“Nearly every women sitting at home has experienced a version of the nasty woman moment, though probably not on national television.”
Since Trump’s lovely outburst during the Third Presidential Debate, the “nasty woman” phrase spread like wildfire, launching the hashtag #IamANastyWoman as part of a feminist movement. This Vox article says that this is what makes Hillary more relatable to female voters. Women everywhere have – at one point, in some form – been the victim of a sexist attack, and this one toward Clinton had more women voters empathizing with her (even if they were on the fence about her before).
Watching Trump show his blatant disrespect toward his opponent sparked a lot of emotion in me, first in shock that Trump had said such a thing, and then in empathy and admiration for Hillary and how she handled the situation. Clinton remained the most composed and continued through her time as if nothing happened. I think that her visual and verbal rhetoric response to Trump’s shows the strength Clinton has and will continue to have as a leader, and it stands as a powerful symbol for women everywhere. I side with the writer in that this sexist attack helped Clinton and may have unleashed the feminist in every woman. Do you agree? Does Trump’s comment make Clinton more likable, especially in women’s eyes?
Hillary Clinton and Beyond 
#ImANastyWoman — I agree that Trump’s dig at Clinton actually backfired on him and has instead served to unite women across the country as they embrace the term and turn it into a feminist slogan — reclaiming it as our own–to empower the insult and turn it back around. Virtually wearing it as a badge of honor. Katy Perry has been hitting the campaign trail for Hillary donning a white t-shirt with a giant red heart on it that inside says NASTY WOMAN. It was created by a young designer from New Orleans and it’s gone viral. Other designers and young entrepreneurs have been making and selling Nasty Woman mugs, pillows and other merchandise using the satirized slogan. Tees that say “Nasty Women Vote” and tees that show the definition “nasty woman: (noun) an intelligent, confident, hard working, prepared and experienced woman” are showing up for sale online. That tee, along with a “Bad Hombres” tee should just about complete my election season wardrobe! Oh wait, redbubble.com has the best of both rhetorical worlds with their recently released tee that reads: “Bad Hombre Seeking Nasty Woman”.
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Hi Michelle,
I definitely agree that appropriating the insult and using it as a rallying cry to empower women is a really clever move.
Besides that, maybe I’m taking this down the wrong path, but you really got me thinking again about the American public’s tendency to turn politics into a marketable commodity or something we can consume. The same issue came up in our talks about political comedy programs, namely what it says about the American people that we need to turn politics into something consumable or some sort of product that we can purchase.
Again, I do think turning the insult into a slogan was a real power play and the enthusiasm and unity it brings is great, but your comment left me wondering if putting it on T-shirts and pillows and mugs and all this gift-shop merchandise stuff is possibly dangerous, or perhaps a symptom of a much larger issue like the whole “reality-televisualization” of politics. Maybe that issue of complacency comes into play here too, since I don’t think buying a T-shirt really makes you an activist, but it certainly might make you feel like one.
Anyway, I’m not really sure if it’s really all that bad, but I suppose someone has to play the cynic, so here I am.
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Does Trump’s comment make Clinton more likable, especially in women’s eyes? Yes, it does.However,it is not only the idea of how it makes Clinton more reliable ,it is more how it turns out Trump to be more detestable.
The two bottles of perfume in the video ‘Nasty Woman’ says it all.On one hand, ‘get the fragrance ,get the power, get nasty’ which subtly refers to women’s power being intimidating to men like Trump.Yet, on the other hand the ‘Bad Hombre’ for men fragrance ,with the label ‘Bad’ as well as ‘hombre’ which means ‘having colors or tones that shade into each other from light to dark’ i.e. bad all through , perfectly portrays the opponents’ character and comments.
The clear message is sent and weaved through the context of “You’re successful.You’re powerful. You’ve got stamina.” and because of this “Be the woman that men can’t resist interrupting.’
Clinton’s success drives the opponent to show his true color or ‘ombre’ which is bad to everyone but him. He for one describes himself as “Nobody has more respect for women than I do.” I think he needs to look up the definition of ‘respect’ before he further talks about it.
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I think that this tactic of appropriating an insult directed at oneself is incredibly powerful an certainly an effective way to make women’s voices heard. As to your questions, it certainly helps Clinton, although when it comes to making Clinton more “likable,” I’m not so sure. This all reminds me of the feminism club at the University of Vermont, which in my tenure as a student there renamed itself to College Undergrads Not Tolerating Sexism, a.k.a C.U.N.T.S.
