I sat on my couch wide-eyed Tuesday night as I watched the electoral college votes pile up in Trump's favor. My roommates and I were shocked — how could someone who is so blatantly disrespectful to so many groups of people be winning the election? This is the United States of America, the land of opportunity, the nation where we pledged there would be freedom for all, the nation that I thought was one where I could thrive as a woman.

I kept telling myself "it's not over, it's not over." But the results looked bleaker by each state that turned red. I woke up every couple of hours, frantically turning on my lamp and looking for the remote. And when I saw that Donald Trump, the loud-mouth businessman that had somehow become the nominee of the Republican party, had won, a part of me snapped inside.

This isn't about losing to a republican or about having a conservative head of state. Usually, yes, I vote democratic. But I know republicans, have co-workers, friends and family members who are republicans. I don't hate them for their political affiliation or their values.

But this election is different. For me, this election went from political to personal.

I watched — am still watching — people on my campus grow scared of what will happen to their rights. This isn't a lost election. This is a direct hit to human rights. Trump has pledged to deport immigrants, to de-fund planned parenthood, to reverse the marriage equality act and he has, so many countless times, disrespected women.

You don't like immigrants — they're violent, they're raising crime rates, you say?

Trump pointed to a 2015 case in which 32-year-old Kathryn Steinle was shot and killed by an undocumented foreign-born man. He has used this case to prove that undocumented immigrants are dangerous, therefore we should ban them from the U.S.

However, census data from 2010 regarding the incarceration rate reveals that native U.S. citizens are more than three times as likely to be convicted of a crime as foreign-born Mexican men and more than five times as likely to be convicted of a crime as foreign-born Salvadoran and Guatemalan men.

And people who are pro-life — guess how much of planned parenthood's funds go toward abortion.

Planned Parenthood estimates its abortion services as only 3 percent of the total services it provides. This number reflects that out of the 10.6 million services planned parenthood offers, 327,653 of them are abortion procedures. That's how Planned Parenthood came to their number. But a Washington Post article explains other ways to calculate the number of abortions that Planed Parenthood performs:

"There were 4.6 million clinical visits in 2013. If each woman who received an abortion visited the clinic only once for the procedure, abortions comprised 7 percent of visits that year."

You could negotiate this statistic higher if you calculate the number of post-abortion checkups that women go to Planned Parenthood for, but 7 percent of actual visits are scheduled abortions, meaning that 93 percent of the time people go to Planned Parenthood for other services such as STI testing or prenatal care. I am pro-choice because I believe that women should have control over their bodies instead of old white men in office making health decisions for them. But even if you are pro-life, doesn't completely de-funding planned parenthood sound a little extreme if you recognize that the vast majority of their services ensure the sexual health of men and women (yes, men get tested for STIs too), the reproductive health of women and the physical health of pregnant women's babies?

President Obama made a move to try to protect Planned Parenthood on the basis of not letting states get rid of it solely because they offer abortion services. Let's hope that this holds up.

And no matter how you slice it, repealing the marriage equality act is homophobic. Taking away someone's right to commit to their significant other is dehumanizing and homophobic.

I also fear for people of minority races, as the KKK led a parade in celebration of Donald Trump's election. African American students are being targeted with the "n word" followed by some phrase with Trump's name in it. A Minnesota school bathroom door had the words "f*ck n*****s" with "#whitesonly," "#whiteamerica" and "Trump" written below it. At a different Minessota school, a group of students chanted "build that wall" while fellow Latino students cried. A Muslim student at San Diego State University was robbed of her purse, backpack and car by two men who insinuated the hate-crime happened because she was wearing a hijab and traditional Muslim garment. Drawings of Swastikas with "Trump" written underneath were found in South Philadelphia. According to a Facebook post, someone witnessed a woman being harassed by a group of white males, in which one of them yelled "grab her by the pussy," and then one man tried to touch her inappropriately.

Now, I understand that Trump has not instructed his supporters to do this to their fellow Americans. I know that he didn't get up in front of everyone and say "I want you to make minorities, women and Jewish people's lives Hell." I know you could dismiss these occurrences as false or exaggerated. But not all of them can be false. A bunch of Hillary Clinton supporters didn't come together a couple of days after the election and vow to blatantly lie about scarring things happening to them. I'm sure some of these people affected by these ridiculous actions didn't even like Clinton, or maybe even supported Trump. You can't deny every single instance, and there have been many more than I listed here.

But Donald Trump's dangerous rhetoric over the course of his campaign has led people to believe that it's OK to discriminate against others. And his own blatant sexism, racism, homophobia and xenophobia has led people to not only reveal but celebrate their hate-filled prejudices against others.

If Donald Trump really wants to "be President for all of Americans," then he will speak out against these acts. He will make clear to his supporters that violence and verbal and sexual harassment will not be tolerated. If Donald Trump cares at all, he will try to make this country a place where no one is negatively influenced by actions inspired by his words. And if he doesn't speak out against these acts soon, well, we have four long years ahead of us.

As a woman, I am scared. I am terrified about what his election means for our country on the basis of how apparently sexist America is. Hillary Clinton lost because of a multitude of reasons — because she didn't campaign in the Midwest, because her email scandal was blown way out of proportion (especially in comparison to Trump's alleged rape of a 13-year-old; though the details were vague, they were about as vague as the details included in Hillary's email scandal) and because, let's face it, she is a woman.

She is a strong woman with determination to make people's lives better, with a mastery of composure, with 35 years of public service, one who served as first lady, Senator and Secretary of State. Compare this to an businessman with no political experience who loses his cool as soon as someone disagrees with him or insinuates anything bad about him — such as when he called Hillary Clinton a "nasty woman" in response to her statement: "My Social Security payroll contribution will go up, as will Donald's, assuming he can't figure out how to get out of it."

In comparison to that remark Hillary made about Trump trying to get out of Social Security payroll contribution, he has fired many nastier shots at women, Hillary Clinton in particular. If the future president can't come up with a wittier response to that remark than calling Clinton "a nasty woman," then I think he has a problem of not only composure but of intelligence.

The most disturbing thing about the results of the election for me is this: I thought I lived in a place with biases, with prejudices but I thought these things were improving. And now I feel like every man who has ever told me I can't do something, purely on the basis that I am a woman, just won. Every person who has ever yelled "f*ggot" or "n***a" or any other derogatory term at someone in the hopes of belittling them, just won. Everyone who has ever considered themselves better because they're white or male or born in this country just won.

I'm not saying that racism or sexism or xenophobia or homophobia are the only reasons people voted for Trump. I read an article that really helped me understand specifically why people in rural communities of the Midwest voted for him. But honestly, I still don't understand why people not located in these rural communities in the Midwest supported him.

I now have little faith left in our political system, our ability to vote in a qualified candidate and our ability to treat women fairly. But what I do have faith in is the people around me and the people who have made clear to me how important human rights are to them.

I am lucky to find myself in such an open-minded town and an accepting campus. Professors and fellow students have been incredibly supportive since we heard of the frightening election results. And as one of my professors said: a lot of issues are going to be challenged. And we're going to have to fight. You can't cover them all. So pick one that you're passionate about and fight like hell.