--- title: Naked Donald Trump Statues Are Offensive description: Naked statues of republican presidential candidate Donald Trump are not funny. canonical: https://time.com/4459507/body-shaming-donald-trump/ author: Pauline Campos article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-08-19T18:27:38.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T00:05:59.372Z article:section: Ideas og:title: Naked Donald Trump Statues Are Offensive og:description: Trump is now the victim of body-shaming og:url: https://time.com/4459507/body-shaming-donald-trump/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt70aa284dc48d0508/6988a3042dce0136679ea5cd/donald-trump-naked-statue.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: People photograph a naked statue of Republican U.S. presidential nominee Donald Trump that was left in Union Square Park in New York og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Naked Donald Trump Statues Are Offensive twitter:description: Trump is now the victim of body-shaming twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt70aa284dc48d0508/6988a3042dce0136679ea5cd/donald-trump-naked-statue.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Naked Donald Trump Statues Are Offensive > Sponsored content. 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It explains how TIME's journalism is made, from the first pitch through the editorial decisions behind a finished story or cover. #### How can I read about how TIME chooses its covers? Inside TIME is the newsletter where TIME's Editor-in-Chief explains cover selection and the editorial reasoning behind major stories. It is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who is the editor of TIME? Sam Jacobs is TIME's Editor-in-Chief. He writes Inside TIME, a twice-weekly newsletter about the newsroom's reporting and editorial decisions. #### Is Inside TIME free? Yes. Inside TIME is a free newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and available at time.com/subscribe-agent. by [Pauline Campos](https://time.com/author/pauline-campos/) ## Pauline Campos Aug 19, 2016 6:27 PM UTC  People photograph a naked statue of Republican U.S. presidential nominee Donald Trump that was left in Union Square Park in New York City on Aug. 18, 2016. People photograph a naked statue of Republican U.S. presidential nominee Donald Trump that was left in Union Square Park in New York City on Aug. 18, 2016. Brendan McDermid—Reuters by [Pauline Campos](https://time.com/author/pauline-campos/) ## Pauline Campos Aug 19, 2016 6:27 PM UTC When [naked statues of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump ](http://time.com/4458022/donald-trump-nude-statues/)showed up across the country, many people laughed. #NakedTrump trended on Twitter, and people took selfies with the life-sized Trump statues, which happen to feature a very tiny penis. I’m not laughing. I am a [life-long recovering bulimic](http://www.aspiringmama.com/blog/2012/02/03/self-loathing-and-chocolate) with body-image issues that I fight daily. Every pot shot I see directed at Trump in my social media timelines makes me cringe. I’m in the minority. I don’t buy [the argument that Trump led us to nude statues](http://www.cnet.com/news/twitter-stimulated-by-naked-trump/) of himself by [bringing up the size of his hands and penis in Republican debates](http://www.cnet.com/news/trump-defends-his-penis-size-what-does-science-say/). The statues, placed by the anarchist collective, Indecline, were created by an artist who goes by the name of Ginger. The artist, who has physically and mentally disabled family members, said that the final straw for him was [Trump making fun of a disabled New York _Times_ reporter](http://time.com/4127857/donald-trump-disability/). I have heard similar arguments from a lot of very nice people. Trump opened the door. Headlines referring to Trump’s bullying tactics are a dime a dozen. Turnabout is fair play, people say. Here’s the thing: it’s not. Shaming Trump as a response to the many offensive comments cited in the media since he announced his run for President doesn’t make us better than him. It puts us on the very same level. Turning the abuser into the victim just makes you the new abuser. I know it’s supposed to be about taking back power, but at what cost? Is it worth lowering ourselves to the same level as the man who is so often called out for inciting hate? Two wrongs will never make a right, no matter how hard we try to justify our actions and words. Do we fight hate with more hate? Do we teach our children that body-shaming others is always wrong, except when it’s right because we deem it to be so? Do we forget that it’s wrong when T[rump fat-shames former Miss Universe, Alicia Machado](http://www.insideedition.com/headlines/16497-former-miss-universe-accuses-donald-trump-of-fat-shaming-he-called-me-miss-piggy), for putting on a few pounds by turning the tables and publicly humiliating him with a grotesque naked likenesses? Body-shaming is always wrong. 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