After millions of women descended on downtowns around the world to march in support of women’s rights Saturday, several conservative lawmakers took to social media for commentary. Did they critique the marchers’ message? Nope. Question the efficacy of protests? Not that either. What they did was make fat jokes.

“Just think about this,” Judge Bailey Moseley, a state judge in East Texas, wrote on Facebook. “After just one day in office, Trump managed to achieve something that no one else has been able to do: he got a million fat women out walking.”

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Needless to say, men hardly face similar critiques. When Elena Kagan was nominated to the Supreme Court, “people said she looked like she belonged in a kosher deli, as if being eye candy is a criteria for a Supreme Court nominee,” Stanford Law School Professor Deborah L. Rhode said. “And people didn’t make those comments about male nominees.”

But focusing on the appearance of women in politics isn’t a problem just because it’s unfair or mean-spirited. Describing women as fat or ugly allows critics to dismiss female politicians (or activists) without engaging with their ideas. “It’s a way of undermining their credibility,” said Rhode, the author of “Women & Leadership” and “The Beauty Bias.” “It speaks volumes about our misplaced priorities when it comes to women in politics, and about the obstacles facing female candidates.”

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Some women have switched from broadcast journalism to print journalism to keep themselves out of the public eye. Women thinking about running for office may think better of it when they see other women pilloried for being insufficiently attractive. “Women considering running see this sort of thing and think, ‘Who needs this?’” Rhode said.

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And Rhode believes women who aren’t politicians have an important role to play as well. She thinks there’s a limit to what politicians themselves can do — “If you call it out, you’re seen as whiny,” she said. “But if you let it pass, it diverts attention from your substantive message.” But ordinary voters can let reporters, lawmakers and tweeting state senators know when they find a comment unacceptable.

“Women voters have to call it out and people have to be outraged about it,” she said. “That’s what we need to shut it down.”