They may not talk about it, but receiving gross, harassing messages is the norm for women in politics. Rather than keep quiet, Canadian politician Michelle Rempel decided to share one of those messages on Twitter.
Wherein a creepy weirdo anonymously writes my office to tell me that it's my fault that he's a creepy weirdo. 🙄
The letter — which starts by misspelling her name, twice — attacks Rempel's clothing, suggesting she dress more like her male colleagues.
"If we can see it, you know that we can see it, so don't be surprised that hetero males will look," the letter said. "Hide the skin and people will look you in the eyes. Were you wearing a bra on Thursday?"
It's gross, but the Conservative MP told BuzzFeed Canada it's a daily occurrence.
"I get loads of this sort of fanmail all the time," said Rempel. "My policy is to not give it a platform, but sometimes it just gets under your skin."
She said her staff usually just throw out these kinds of letters, but she happened to see this one. And unlike messages on social media, she can't block people who send letters or phone her office with these messages.
I normally don't post stuff like that, but you'd be surprised how much of it we get. It's not just twitter, folks.
"It’s not acceptable on the internet, it’s not acceptable here, it’s not acceptable in any format," said Rempel.
Many of the replies to Rempel's tweet empathized with the crap she puts up with.
@MichelleRempel sweet merciful muffins that is gross
And showed that harassment is definitely a nonpartisan issue.
@MichelleRempel So sorry you deal with this garbage just to do your job. Not much in common politically but on this, I stand in solidarity.
Bam.
Of course, there are those who refuse to get it. But Rempel shut this one down pretty quick.
