if more women are threatened and told how little value they hold, how much they do not matter, how they will accomplish nothing, I am scared for our country.

So to the women of the United States, to the women around the world: if my vote could have helped you, I am so sorry. But now, I will stand with you. We will not be told that we will not be successful due to our gender. We will not tolerate living in a "man's world" when the ones who continue to populate said world are women. This is not a plea or a request for respect. This is a demand to be valued and treated like a human, no matter the variation of skin tone, origin or belief, let alone gender. This will not be tolerated. This is not justified. If Trump's goal is to truly "Make America Great Again," then he needs to turn his attention to what it means to actually unify the country. This begins with removing the glass ceiling and holding your tongue in regards to gender.

A woman did, in fact, bring you into this world, so who are you to think you could take one out of it?