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Home / Lifestyle

Clementine Ford endured vile comments after man who abused her online was fired from his job

Daily Mail
2 Dec, 2015 02:52 AM5 mins to read

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Clementine Ford tagged a man's employer into a comment he made to her. The man was subsequently fired. Photo / Instagram, Clementine Ford

Clementine Ford tagged a man's employer into a comment he made to her. The man was subsequently fired. Photo / Instagram, Clementine Ford

A high-profile Australian columnist has shared the torrent of sexist abuse she has received since a man was fired from his job after abusing her online.

Last Friday, Clementine Ford shared screen grabs of Facebook posts made by western Sydney hotel supervisor Michael Nolan, 22, in which he called her a "s***".

The feminist commentator publicly asked if his employers at Meriton Group were "aware" of his online behaviour - and tagged them in his post to make sure they saw it. Nolan was subsequently fired.

Ford is a strong advocate against cyber-bullying. On Tuesday she shared on her blog the deluge of mostly men sending her sexist, abusive comments via social media since Nolan's dismissal.

Michael Nolan was fired from his job after calling columnist Clementine Ford a "sl*t" on social media. Photos / Instagram, Facebook
Michael Nolan was fired from his job after calling columnist Clementine Ford a "sl*t" on social media. Photos / Instagram, Facebook
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A Facebook group in support of Michael Nolan has also been set up.

"Support for Michael Nolan" has 100 likes and the administrator insists they have no affiliation with Nolan himself.

"This page is not owned by Michael. He didn't answered me yet (sic) if he will want me to keep or quit this page.

"So, don't waste your time bashing him because I will ban you and delete your offenses... of course after printing them to make my new posts," a post to the page read.

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Messages containing death and rape threats have flooded Ford's public Facebook account and Twitter.

Among those posts are others calling the columnist a s***, wh***, c*** and a deluge of other offensive terms.

"Hey c***. You deserve to be gangraped by a pack of aids infested n******. Die, f***ing b****. Yours truly, Master gender, master race, white male," one of the most offensive comments.

"You can man bash but can not deal when someone gives it back to you!!! You are an a grade s***! Get me fired you f***ing wench!!", a post from another man read.

"Just goes to show how women love to ruin men's lives. She should try and fire me," read another among a barrage of other comments calling Ford a "s***".

Others blamed women like Ford for men's tendency towards violence.

"Clementine, b***es like you are the reason why some men are prone to violence", another man wrote.

"You play the victim card so much until others believe you, then you ruin other people's lives as if it were a game.

"Well being raped would ruin your life in a similar way. Let's hope you are always safe. Hahahaha," the threatening comment concluded.

Despite the horrific content of these comments, Ford has continued to share the posts, shaming the men behind them.

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Across her social accounts and her blog, Ford proves she is determined not to let the comments silence her efforts to take a stand against cyber-bullying.

Earlier, Nolan's girlfriend said he is trying to pick up the pieces and find a new job.

"He's just trying to get a new job," Mr Nolan's partner Alana Kelly told Daily Mail Australia on Tuesday. "He's kind of trying to stay out of it".

Last night Nolan posted "I don't give a damn" before tightening his privacy settings.

Ms Kelly told Daily Mail Australia "of course" she was supporting her partner, who she said was "holding up".

When asked if she condoned what he did, she responded "no" before declining to comment further. "Oh, oh, oh, you know - no.

"I'm staying out of it. It's none of my business."

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Mr Nolan did not respond to requests for comment.

Ford has more than 80,000 Facebook followers, and frequently names and shames people who degrade her online.

She believes there needs to be harsher consequences for men who degrade women online.

In a column for Daily Life on Tuesday, she wrote: "I did it because I'm sick and tired of men abusing women online and continually getting away with it.

"I can bear the brunt of this behaviour, but I'm angry about the number of women who tell me they can't.

"Too many women are harassed into silence by men who flounce about the place doing and saying whatever they like."

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Ford has said any consequences for Nolan were a result of his own decisions.

"These men don't get to just go around leaving these kind of comments and attempts to degrade women just for the hell of it," Ms Ford wrote on Facebook.

"There are basically no consequences for men who behave like this, so we have to start making consequences for them.

"To anyone who suggests I have caused a man to lose his job, I'd like to say this: No. He is responsible for his actions. He is responsible for the things he writes and the attitudes he holds," Ford wrote on Monday.

"If you enjoy exercising misogyny online, you only have yourself to blame if the people with power over your life - your bosses, friends, family etc - decided they don't want to be associated with you anymore.

"I'd also like to say that consequences for online behaviour are nothing new. Typically though, it's girls and women who are expected to 'know better' when it comes to posting things online. Tables are turning, boys."

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In June, a man who sent a message to Ms Ford threatening he would "rape and bash" her after she posted a topless photograph of herself to protest against "revenge porn" apologised for his comments.

Ryan Hawkins, from Victor Harbour in South Australia, was publicly exposed by Ford when she named and shamed him after he sent her a threatening message on Facebook.

- Daily Mail

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