We all know by now that Donald J. Trump is now the president of the United States. In arguably the most heated and disturbingly close elections in recent history, a man with no political experience won the office President of the United States.
Being a young woman in this country, I am absolutely terrified.
The man who America has elected to lead the country has over ten sexual assault charges against him.
The man who America has elected to lead the country believes he can do whatever he wants to women because he is famous.
The man who America has elected to lead the country continually belittles and degrades women as sexual objects, and gets away with it because, well, everyone else thinks it's funny.
I am not a woman of trans experience. I haven't ever personally dealt with homophobia. I was raised with a Christian background. I am white. I cannot speak for everyone else.
However.
Nearly 1 in 5 women are sexually assaulted, most of them being around my age, with campus rape being a serious problem that is often ignored.
Most of the cases are tossed out of court, with rapists only going to jail 3% of the time.
As a woman who resides in America, sexual assault is something I think about almost all the time. Every time I pass the dark pathway by the library at my school, anytime a group of my friends and I walk back from dinner off campus. Anytime I get in an uber.
And now, the leader of the free world is a man who has likely committed one of the most heinous crimes possible. A man that treats women like garbage. A man that believes that he and other men have power over women.
And the scariest part is: People voted for him.
People voted for a man that represents a justice system that continually fails female victims.
People voted for a man did this to people's daughters, sisters, wives.
I am a woman and I am scared because so much of the nation does not care whether or not rapists get prosecuted.
It scares me that there are so many people that don't care about my friends that are LGBTQIA+. It scares me that our new Vice President believes he can electrocute my friends into being straight.
It scares me that trans women will still not be seen as women, and abuse and assault for them is likely to not be dealt with.
It scares me that we supposedly live in the greatest country in the world, and we can elect a man the represents nothing by institutionalized racism, homophobia, and misogyny. A man that represents the 1%, a man that represents the power and privilege of a straight white man in the country.
I live in a country where people believe they can hold power over me and will not be prosecuted.
I mean, our own President wasn't.
