Brooke Vitnell, a 30-year old "glamorous lawyer" who recently ventured into the world of politics and is now participating in the upcoming federal election in Australia as a Liberal candidate, has found herself the target of offensive remarks both online and offline, the Daily Mail Australia reports.
According to the newspaper, Vitnell’s campaign ended up having to replace numerous posters that had been defaced with sexual slurs – one poster even had male genitalia spray painted on the candidate’s face – or had simply been torn down.
"Because I'm a bottle blonde and I dye my hair, they're just savaging me for my looks", Vitnell complained.
Meanwhile, she has also been branded as a "sl*t" and a "bimbo" with "no brains" by trolls, with one social media user writing on Facebook*: "I won't vote for any major party, but I will follow your OnlyFans account".
Vitnell herself has described the situation as a concerted campaign aimed at discrediting her, and expressed concern that such attacks might make the next generation of women wary of going into politics, the newspaper notes.
"Our parliament desperately needs to be more representative of society, and that includes young women", she said.
*Facebook is banned in Russia over extremist activities