What Do I Do Now? A Post-Election Perspective

 I sit here almost twenty-four hours later, my 'Making Herstory' t-shirt crumpled on the floor, the faint scrawling of #NastyWoman still on my wrist, the bottle of sparkling grape juice I got for the occasion still untouched, and I am still dumbfounded about what happened last night.

Now I am not an American, nor do I have any official say or vote when it comes to the American election but the last eighteen months I have felt just as impacted by this election, just as so many other international viewers have felt watching this trainwreck take place. I have worked to make my voice count on social media, made sure I knew my facts and figures, donated money to the cause, and made sure that even in my tiny country those around me understood what was up for grabs, and now I just keep questioning how we have ended up here.

Donald J Trump is now the president-elect of the United States of America. A man with no political qualifications, who is best known for his scandals and reality television, is going to run one of the most powerful countries in the world. A man who is an openly racist, sexist, homophobic and xenophobic bully is the new representation of modern America.

And quite frankly, I'm heartbrokenly terrified.

You might say as I’m not American I’m not directly affected by this, but as a historian I know that America as a superpower sets the precedent for the ideological understanding of the rest of the world. So now with an underqualified president at the helm, who from the start of his campaign has spat hateful rhetoric about minorities, his own party, other political parties and other candidates, will now inform how we as an international community see each other.

There are already reports of members of the American-Muslim community being violently abused on the street since last night. An ideology endorse by the future president who declares he wanted to ban all Muslims from America due to his very misleading understanding of terrorism.

I am scared for other communities for whom Trump's hateful speech has reached. To now be living in a country that has basically said it no longer supports you. Immigrants terrified of being deported, families split up.  He declared 'I will be great for African-Americans', yet was endorsed by the KKK and failed to denounce their support. He sees law and order as the solution to crime, yet doesn't acknowledge that it blatantly targets people of colour, and will reintroduce the detrimental 'stop and frisk'.  I am not a person of colour, nor can I speak for these communities on their behalf, but I can scream about the injustice and discrimination that is going to be spurned on by the way Trump has villainized and harassed these communities. He is normalizing hatred.

Have you forgotten, Mister Trump, that America was built on the foundation of immigration, the idea of founding fathers of differing nations coming together to create a new world of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. 

I am scared for the LGBTQI+ community who have been the victim of both hate speech and prospective policy changes. Coming from a place where I have worked, created, been taught and am best friends with people from this extraordinary community who have fought for so much and I come from a country that though small, was on the forefront of marriage equality. So the thought that Trump has vowed to reverse the Supreme Court's decision granting marriage equality is abhorrent. This is a fight that has taken decades to come to fruition last year and now could be taken away by the inept ideology of the right wing. When America made this headway, it caused a domino effect of change. Could this not just as easily go backwards? Not only does Trump pose this large threat to any advancement in rights for the LGBTQI+ community, but his Vice-President is a homophobic monster who believes in conversion therapy, voted not to repeal don't ask, don't tell and voted against the Hate Crimes Act or the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. This man is terrifying. And when you think about it, he has a lot more experience than the president-elect, and will be pulling the strings for the Republican Party.

I am scared for women for so many reasons. Not only am I so confused and angry that so many women voted for him after everything that has happened but that there will now be an openly sexist and alleged rapist in the White House. For years there have been rumours about the way Trump treats women, his wives, staff etc, but they all seem to have been swept under the rug. Even when he was running no one was talking about the fact that he is/was being currently sued for the rape of a minor back in the 90's. Let alone the fact that when the Access Hollywood tape came out where he talks vividly about sexually assaulting women because he is rich, he called it 'locker room' talk. That is no locker room talk, that is no 'just talk'. It is sexual assault and is demeaning to women everywhere. My biggest fear is the rise of sexual assault that could happen in society, that men will now think it’s okay to physically or mentally hurt a woman because the President of the United States did and got away with it. That there will be a rise in victim blaming, a rise in a lack of repercussions for those being caught. This is not a world I want for myself, for my friends and for future generations. I think of all the derogatory things this man has said about women and their bodies; saying that women who get abortions should be punished, suggesting he would sleep with his daughter if she wasn't his daughter, suggesting that sexual assault in the military is the result of allowing women in the military, ranking women by their looks and so many other things.  This man has vowed to overturn Roe vs Wade, which basically means a whole bunch of angry white men are going to control what women do with their bodies. This is a terrifying way of seeing the future for women, myself included.

I am scared because all of these things can be normalized at the drop of a hat because of the power this man now holds.

If you follow me on Twitter, you would know I haven't shied away from being very vocal about my support for Hillary Clinton. This is just the same on the rest of my social media and in real life. Last night in the aftermath when trying to have frank discussion with a girl I know who was supporting Trump, I was accused of following the first person with a vagina and not paying attention to the facts. But the facts are Hillary Clinton was the most qualified person for the job. She has fought tirelessly for decades for children, people with disabilities and women, she served as Senator of New York during one of its most tumultuous times, served as Secretary of State for President Obama, was First Lady and many other things. Do I think she is perfect? No. Do I think she has made mistakes? Yes. Do I think she is the best person for the job? Yes. 

