I was never sure whether I am a feminist and was so scared to label myself as one.
Being born and raised in such a patriarchy soaked country and watching the women of my family play two roles - strong career women - successful career women at that -come home and play submissive wife to their husbands and put up with their mansplaining and undermining of their achievements left me with a jumbled set of values,unable to pick a side . . always on the fence,until now.
I fell asleep at 1 am on November 9th 2016 to positive polls and like many,laughed at a possible trump presidency.
Twelve hours later,1 pm IST.. The comedy strip that had unfolded ever since Trump announced that he would want to be considered a potential candidate for President candidacy of the United States became a real,almost apocalyptic nightmare all around the world.
Ask anyone in the world today-well except for the ones who contributed to his victory-they could give you one reason,at the least,why Donald trump should not hold elected office.
It bothered me all day long,like an itch bring relief to and I finally realised why.
At sixteen,someone had asked me to name role models and I had named men and men alone. I didn’t realise how odd that was until recently, I was so glad to see Hillary clinton and her backers - powerhouse entertainers from Hollywood,women all around the world to finally have someone out there,as a role model.
I thought we were so close to having a historic moment for women,as just hours before the election result - Californian voters elected Kamala Harris, the daughter of immigrants from India and Jamaica, to the U.S. Senate while Nevada chose Catherine Cortez Masto,the daughter of immigrants from Italy and Mexico to serve in the U.S. Senate.
There have been 11 Hispanic and Latino senators in U.S. history, but 0 women — until 9th November.
USA has now elected a reality tv star with no ability to form a coherent paragraph, much less put together policies.
This coddled man child woke up one morning and decided “Hmm, I think I’d like to have the most powerful job in the world” on basically a whim and USA has pandered to his whim.
America would rather appoint a hate mongering,xenophobic,racist statement spouting man to be President, as long as its a MAN.
For gods sake America,Trump mocked a CHILD with disabilities.
All these instances were brought to light during his one year cringe worthy contempt filled campaign,the worst being the audio leak with Trump talking about sexual assault in a playful way,
The audio leak that made his own party’s members turn their back on him as well as tweeting at a former Miss universe at 3 am in the morning like a man child scorned at being rejected.. Trump calling 12 year olds attractive, waiting for them to become adults so he can sink his claws into these women,consent or not - what do terms like Consent mean to a 'star' like him anyway ?
A predatory man with quite a few sexual assaults who retorted back to the women who filed these lawsuits against him with yet another puerile statement - that there were not attractive enough to be sexually assaulted.
A man with all these characteristics is who they would rather have as the face of a country that is one of - possibly the biggest - the superpowers of the world than a Woman who has formal degrees and training for the job, who worked for it for decades, gained knowledge and skill and directly-related experience.
A woman who has been a lawyer,a law professor, a children rights activist,a senator and secretary of state.
Travelled to corners of the world,had treaties signed,was a part of the team that brought down one of the most notorious Terrorists..fought hard for and enforced civil rights for the LGBTQ.
Congratulations on bringing another woman down,on shredding her to pieces.
Job well done here,turning back the hands of time and putting a woman’s personal choices and agency over her body- abortion comes to mind - into a man’s hand.
Keep this poem in mind as a slogan for every woman out there feeling defeated.
Maya Angelou, 1928 - 2014
You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I’ll rise.
Thank you Hillary Rodham Clinton as for the first time in 21 years on this planet,I checked my privilege. Your defeat was a triumph in so many ways.
