A Sydney woman has been praised as "beautiful and brave" after publicly calling out a series of vile and abusive messages she reportedly received from a 28-year-old man after rejecting his advances on Tinder.
Ebonie Sanderson, 26, took to Instagram to share screenshots and recordings of messages she says were sent from Tom, including her being called a "fat f**king pig" and "time-wasting wh**e".
"This is what happens when you say NO or call out a man for being disrespectful!" Sanderson captioned her post.
"You apparently earn yourself the right to get verbally abused and fat-shamed on more than one platform.
"No I didn't 'ask for it' and yes, I'm entitled to change my mind and tell someone I'm not interested anymore because I feel uncomfortable and intimidated by one's aggressive and forceful nature."
According to Pedestrian, the pair had made plans to meet up after matching on Tinder, but Sanderson called it off after becoming uncomfortable by his persistent messages.
This reportedly triggered the abusive messages from Tom, which included calling Sanderson "f***ing ugly".
"Your a** looks OKAY and you would have been one f**k. You would have been just one f**k because you're a disgusting fat pig," the messages say.
Sanderson wrote in her caption the worst part of the attack was feeling she needed to be "nice when turning him down" and "apologising for feeling uncomfortable", even as he harassed her.
But after Sanderson's post went viral, she said more than 20 women came forward to share their own experiences with Tom.
It then caught the attention of his employer, Invenco Pty Ltd, with CEO Dave Scott emailing Sanderson to inform her Tom had been "fired, effective immediately".
Scott went on to issue a statement on Sunday, stating there was "no place in our workplace for someone who treats women with that amount of disrespect".
"I was shocked and disgusted to hear the disrespect and entitlement towards women appear in the recordings and messages attached to the Instagram post," he said.
"I strongly reject any behaviour of this kind, at any time, in any place, for any reason. There is no excuse that makes this OK - ever."
Sanderson told News.com.au she never imagined her post would go viral by so many people, but the response had been "overwhelming".
"He deserved to lose his job, his CEO did an amazing job at taking action and firing him," she said.
"His behaviour outside of work is definitely related to his behaviour in the workplace."
Sanderson went on to add she believed this type of "awful behaviour" is all too common.
"The truth is, this happens more than we think," she said. "So many women resonated with this kind of sexist, abusive behaviour and it was really sad to discover just how real it is.
"I also think us women often cater for this behaviour far too often, we're so polite and let disrespectful men treat us this way without any consequences."