The group had a very strong presence on campus and garnered a lot of attention, some positive, some not so positive, but always deliberate. Some students praised their use of irony to call attention to a worthy cause, while others found them caustic and abrasive, whether because they believed in the club’s cause but not their tactics, or because the club’s tactics turned them off their cause altogether. I certainly believe in the righteousness of their cause, but I could also understand why their edginess would be taken the wrong way by some people, particularly those who don’t already agree with the club’s mission. It seemed to be the club’s modus operandi to call attention to their cause by being inflammatory, and while they are certainly justified in expressing anger and contempt at the marginalization of women and non-gender-normative people, I’m not so sure it’s the best way to get people to rally around their mission; they end up pushing away some people who agree with them but not their methods, and they don’t succeed at persuading those who don’t agree with them to join their cause. So I suppose it all depends on whether or not they are trying to be heard, or trying to convince people to join a noble cause.
I know this isn’t exactly what’s going on with the “nasty woman” movement, but I do think there’s some resonance. The “nasty woman” phrase is definitely an effective rallying cry, and perhaps also makes Clinton more likable, but I’m afraid it will add fuel to the fire of stereotypes about women and give opponents a reason to keep using the ‘B’-word. But maybe that’s the point, and is it a good thing?
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Trump’s disrespect and nasty words towards Hillary opened up a new possibility for her: The ability to reclaim an insult and use it to her advantage. Considering Trump claims to respect women more than anyone else, I consider this irony a win for Hillary. How she utilizes this insult was clever because Hillary turned towards her feminist supports who, in response, took advantage of the foul play.
In fact, I see this as Hillary supporters grabbing Trump’s words to further strengthen their support and resolve. #ImANastyWoman sparked a conversation about the gender gap, a discussion that begs to debated. Since it seems Hillary struggled connecting with young, female voters, Trump did the job for her by presenting an incredibly sexist remark.
The remarks have become a sort of offensive weapon on Hillary’s side now. Her supporters managed to take a degrading message and turn it into booming support, and therefore I think it has made Hillary a more likable candidate with female voters.
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I agree that Hillary has become more popular with female voters following the incident. And I really love the fact that women (and men) are sticking together on this one. Trumps comments were uncalled for and unreasonable. And it’s understandable why people are leaning towards Clinton. But I wonder if people are actually “liking” her more now as you and the author suggest? Is she actually likeable or are people just supporting her due to the fact that she was wronged publicly?
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“I side with the writer in that this sexist attack helped Clinton and may have unleashed the feminist in every woman. Do you agree? Does Trump’s comment make Clinton more likable, especially in women’s eyes?”
I think it’s undeniable that this has helped Clinton. Donald Trump handed over a catchphrase that people, and women in particular, can perpetuate and adopt. As soon as it happened, there was merchandise for sale.
https://www.etsy.com/listing/472998878/nasty-women-vote-pin-button-hillary?ref=unav_listing-other
It became something to rally behind, as being this “nasty woman” who appears to be on the cusp of the presidency is undermining the traditional docile figure of American Women who do not speak out and “stay in their place.” It was a way to say “if doing what I need to do makes me a nasty woman, then sure, I’m a nasty woman.” If people look up to Hillary in one way (that she’s a woman), it will go a long way as it may have more mileage with the bulk of the voting public. What remains to be seen is what Hillary does from here, if the phrase can be subsumed by her own rhetoric.
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This article is really interesting and I was intrigued with its take on Clinton and her new found support from female voters. The author credits trump for helping Clinton appear as more relatable. He essentially puts her in a vulnerable position as a women. She is publicly scrutinized for her gender and as a women in power one can only imagine the humiliation she felt especially being in the public eye. Women in the work place have been subjected to this kind of sexism for years it is no wonder Clinton is receiving so much empathy and support. What I question is why is it that it took her to be humiliated publicly for women to finally come to her defense? Why is it that women haven’t supported her in such an outpouring way before the insult? She was criticized for her personality and unlikeable persona before but why is it that this moment is what it took for women to finally “relate” to Clinton? Trump has said a lot worse unfortunately (aka bragging about sexual assault) and yet that didn’t even have such an affect on females siding with Clinton as much as it made them despise Trump further and I wonder what it was about being called a “nasty woman” which sparked that.
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