I never thought I would find myself so invested in politics. It bored me. I never thought I would care so much about who ran our country.

I’ve also never been a huge feminist. I’ve never been on the front line of the wage gap, or gender equality. I mean, sure, I believe women should be treated with respect, but shattering the glass ceiling was never on the top of my to-do list. I’ve always been proud to be a woman, and for most of my young adult life, I have lived by the words of my Queen, Ms. Marilyn Monroe.

“I don’t mind living in a man’s world, as long as I can be a woman in it.”

Praise!This quote always spoke to me, because I’ve always understood that men and women tend to play different roles in society, and I was never one to challenge that. All I’ve ever wanted to do is embrace my femininity and be treated like a lady. Is that too much to ask?

Apparently so. Apparently we live in a country right now where not only are women having to fight for equality, but we have to now fight for respect.

We have to fight for respect because half of our country is supporting a man who does nothing but degrade women.

Now, I’m only 19. This is the first presidential election that I can even vote in, so I’m not going to sit here and say that I know everything there is to know about politics. I will be the first person to say that I still have a lot to learn. But, I do know how it feels to be disrespected, objectified, and looked at as less of a person because I’m a woman. And that reason alone is enough for me to write this article.

It baffles my mind how this vile excuse of a man has made it this far into the presidential race, but it shocks me even more how many women are actually voting for him. Women I know. Women I went to school with. Women who I now sadly have come to look at differently.

I try not to judge people based on their political opinions. I’m somewhat of the political black sheep of my family, so I know how it feels to want to be accepted even though I have different personal beliefs. (Shoutout to my dad who didn’t disown me even when I told him I was a liberal. Love you.)

But something I do judge people on is the way they treat themselves. The way they handle themselves, and if they have respect for themselves. And so I’m sad to say that I do feel differently about some of the women I know personally through social media.

In light of the trending #Repealthe19th, and seeing just how many women actually hopped on board this misogynistic bandwagon, I stirred up some things to say. To quickly fill you in- recent studies have shown that were ONLY men to vote in the 2016 Presidential Election, Trump would win easily. On the other side, if ONLY women were to vote, Hillary Clinton would win by one of the biggest landslides in history. After these reports came out, many of Trumps supporters began the hashtag to repeal the 19th amendment, taking away a woman’s right to vote. Obviously nothing will really come of it, but it’s degrading nonetheless. The saddest part about it was the amount of women who actually supported to hashtag as well. Women are willing to give away their own rights to elect a man who is not even equipped to safely run the country.

To those ladies, this is about to be some tough love. Buckle up.

To my lady friends voting for Donald Trump

First off, I would like to set aside any actual political beliefs, because even if we disagree on the economy, or border control, I still respect your opinions. This has nothing to do with that. I want to merely focus on the things that this man has done that have had no political affiliation. Take the donkeys and the elephants out of the equation and just look at the cold, hard facts, because I know that you want to vote for someone who shares your values. I get that. But take a look at who this man is, hidden behind all of your political beliefs.

• Donald Trump stated that if Ivanka wasn’t his daughter, perhaps he’d be dating her.
• Donald Trump has had 5 children with 3 different women, along with countless well-known affairs.
• Donald Trump called Miss Universe “Miss Piggy” because she gained weight. (Let this one soak in because we are currently fighting a terrible battle with fat-shaming, skinny-shaming, and many other kinds of body-shaming)
• Donald Trump accused Megan Kelly of being on her period when she asked him tough questions about sexist comments he has made in the past. ‘She’s got blood coming out of wherever.”
• Donald Trump consistently refers to women who don’t meet his standards of beauty has “fat pigs” “dogs” and “slobs”
• Donald Trump is on record saying “If you’re flat-chested, it’s hard to be a ten.” (again, with the body-shaming)
• Donald Trump has been accused of sexual assault several times, including from a then 13-year-old girl.

These are just a few of the things this man has said, and while they infuriate me, the one I want to talk about is the one that I’m sure we’ve all seen in the headlines. It’s one that you can’t tell me is “rigged”, or that the media is “blowing things out of proportion”, because it’s his own voice recorded on tape. There is no way around it.

“I just kiss. I don’t even wait. And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab them by the pussy. You can do anything.”

“Grab them by the pussy.”

