With the seemingly endless supply of offensive, racist and misogynistic dialogue being born and spread throughout the world via Trump’s perpetually-pursed lips, it is no surprise to see this tangerine-tinted, humanized form of a manic Freudian Id’s latest comments surrounding the weight of former Miss Universe winner, Alicia Machado.

One of the cornerstones and original propellants for his unprecedented political rise was based on his continual back and forth with Rosie O’Donnell. Frequently, these attacks would be buttressed by Trump’s use of uncreative, middle school-esque epithets, largely utilizing fat-shaming as his weapon of choice. These more-than-unsavory sentiments were brought into the spotlight again as Trump has repeatedly invoked O’Donnell’s name in response to accusations of calling women “disgusting,” “fat pigs,” and “slobs.” Naturally, this and his many other gender-centered insults, have evoked responses from people across Twitter, on national and international news networks, and other such platforms, expressing shock, condemnation, and emotional support for those affected by these abuses which are so entrenched in our oppressive, patriarchal society.

Trump’s fanning of these fires, along with the implicit validation of these comments, due to his position as the Republican candidate for president, has worried many about the impact such discourse is going to have on the self-esteem and body image of young women, a demographic which has already been shown to be dealing with immeasurable amounts of stress and pressure to look perfect originating from advertisements, Hollywood, and… well, hell, pretty much everywhere that portrays some sort of standard of beauty. A recent indicator that this validly-held assumption is being actualized is the video during a Q&A session with Hillary Clinton, during which a young girl told of the existing body image issues that she and her friends have experienced, as well as the “damage” which Trump is doing, worsening this problem.

Indeed it is a deeply saddening and insidious course that these words will assist in paving. The self-esteem and mental health of young women have long been the victim of the barrage of society’s increased value-assignment based on appearance and weight. Currently, The Center for Mental Health Services states that 90% of those dealing with eating disorders in the US, which have been shown to correlate with poor self-esteem and body image, are girls and women between the ages of 12 and 25. The ubiquitous perpetuation of an unrealistic standard of beauty has been documented in movies, magazines, television programs and commercials. It used to be hard to imagine that this could become much pervasive than it has been, but with the potential to have a misogynist-in-chief, the upper bounds of this epidemic look as though they could be pushed further.

Pause.

If the fact that this already pernicious issue which negatively impacts, degrades the mental health, and even leads to the death of so many women does not, on its own, disgust you enough to realize that any extenuation of this (aka a vote for Trump) is not only morally reprehensible, but also societally reckless, then it is clear that you do not value the lives and experiences of anybody identifying as female as much as you do males. This is an issue with real consequences for countless young women, and anything less than a hard stance against this, in my view, condones, perpetuates, and exacerbates this form of violence.

To be clear, these facts and ominous possibilities should be enough in themselves to support a more body-positive world. The recent justifications that many male Republican leaders have given for withdrawing their support from Trump – invoking the possibility that the subjects of his comments could have just as easily been reserved for their wives, daughters, or mothers – carry with them the implication that men should care about these issues because it impacts a woman in whom they have a vested interest (or possibly, in a more patriarchal interpretation, somebody that feel they exhibit ownership or control over).

In case you are somehow waking up from a century-long coma, I have some news for you: women are equally human and deserve the same respect, empathy, opportunity, and consideration as any man. Honestly, the fact that I have to say that feels a bit cliché and on-the-nose, but it seems that this elementary level of gender studies needs to be stated openly. If you need to find a reason that you are impacted by these issues, rather than caring that gross levels of women with no relation to you are regularly being systematically harmed as a result of this continuation, then you are being sexist to a disturbing degree.

Full stop.

Any other justifications for the cessation of these trends should be in addition to this baseline, not in place of. With this established, I would like to discuss the impact that Trump’s increasingly unacceptable commentary on his female interlocutors’ appearance has had on the stigmatized issue of negative body image in men.

***

Ever since I can remember, I have always had issues with my body image and my weight. I have always been short, and all throughout my childhood I was a chubby kid. I weighed close to 200 lbs in middle school, and I was so ashamed of the difference between my body in contrast to all of my lanky, athletically-built friends. Summer – typically the most sacred of all times for school children – was, for me, a minefield of potential vulnerability. I was able to conjure innumerable excuses in order to avoid pool parties, beach trips with friends, and any other seemingly joyful events which could require me to expose my source of shame, doubt, and self-hate. I resented my brothers for not having to care about whether they looked fat or not. Lighthearted joking and nicknames, usually not executed with any malicious intent, are lodged in my memory to this day. Even positive comments at family reunions concerning my appearance would come across to me as being insincere since I knew there was no way that anybody could say something positive about somebody that looked like me. All of this fed into a deep rage and sadness that I carried with me at all times, and those close to me can attest to that.

In the summer between my junior and senior year in high school, I decided to try to change this. I was so tired of feeling less than my moderately-sized peers, and I thought that if I could just lose some of this weight, maybe then I would be normal. My doctor also recommended that I drop some of the extra pounds, as I was showing signs of being pre-diabetic. This was it, I was going to be skinny. I exercised intensely, stopped consuming sugar, and heavily monitored my diet. That summer, I lost about 60 pounds. I made it to my goal. Everyone was telling me how good looked; I was off of my blood pressure and prediabetic medicine. I knew there was no looking back. But rather than leveling off and living a balanced lifestyle, the self-hating voices could not be quelled.

I would exercise twice a day sometimes, while only eating about 1,000-1,500 calories a day, and I refused to touch any carb-heavy food. I couldn’t go back to “Fat Elijah” – ever. My family would often tell me that I needed to eat more, and I would refuse, citing this scientific article and that study.

This behavior went unrealized all the way until about sophomore year when I started to study more about body image issues and disordered eating. In truth, I had seen the signs a year back, but waived them off—that couldn’t be me, right? I was fortunate enough to be able to identify a lot of this before it had gone on for much longer, and from there be able to open up about it a bit more, talk to my friends, and realize that it is a part of me. I now work to recognize when this formless beast is sneaking negative thoughts into my head, and reassure myself that my value is not related to my appearance and that I am in love with my healthy body. But that doesn’t mean that I don’t still live with these thoughts on occasion; it doesn’t mean I don’t still remember every name or comment. These stick with you, caved in the back of your mind—a lasting reminder.

Women are no doubt the main focus of explicit and implicit body shaming, and the subsequent body image and eating disorders, and should very well be recognized as such – because they are equal, yet working in a massively toxic environment which treats them as if they were not. This is unfair. And additionally, there are still those males, trans, and gender non-conforming people that are dealing with similar issues. The dismissal of such repulsive talk about people’s appearances from a presidential candidate serves to also dismiss the culture of body shaming which has steadily amassed. This means that no light is being shone on these issues, meaning that it will become increasingly harder to further legitimize, and subsequently reverse, this infectious societal norm, resulting in further stigmatization and shame for all those subject to these afflictions.

Trump’s hurled insults are more than words – they are seeds, passed down from his parent generation, being violently pressed into the soil of the next generation, hoping to ensure that it too will be able to grow, blossom, and repeat this process onto the following generation, as is the nature of such insidious creations. Let’s hope that we are all smart and empathetic enough to eradicate this lineage now.