So I think we can all argue that 2016 has not been the best year for women, and especially not for trans-women, women of colour or members of the LGBT community. It shouldn’t come as much of a surprise, then, when I make the grand assumption that women are going to lead the way to a better future. I mean sure, this should have begun with Hillary Clinton’s rise to power in the 2016 Election, but I’m not bitter. When talking about the horrific, heartbreaking result of the election with my many female friends, we are all able to agree that the only good that may come out of this will be the backlash. Oh God, the backlash. Women for so long have been taught to stay silent, to be seen and not heard, by people just like Donald Trump. In the last few decades or so, women have learned to bite back. We will no longer stay silent, no longer be seen and not heard, no longer be the submissive sex. These actions have never been more important than now. Women cannot afford to bow down to the ideologies of Donald Trump; staying silent is not a choice. We have to act, and it has to be soon.
Over the next four years women must fight and scratch and scream their way through the current climate, making sure their voices are heard above those of the patriarchal elite. We know what it is like to not be heard, to be told we don’t matter, and so we no longer have anything left to lose.
But don’t think that the fight begins and ends with Donald Trump. Women won’t stop there, women can’t stop there. We have so much more to do, on so many levels. The same media that ensured Trump’s victory are doing us a constant disservice by under representing so many key female demographics. When queer women are constantly killed off, or given heartbreak as an end to their storyline, we need to fight. When transgender characters are played by straight cis actors, we need to fight. When women of color are only hired to play background characters in almost every area of the media, we need to fight. Over the last few years, representation has become a key issue when talking about race, gender and sexuality. I’ve heard people say that compared to political issues, representation in the media doesn’t matter. But when it was the same media that helped elect Donald Trump, the two seem intrinsically interlinked, and the issues of politics in 2016 can be seen in the lack of diversity in even our most beloved shows.
Now this article might seem slightly dated, given that it is 3 months into 2017 and the first day of spring. I’d like to argue that now it is more important than ever for girls to come together, to support each other and build each other up. People are already beginning to forget about Trump’s first acts in office, and are paying less attention to the atrocities he has committed since. We need to rally together to remind everyone that women will not stay silent, that women doesn’t just include white, straight, cis women, and that, most of all, we will be the leaders of the next revolution.
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