Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton on Tuesday chided Republican nominee Donald Trump for insulting women’s appearances, saying everyone must “stand up” to this rhetoric — especially when it comes to young, impressionable girls.
{mosads}At a town hall in Pennsylvania with her daughter, Chelsea Clinton, and actress Elizabeth Banks, a 15-year-old girl asked the Democratic nominee about body image and how she would reverse the “damage” of Trump’s comments about women if elected.
Hillary Clinton thanked the girl and told her she was proud that she asked the question.
“My opponent has just taken this concern to a new level of difficulty and meanness, and it’s shocking when women are called names and judged solely on the basis of physical attributes,” she said.
“We have to stand up against that: women and men, mothers and fathers, everybody,” Clinton continued. “My opponent insulted Miss Universe. How do you get more acclaimed than that?”
Clinton has been using Trump’s public feud with former Miss Universe Alicia Machado as the latest example of his inflammatory remarks toward women.
During last week’s presidential debate, Clinton criticized Trump’s temperament and cast a spotlight on Machado, nothing that he previously called her “Miss Piggy” and “Miss Housekeeping” in the ’90s.
Following the debate, the real estate mogul made new remarks about Machado’s weight and went on an early-morning Twitter rant alleging that the former winner has a “sex tape” — an allegation that has not been proved, though it was then revealed that Trump had made an appearance in a softcore Playboy video.
“We can’t take any of this seriously anymore,” Clinton said Tuesday. “We need to laugh at it; we need to refute it; we need to ignore it; and we need to stand up to it, especially the bullying.”
Clinton also noted that young women are influenced by the characterizations of women in the media and highlighted the need to alleviate the pressure and teach them to be “proud of who they are.”
“There are too many young women online who are being bullied about how they look and being shamed and mistreated. Sometimes that leads to tragic outcomes,” Clinton said. “So we have go to be as clear as possible: We are more than the way we look.”