By Jana Washington
A few months ago, a poll on the effects of the current political climate was released. Essentially, the United States is much more stressed now than we have been in years. Anxiety and concern levels are through the roof; people are afraid of the next move that Donald Trump might make and rightfully so, as he has been proven to be unpredictable.
During his campaign, Trump used a multitude of misogynistic, sexist, and nonetheless, derogatory words to show how he truly felt about women, which causes being a woman in this climate to be much more panic-evoking. He and his cabinet have already started infringing upon women’s reproductive rights, our retirement security, and have cut funding from major programs such as Women, Infants and Children (WIC) and Planned Parenthood, which he plans to defund entirely. These motions are just a few out of hundreds, which makes it understandable that anxiety levels have increased so much.
The new season of American Horror Story: Cult, is actually based around the election itself. Ally, the main character and a liberal, is so against Trump that after he won, she burst into hysterical tears, and regressed back into the fears she’d suffered from after the 9/11 attacks. She begins to hallucinate and see clowns everywhere, so much so that her wife, Ivy, begins to get annoyed with her. Loosely, Ally is representative of many of us; we’re afraid of what he might do next.
In this political climate, women may be more afraid to speak up. Women of minority backgrounds and groups have become a little less open with their politics and beliefs, for the purposes of their safety. However, even though our rights are being infringed upon, we can still speak up, protest, march or whatever else we need to do in order to get our points across.
As we now know, our anxiety levels, panic attacks, and stress levels have increased greatly as women, as a society. It is okay to talk to someone; it is okay to take mental health days, and more importantly, it is okay to be afraid. Trump has made it clear that he thinks women belong in the house doing domestic work, but, in the world we live in, women have made far too many strides in becoming equal to men to regress back into what we came from.
Sources:
Shamus, Kristen Jordan. “Poll: ‘Political climate’ is freaking most of us out.” USA Today
Gannett Satellite Information Network, 16 Feb. 2017,
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2017/02/16/poll-two-third…
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