Sid the Sexist is alive and kicking in Barnet !

It is a sad fact of life that the internet is blighted by sad sexist trolls, lurking to try and monster any woman who has the audacity to put her head above the parapet. There is a fine recent example of this on the Hendon Times website, where a woman who owns a shop in Temple Fortune had the audacity to criticise the abolition of Pay and Display parking, which has affected her business. A whole army of trolls immediately stepped in to try and humiliate her by leaving snide comments.


http://www.times-series.co.uk/news/9353546.Traders_campaign_against_parking_problems/?ref=mc

Here's a couple, seemingly in reference to the picture of the lady in question.

Harvey_uk
"I hope Lorretta doesn't own a fashion or beauty salon!"

James Smythe
"Maybe a hair salon might be a good shop to open in Temple (mis) Fortune?"

Would such comments have been left if the business owner had been a man? What I don't understand is what makes these morons feel the need to attack someone making a perfectly valid point about Council policy purely because they are female? As someone who runs a studio and who's first job was as a model, I happen to know how much effort goes into making people look good for fashion shoots. Hours are spent applying make up, setting up lighting and getting the right camera angle. The pictures are then taken and retouched to remove any blemishes or anything else which may make the picture look less than perfect. When the photographer from the local paper comes, he says "stand over there" and takes a few snaps as best he can.  Most people are more than happy to be able to put a face to someone who has a story to tell, but the idiot trolls don't seem to realise that real life is not like the movies and even fashion models don't look like fashion models.

What really bothers me is that if people such as Loretta read these comments, they will feel awful and will in future refrain from making public comments. The female bloggers in Barnet - Mrs Angry and Vicki AKA Citizen Barnet regularly get sexist comments left and Vicki has her very own stalker called David Duff. Rather strangely (or perhaps not), I don't get a band of females leaving derogatory comments asking me to get a makeover or commenting on my sausage? This blog has regularly featured guest blogs. At least 50% of these are from female contributors. Did I ask for a picture and only post them if they were drop dead beautiful? Nope of course not. I read what they had to say and if it was worth reading I posted it. If you read the guest blogs by Janet Leifer and Linda Edwards this week, you will read well written and interesting blogs. The fact that the authors are female is incidental, although I suspect gives the blogs a perspective I couldn't have.

Anyway, in short what I'm saying is that I think that these puerile sexist comments are a form of fascism, designed to intimidate, harrass and bully. I think that the people who leave them are immature (probably both sexually and emotionally) and unlike Linda, Janet and all of the  women with something to say in Barnet who write blogs, speak to the local papers or anything else, are total knobheads.

And anyone who feels tempted to respond with a sexist comment, go right ahead, because it will give me great pleasure deleting it.