Rose McGowan sounds off on the coming war against women

Impact

"I didn't want to wake up to a Donald Trump presidency, so I didn't go to sleep."

"It was a gray morning, as if the sun didn't want to waste its rays," McGowan recalled in an interview. "Sick to my stomach, I roamed the desolate morning streets of New York. Everyone who was laughing was suspect. Everyone with dull eyes my immediate compatriot. Welcome to a divided America."

Like many Americans, Rose McGowan was in disbelief when it was confirmed early on Wednesday morning that Donald Trump had succeeded in his long-winding quest to become the nation's 45th president.

The consciously "unfamous" filmmaker, whom many might recognize from her starring roles in Scream, Jawbreaker and Charmed, immediately offered her reaction in an open letter shared on Twitter directed at both Trump and his enablers.

"You have been stressing me and most of the nation out to the point of diagnosable sickness," she wrote. "WE ARE BEING POISONED."

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Earlier this month, McGowan called Country Music Award executives "a bunch of chicken shits" after they were accused of scrubbing all evidence of Beyoncé's performance amidst racist backlash. And in October, she penned an open letter urging Hollywood to "stop rewarding" sexual offenders in Hollywood.

That was not the first — and won't be the last — time McGowan speaks out for gender equality. The only difference now? Urgency. 

Once in office, Donald Trump has made numerous promises to diminish a woman's agency over her own body. Among them, he has promised to repeal President Obama's Affordable Care Act, which, according to CBS News, would allow insurance companies to no longer be required to cover birth control with no copay; defund Planned Parenthood, which, along with abortions, provides sexual health care and education to millions; and, finally, to nominate anti-abortion rights judges to the Supreme Court who may try to overturn Roe v. Wade.

Below, Mic sat down with McGowan to hear about her thoughts on what's at stake for women — and the difficult work ahead of figuring out how best to fight back.