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8 Ways Women Reclaimed "Nasty Woman" From Trump

by Charlie Beckerman

“Nobody has more respect for women than I do,” Donald Trump intoned yet again at Wednesday night’s final presidential debate; it was only minutes later that he snarled at his opponent, Hillary Clinton, while she was speaking, “Such a nasty woman.” In the less-than-24 hours that have lapsed since, though, women across the country have taken up the “Nasty Woman” mantle and made it their own.

The internet, which had already been cooking for a bit on Trump’s referring to drug lords as “bad hombres” (or was it “bad ombres”?) and bemoaning his loss at the Emmys over a decade earlier, was primed and ready to go when he let “Nasty Woman” drop. Clinton was in the midst of describing her plan to raise taxes on the wealthiest Americans, and had a little dig for Donald. “My Social Security payroll contribution will go up as will Donald's, assuming he can't figure out how to get out of it,” she snarked. Apparently this kind of teasing about Trump’s ability to wiggle out of paying taxes — even though he had previously boasted about it — was too much for his fragile ego.

Fortunately, the second “Nasty Woman” left Trump’s weird lips, the women of the internet were ready to take it back from him. Here's seven ways women have reclaimed “Nasty Woman” from Trump.

"Nasty Woman" Memes

Memes are the bread-and-butter of instant internet reactions, and last night we had a whole delicious loaf of Nasty Woman memes.

These are just a few.

In fact, there were so many good Nasty Woman memes that I think I need to actually create a subset here.

Janet Jackson "Nasty Woman" Memes

What is unclear is whether or not Donald Trump has ever consciously listened to a Janet Jackson song.

What is clear is it doesn’t matter because this was the gift we didn’t know we needed but are so glad we have.

"Nasty Woman" T-Shirts

There are literally so many amazing “Nasty Woman” T-shirts that I can’t show all of them.

Here are some of my favorites. But you should search for others, too.

"Nasty Woman" Buttons

Sometimes, you just want to get patriotic with your nastiness.

There's no better way to do that than with a campaign pin.

"Nasty Woman" Coffee Mug

Able to contain coffee as scaldingly hot as your ambition.

"Nasty Woman" As A Compliment

Of course, as we know from other co-optings of offensive epithets, the best thing you can do to a slur is to make it your own.

And Nasty Woman is quickly becoming a compliment.

"Nasty Woman" As Irony

There’s nothing more I’ve enjoyed throughout this campaign than the riffs on Trump’s stupid hats. They’re just so dumb — rhetorically, symbolically, even design-wise — that the real piece-de-resistance for me was seeing this beauty.

The "Nasty Woman" Challenge

Bustle women — and now women around the nation — are using #NastyWomanChallenge to use Trump's words as a rallying cry. Like the Ice Bucket Challenge, you either post online with the hashtag saying why you're a nasty woman and tag two friends to do the same, or donate $5 to RAINN. Or both!

Of course, the real truth is: America, you’ve been nasty this whole time — and I mean that in a good way.