Yes, the fact that she would have been the first woman president does play a role - not a role about her qualifications, or why she should or shouldn't be president - but a role in greater society. We live in a patriarchal world, let’s face it. It's been this way for decades. Obviously, in past decades it has been blatantly worst, look at the 50's or 60's where women were being discriminated against for jobs, told that they had to stay home and look after the kids and were basically sex objects for men, or the 70's when Clinton herself was refused a credit card because she was married and could use her husband's money, or think of the battles the woman's suffrage movement faced. In today’s society, patriarchy is hidden in the everyday: women being paid less than men, that it is still extremely hard for a woman to participate in the classified male dominated sphere (politics, business etc), that we are still stereotyped and sexualized, that, heck, there is still a debate going on about women's reproductive rights and who controls them. Patriarchy is alive and well in society, and the display of gender politics in this election just emphasizes it.  The patriarchy is what has been calling me a sore loser for the last 24 hours because I am upset of how close we came to history. It is the cultural gate keeper of who is allowed to speak in society and who gets to be dominant, and I for one is sick of it.

To me, Hillary Clinton symbolizes the start of something new. We as women, generations of us from women's suffrage to women's liberation, to millennials, we are all fighting for the same thing: to be heard, for our values, to be equaled.  To be able to become the first women president of one of the most powerful countries would highlight that we are equal citizens. That just because we are women, it does not mean we are second to men. We are the same. She would be bringing more women's issues to the forefront and creating an open dialogue. Clinton would have opened the door for more women to enter the political sphere and I hope that she has inspired many to do so anyway (I am one of these people).  Not only would she have been able to implement so many changes but she was a part of this new hope for women that we would finally break this glass ceiling. 

Now I'm not missing the fact that my opinion is not everyone’s opinion and my feminism is not your feminism. I've read countless articles about the idea of white feminism, and the need for intersectionality in the movement and I understand that nothing is perfect. That Clinton getting into the White House was only one line of the feminist to do list, but it was the step in the right direction. 

Her loss highlights just how powerful patriarchy can be.  That so many members of society believe that we need men in higher positions of power in order to succeed. I mean if we just look at the polling data we can understand why Trump won but I still can't fathom it.

What scares me most of all because of this election is how we come back from this defeat. In many cases this felt like our biggest chance; break through that glass ceiling and let everyone in. But now that it's gone, I don't really know how we come back. How does another woman stand up and say I'm going to try this again after everything that Clinton faced during the campaign and the polling data? That is what scares me the most, how do we make sure that as women we feel powerful enough to fight again.

In her concession speech, Clinton told "all little girls everywhere” who were watching to “never doubt that you are valuable and powerful and deserving of every chance and opportunity in the world to pursue and achieve your own dreams."I hope this will be true, that girls and women everywhere will not take in the hatred that is surrounding our world right now and know how powerful and valuable they are. So, do as Hillary Clinton did and seize every opportunity that you can and see your dreams in everything you can do. I hope that the young girls growing up right now do not think that what the future president says about women is how they should define themselves or that they have to succumb to the status quo. I think about the women I have become in the last three years, the girl I was before that and how far I have come and the dreams I want to achieve. I think of my young cousins, my best friends, the kids that I work with, the teachers I admire and have to hope and pray that the world we are evolving into due to this outcome will still allow us to find these chances. 

But I am still scared. Scared for the future. For everyone who will be constantly bombarded with this idea that words of hatred and conservative ideology is the new norm. For those in America who think their country has given up on them and are scared to walk the streets. I am scared of the message it is sending children that it is okay to be a bully. That bigotry and aggression is how you address people who are different to you. I am just plain scared of what the next four years will bring.

So, what do I do now?

So much of my faith in humanity was lost last night, and my overarching optimism as well. We were knocking on the door of history and instead of creating positive change, we have taken a million steps back and created a historically negative impact on the world.

So, what do I do now?

I grieve because I'm allowed to do that. This was a blow many of us did not see coming.

But then I stand up, because as a woman, I need to keep going. I am powerful and I am one small vessel destined to help create change.

So, I keep going, I keep screaming, making my voice heard. I keep teaching those younger than me about equality and feminism, the difference of gender. I stand up for my beliefs and values when those around me tell me I'm wrong. I call out wrong doings. I support those around me. I educate myself. I find small and large ways of creating change in my community.

So, though I am scared, though I am frightened, I will find my way; we will all find our way of going forward.

We keep fighting.

The sun comes up and the world still turns, so we keep fighting for change, for everyone regardless of race, creed, gender, ethnicity, sexuality and anything else that is used to discriminate against us to have a chance to achieve our dreams.

This fight might be over, but another one is around the corner and we cannot stop now.

Thank you for reading, I really hope you have found some comfort or something else entirely in this piece.

I found it very cathartic to write.

(Also thank you, James, for being an awesome editor)

Love Louise xo