Yep, I said it. I said the P-word. If our potential President can say it, I can say it too, right? Does it make you uncomfortable? Because it should.

This has been dismissed as “locker room talk”. People make light of it because “all men talk like that from time to time”.

Are you kidding me?

Not all men talk like that. Actually, men don’t talk like that at all. REAL men treat women with respect. They treat women like human beings. We are not pieces of meat. We are not objects. We are people, with hearts, and minds, and souls. The men in my life that I look up to and respect would NEVER say things like that. It’s not locker room talk. It’s disgusting. And the fact that his supporters are writing it off as normal is also disgusting. This should never be the normal. This should never be okay. Talking about women like this is NEVER acceptable. The fact that you can side with this man, and with his supporters, and allow yourself to be stripped down to a piece of meat to be drooled over- you should be ashamed of yourself. You’re a person, with rights and feelings. You are not someone else’s property, and you should act like it. Have some respect for yourself. Show some dignity.

I know you’re going to sit here and tell me that you like Trump because “he’s not a politician.” Okay, I get it. We’re tired of the politics game. (Actually, I don’t get it, because I personally would like for someone who has experience in the field to make decisions for our country as a whole, but that’s just me. I mean, who am I to say that it’s crazy to want someone with no experience in politics to sit in the highest political office? It’s just as normal as wanting the guy who gives you your milkshake at Burger King to also perform open heart surgery on you because “he’s a fresh face”, right? Totally fine and not nerve-wracking. I’m sure in that situation you wouldn’t fear for your life at all.) Anyway…

If you don’t want a politician, fine. But whoever we elect has got to be someone who respects women, and Donald Trump simply doesn’t.

Most of the girls I think about when I write this are girls who I went to highschool with. That means they are my age. So, ladies, (and the older ones too) think about this:

We are at the prime of our life. Assuming whoever is elected now serves two terms, they will probably be President when some of us get married and when some of us even have children. Is this the kind of president you want your daughter looking up to? How can you look at her and tell her that you voted for the man who grabs women “by the pussy”? How will you ever be able to teach her how to respect herself if you let trash like that run the nation that you brought her into? How can you sign your name to that ballot and not feel an ounce of guilt for the sexist country that you are helping to create for your children?

And now for the Trump-supporting ladies of mine who will have sons.

How are you supposed to teach your son how to properly treat women when that is who they have to look up to? Say what you want about President Obama and his politics, but remember that this isn’t about that. That man has the upmost respect for his wife and his daughters. And I would just like to point out that if President Obama had been seen saying even half of the things that Mr. Trump has said, there is no way in hell he would be in office right now.

Donald Trump is the walking, talking definition of white privilege. He’s encouraging rape culture. And with every insulting thing he says, he defiles us as women. Men like him are the reason that 1 in 6 women will be sexually assaulted in their lifetime. How can you stand by something like that when you, or someone you know could be in that statistic?

On an even more aggravating note, (this is where I start to get really angry) How dare you think that you have the right to mock the privilege that the women before us worked so hard for? I want to you know that when you retweet #Repealthe19th, you are saying that the blood, sweat and tears that went into getting Women’s Suffrage is not worth it to you. I know that you live in a world where you’ve never had to think about all of the rights that you have because of how hard others have fought for you. You have no idea how those women must have felt in 1920, fighting to be heard. They couldn’t imagine throwing away their right to vote because they didn’t even have it. By doing this, you are showing nothing but disrespect to those women. To those American women who fought so hard for the freedom that you throw away. Show some damn respect.

It disappoints me how entitled you feel that you can tromp on other’s rights like that. But, then again, look who you have to look up to and follow. I might be ashamed, but I can’t say that I’m surprised.

Like I said, I never thought I would be this invested in politics, but then again, I never thought I would have to fight for respect as a woman.

When you support Donald Trump, and you support this trending hashtag, you are doing something far worse than Donald Trump degrading you- you are degrading yourself. And you are degrading other women, past, present, and future. Take a step back and realize that you are encouraging the stripping of your own human rights. It might be nice to throw them around, but it’s not so fun when you have nothing to throw at all. Don’t you dare let us go backwards.

To All of My Ladies who are voting for Trump,

I’m sorry you had to hear it like this. But I don’t respect people who do not have respect for themselves.

All my love,

A Progressive