I ain't sorry

I wish that the title of this blog post was an indicator that today I would be writing about Beyonce, but unfortunately, it links back to a topic a little more serious than that. 

Of course, the entire world knows that today, Donald Trump was made the President of the United States of America. Oh, how those words make me sick to my stomach. While his opponent, Hillary Clinton, was no saint, she was most definitely the lesser of two evils and she would have been the far better successor of the position than he.

However. Everything happens for a reason, and for whatever reason Donald Trump won the presidential elections and is now in charge of the USA. (Brilliant...)

Now I've argued with people online and in person about the results today. Thankfully, almost all of the people I interact with share my views. They are as equally as disgusted as me and equally as angry. Unfortnately there is a small portion of people who have opposing views to me and have said some- quite frankly- ridiculous things to me. Nearly every single one of them, men and women, have told me the same thing. "Don't get upset about it".

Well, let me tell you something.

I ain't sorry.

I'm not sorry for hating Donald Trump and supporting Hillary Clinton. Sure, she isn't perfect and no, I'm not just supporting her because she's a woman. Donald Trump is going on trial for rape next month. He wants to ban all Muslims from entering the country. He wants to build a wall between Mexico and the USA. He wants to make abortion illegal. He wants to punish any women who have abortions. He thinks LGBTQ+ people can be 'cured'. He is, to be quite frank, disgusting. I will not apologise for hating his guts, speaking poorly of him or supporting Hillary. 

I'm not sorry for being a feminist and supporting women. I can clearly see that one of the main, contributing factors towards Hillary's loss is due to sexism, a lack of respect for women and a total lack of gender inequality. Hillary has worked in politics for over forty years. Donald Trump took an interest in politics as a laugh just over a year ago. Hillary has worked tirelessly to get to where she is, while Trump had no interest in being President until recently- he even said himself that if he ever ran for President, he'd like to be shot. Yet somehow, despite all of this, and despite Donald Trump's actions up until this point, he still won. People would rather have a man running as a joke win than a woman who worked for over half her lifetime on getting to where she is win. If you don't see the issue there, you need to keep looking until you do. 

I'm not sorry for crying this morning at 7am when I woke up and found out the result. I'm not sorry for crying because as a straight, white woman I know that, even though I might be "grabbed by the pussy" and punished for having an abortion, I will be safer than a huge chunk of American citizens. I'm safer than Muslims, black people, Mexicans, people in the LGBTQ+ community, mentally ill people.  I am not sorry for crying because I know Donald Trump will destroy a nation that Obama has worked so hard on in order to improve the lives of these minority groups to only have it all undone at the hands of a clown.

I'm not sorry for being angry at women who voted for and supported Trump. How can women be so blind? Why would you vote for a man who acts and speaks about women the way that Trump does? How can you sit back and laugh as he discusses sexual assault in casual, 'locker room' style? You are part of the problem with America if you identify as a female and support his policies and I won't apologise for telling you I think you're a damn fool.

I'm not sorry for being angry that a qualified woman is still considered to be inferior to a totally unqualified man. I'm not sorry for being angry that women struggle to achieve anything at all as long as they're up against a white male. I'm not sorry for being utterly outraged that Hillary has spent a great many years working her way to the top, only to be outdone by a man with half her skills, qualifications and experience.

In short, in case you hadn't guessed, I ain't sorry. 

This election, as well as the Brexit vote earlier on this year, has only demonstrated just how many people we are living among who share such disgusting, vile views of people in society today. Misogynistic, racist, xenophobic views. People who think it's okay for women to be objectified, seen and not heard. People who believe in the KKK and want to ban Muslims from entering America. Basically, there's more bastards in this world than we ever realised.

This election has also demonstrated perfectly that gender inequality is live and well. People would rather vote for a rapist, a man who said he'd date his own daughter, a man who mocked a disabled person on television, a man who doesn't even understand and trivialises the sacrifices people in the military make for their country, rather than vote for a woman. It's ridiculous.

America, you've done it now, and I hope you're satisfied with the ramifications that will surely follow.

Love from,
Florence Grace