Lawyer Defends Posting 'Sexist' LinkedIn Message Online

A human rights lawyer who labelled a 57-year-old partner at a law firm "misogynistic" after he sent her a "sexist" message via LinkedIn, a networking site for professionals, has defended her actions after the incident sparked a row.

Charlotte Proudman, a 27-year-old barrister who is currently studying for a PhD at Cambridge University, posted a private message she had received from Alexander Carter-Silk online, along with her response. In his message, Carter-Silk acknowledged that what he was saying was "probably horrendously politically incorrect" before telling Proudman that she had a "stunning picture!!! You definitely win the prize for the best Linked in [sic] picture I have ever seen."

Proudman responded saying that she found the message offensive. "I am on linked-in [sic] for business purposes not to be approached about my physical appearance or to be objectified by sexist men," she wrote. "The eroticisation of women's physical appearance is a way of exercising power over women. It silences women's professional attributes as their physical appearance becomes the subject."

She then posted a photo of the exchange on her Twitter account along with the question, "How many women @LinkedIn are contacted re physical appearance rather than prof skills?" The story was quickly picked up by numerous U.K. newspapers and the message circulated online—on Thursday #charlotteproudman was a trending topic on Twitter. Many women took to social media to share similar stories of being sent inappropriate messages on LinkedIn, which is billed as networking sites for professionals. Speaking to the London Evening Standard, Proudman said: "I have received messages like that before, commenting on my appearance and using LinkedIn essentially as Tinder [a picture-based dating app] instead of highlighting women's professional skills."

In an article written for the Independent newspaper on Thursday, Proudman defended her decision to make public the private messages, saying she had been called a "Feminazi" for doing so—the Daily Mail's front page read "A glam lawyer and the Feminazis who hate men who praise their looks"—arguing that "exposing sexism outweighed any right to privacy."

"It seems to me that women professionals have two choices," Proudman wrote. "Either call out sexism and face the prospect of career suicide (incidentally, solicitors have already informed me that they will no longer instruct me in legal cases) or become one of the boys and replicate or humor sexist 'banter.'"

Carter-Silk spoke to RollOnSilk, a legal website, on Tuesday about the incident. "Most people post pretty unprofessional pictures on LinkedIn, my comment was aimed at the professional quality of the presentation on LinkedIn which was unfortunately misinterpreted."