Almost immediately after shots were fired at former president Trump at a Pennsylvania rally on Saturday, the Secret Service swarmed the Republican candidate, using their bodies as human shields to cover his. In the days following the event, public discourse has shown concern for American politics to reach this level of violence, to questions on the level of safety ahead of both the Republican and Democratic National Conventions almost immediately intro dragging the women Secret Service agents.

Fox News footage of the event shows a mix of chaos, with some spectators screaming, and confusion, with most attendees remaining in their seats. Agents continued to circle Trump on the ground, asking ‘are we clear?’ several times before standing and rushing him to safety. Social media commentary erupted as  Americans heard the news, accused the shooting of being staged, and raised the issue on security. While some commenters pinned the Secret Service agents as heroes, an influx of criticism targeted the women agents specifically, accusing them of being DEI hires and targeting one with body-shaming comments.

“Some bad ass white male Marine or Army Ranger was passed over for Melissa McCarthy,” radio host Gerry Callahan tweeted on Sunday.

“So we’re just supposed to believe that the 5′5″, objectively unfit, obese woman beat out all able-bodied men for Trump’s Secret Service detail? #AbolishDEI” user @Chet_Cannon wrote yesterday.

“I’m so sick of DEI hires. Why is this woman Secret Service? As a woman, we don’t need woman in Secret Services. And especially ones that look like they can’t even run the mile in less than 15 minutes.” said user @MomAngtrades

Others voiced their frustration with Secret Service director Kimberly Cheatle, one of only two women to ever hold this role.

As Dr. Arghavan Salles pointed out on Twitter on Monday, these misogynistic attacks have spun the conversation in an entirely different direction from the attempted assassination of a U.S. presidential candidate, something we haven’t seen since the 1970′s.

The impact of body-shaming

Body-shaming, making negative comments about a person’s body, is not a new phenomenon.  Women have historically come under fire for their looks, especially in male-dominated spaces. Rapper Megan Thee Stallion and U.S. sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson have both faced misogyny and body-shaming in their respective industries in recent years, with politicians Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Rep. Jasmine Crockett also recently exchanging body-shaming insults during a House Oversight Committee meeting that went viral in May. Trump himself has a history of body-shaming women including Rosie O’Donnell and former Miss Universe Alicia Machado.

While these types of comments are often the punchline in TV and film, experts say

Researchers at the University of Minnesota say that children and adults who face critiques on their body are at higher risk of anxiety and depression, have lower self esteem, higher risk of disordered eating and more likely to avoid healthy behaviors like physical activity. A 2017 poll by Refinery29 found that 65% of women were body-shamed for the first time before age 14.

“We live in a culture placing enormous value on thinness and physical beauty. Pop culture perpetuates this perceived importance by limiting the images we see to only those including individuals who match society’s high, often unattainable, expectations for physical appearance,”  Katie Loth, Ph.D., M.P.H., University of Minnesota Medical School assistant professor said.

With the assassination attempt occurring just days before the RNC, the Secret Service ensured security would be strengthened.

“I am confident in the security plan our Secret Service RNC coordinator and our partners have put in place, which we have reviewed and strengthened in the wake of Saturday’s shooting,” Cheatle said in a statement issued Monday. “In addition to the additional security enhancements we provided former President Trump’s detail in June, we have also implemented changes to his security detail since Saturday to ensure his continued protection for the convention and the remainder of the campaign.

Last night Trump appeared at the RNC in Milwaukee. In a video published by PBS NewsHour, the former president is seen donning a bandaged ear, notably surrounded by all male security personnel.