Make America Great Again? It Never Was.

The results are in! Donald Trump is the new president-elect.

Just when you thought America couldn’t stoop any lower, it did. We will now have to answer to an ignorant bigot, anti-feminist, xenophobic president. And to be honest, some are anxious and many of us are afraid.

Yesterday evening, I walked out of the university library with my keychain in my fist and the keys between my fingers.

I don’t think much about it anymore. It has become second nature for me. I feel the need to have some form of defense, just incase. It had never occurred to me that this has become something that I have made a habit out of until I was walking toward the parking lot. I suddenly found myself questioning why I felt this uncontrollable need to feel some sense of security even though there were plenty of people walking alongside me. Then, as if by pure ironic luck, a car raced past the sidewalk and a guy stuck his head out of the passenger window and yelled,

“Grab her by the pussy!”

Just ahead of me a young woman was walking at the same pace as a young man. As the words still echoed in the air it was disturbing to see that she visibly stiffened upon hearing the demeaning comment. And just like that, I was quickly reminded why my keys are always held in my fist.

This is the world we’re living in. A world in which women cannot feel safe and in which men are encouraged to drive this fear. Women have fought so hard to get the equality and the respect that we deserve and we are quickly seeing those hard fought efforts diminish into thin air. There is a sinking notion of reality sinking in. That sad reality is that inequality and disrespect for women is surfacing relentlessly now that our future president is someone who acts upon and encourages this type of behavior.

Donald Trump has bragged about committing acts of sexual assault.

He finds no shame in it. He talks about women as if they were objects built solely for the pleasure and service of men. His actions and his ignorance have spread like a disease throughout our country. There is a visible change, an even greater boldness in terms of society’s disrespect toward women. The hate and animosity with which women are addressed remind us just how unequal women are truly treated.

Should these ignorant ideals continue to be encouraged, these blatant acts of ignorance and disrespect will only worsen. Men like Trump have given others the platform to openly practice their cynicism and male chauvinism. If feels as though we have fought a long and difficult battle for progress only to regress society’s way of thinking through the simple actions of one man.

However, even through these difficult and frightening times we must seek to disband the ignorance that has clouded our society for far too long. It goes beyond trying to fight for equality or fairness.

The root of the issue is not the lack of inequality.

The true dilemma comes from society’s inability to move past gender oppressive mindsets. In Let’s Spit on Hegel, Carla Lonzi argues that “…oppression will continue with equality.” Having the right to be considered equal to a man will not change the way the world views women nor the way women view themselves. It is not enough to desire the “title” of equality.

Our obligation as an educated society is to shape minds and change society’s perception about what it means to be treated equally without feeling the need to tear anyone else down in the process. Lonzi writes, “We must transform the view which others, as well as ourselves, have of our place in the world”(17). We are more than objects and brainless servants, readily available at a man’s disposition. We are women with the same complex emotions that compose any human being. It is unacceptable that we are allowing men in power, such as Trump, to make a mockery out of the very real abuse and inequalities that women face in our society.

This is not a message of hate, it is one of awareness. Our country has failed greatly. Progression seems like it will stay a distance away now that we have allowed it to stray.

So what do we do now? Make America great again?

It seems all too obvious now: America was never great.