HLN's Ashleigh Banfield got the opportunity to make a terrific point this week about women supporting women, after the now-infamous and questionable Aziz Ansari story on Babe.net, went viral. 
 
The story, which featured an anonymous woman who detailed her date with the actor, was highly processed and analyzed by a variety of media faces this week, including Banfield. When Katie Way, the writer of the story caught wind of Banfield's analysis of her report, she took it upon herself to send a scathing email Banfield's way, insulting everything from her age to her hair, make-up and credentials. See the email below. 
 

 
Banfield won't tolerate this objectification; her response was spot on:
 
If you truly believe int he #MeToo movement…in women's rights…in feminism, the last thing you should do is attack someone in an ad hominen way for her age — I'm 50 — and for her highlights…that is not the way we have this conversation as women or men — as journalists, let's be frank. We do not attack people for their age or their highlights or their lipstick because it is the most hypocritical thing a woman who says she supports the women's movement could ever do. And that's the calibre of the woman who was given all of this power and was able to wield this power.
 
Banfield is an accomplished journalist and former war correspondent who has reported from Afghanistan and Pakistan among other places. She also reported on 9/11 for MSNBC just blocks away from the Twin Towers. She was previously a reporter for CNN and now hosts her own HLN show, Primetime Justice with Ashleigh Banfield. 
 
Those who bully and beilttle women in effort to diminish their influence and perspectives should be called out. No woman should fear objectification or mistreatment as an impediment to her civic participation, whether she works in the media, runs for office, casts a ballot, or shares her perspective in any type of public forum. Perhaps the young writer who penned the email will think twice bfore unfairly denigrating and mocking another woman.