While most of the mainstream media continues to use Alicia Machado to bash Donald Trump, the CEO of a women’s group has made a surprise stand for the Republican nominee against the former Miss Universe’s claims.
In an op-ed piece for Fox News’ website, Concerned Women for America CEO Penny Young Nance said that she does not believe that Machado was a victim.
“At Monday’s presidential debate Hillary Clinton’s asserted that Alicia Machado, a former Miss Universe, was victimized about her weight by Donald Trump. Her remarks have, perhaps rightfully, given some women pause. So let’s reflect a moment and add some context to this allegation,” Nance wrote.
“There are some smart, talented women who have chosen to participate in the Miss USA and Miss Universe pageants, but let’s be honest, it’s not why they win,” she continued. “The women who participate voluntarily don a bikini and walk in front of judges to be, well, judged.
“The participants are competing for a job based on their bodies and good looks,” she explained. “Their worth is based almost solely upon those things and, for one year, they are to represent the company with the asset of conventional beauty. Not brains, not talent, just beauty. Quite literally, their bodies are their money makers.”
Young says that’s why, regardless of what happened between Trump and Machado, she does not believe Machado to have a case against Trump.
“Logically, I can’t get to victim when I think of Alicia Machado,” Nance wrote. “Name calling is never nice, and — shocker! — Donald Trump isn’t diplomatic in giving criticism.
“Here’s the irony,” she continued. “Regardless of how much Hillary Clinton wants Ms. Machado to be the poster child for misused women, she doesn’t fit the narrative. Let’s be honest, a woman who voluntarily puts on a bikini and literally asks people to judge her based almost solely on her body can’t be mad when they do.”
While there’s been no corroboration of Machado’s claims, Young brought up a good point. If your job (that you have willingly accepted) is to be fit and be judged on your body, then don’t turn around and call it fat-shaming when you’re judged on your body.
Let’s take my profession, for instance — writing. I have no intention of criticizing the broken English of a man or a woman who is learning the language. In fact, I think they should be commended for doing so.
But if they claim to be a writer, that’s a bit of a problem. They’ve selected to work in a field where they are judged on their ability to utilize the language in question. It isn’t culture-shaming to suggest, in the case that they are a writer, that they’re not doing it well if they can’t really write.
Donald Trump did not create Miss Universe or the standards behind it. He merely shepherded it as a business project. Alicia Machado was not forced into the role of Miss Universe as her only job. In fact, it’s one that she freely accepted knowing from experience, one would assume, the pressure put on pageant winners.
If Alicia Machado calls this “fat-shaming,” well, so is the profession she chose for herself. She is in a line where looks and figure are considered to be the two major competencies necessary. I have not seen Machado apologize, nor have I seen her return the money she earned.
Until she does, the media is guilty of a grave double-standard by elevating Machado for the “bravery” of telling an uncorroborated story that seems politically motivated while trashing Donald Trump for being anti-women. Please like and share on Facebook and Twitter if you agree.
