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What Would You Do? Guy Demands Girlfriend Wear Skimpy Clothes

Would you confront a man bullying his girlfriend at a clothing store?

ByABC News
February 11, 2011, 4:27 PM

Feb. 17, 2011 — -- It's a Sunday afternoon in Merrick, N.Y. and people are shopping for clothes at a small clothing boutique called In Motion. Customers are browsing near a boots display when they hear a young man practically shouting at his girlfriend: "I want to be proud. When my friends see you, I want them to say you got the hottest girl in town."

The girl, however, is distraught. She's dressed in a conservative turtleneck sweater and is most comfortable looking like the girl next door instead of a pin-up girl. In spite of her protests, he's persistent, picking out skimpy clothing for her to try on.

We wonder: Will anyone support the macho manipulator, a 21-year-old actor who's working for us? Or will they come to the rescue of his 20-year-old fragile girlfriend, also an actor hired by ABC?

People start to notice.

After the boyfriend practically pushes his girl into the dressing room with the clothes he's selected, one woman offers some sensible suggestions.

"Am I that bad of a guy?" he asks.

"No but you have to work with her. ... Pick something out that you both like," she suggests, without criticizing the overbearing bully.

But not everyone is so passive.

As the actress begins to break down and cry, another woman hears the boyfriend tell her, "Don't cry, don't cry in front of people. Just put it on. ... That's what I like. You want to be with me right?"

He turns to the shopper, a young woman looking at the coats on a rack nearby.

"Am I wrong?" he asks.

"Yeah, you are wrong," she replies. "That's not how a woman should be treated. She's a pretty girl. She can go get someone else who treats her better than you do. ... You shouldn't talk to her like that."

She continues: "If you want a trashy girl you should get a trashy girl. She wants what she wants."

We catch up with the woman outside.

"He needed to know that he was a jerk, that he wasn't treating her right," she says. "I would definitely go to town on that guy."

And she's not the only one to confront the bullying boyfriend.