'Glittery March for Consent' organisers threatened by trolls

  • 11/01/2018

Trolls have threatened to use a car to mow down women taking part in a march for consent in Auckland's city centre.

Madeline Anello-Kitzmiller and Jolene Guillum-Scott launched the 'Glittery March for Consent' this week after Ms Anello-Kitzmiller was groped while topless at Rhythm and Vines festival last month.

But within 24-hours of promoting the protest, due to take place later this month, aspiring writer Ms Anello-Kitzmiller, 20, and makeup artist Ms Guillum-Scott, 22, were left in tears by abusive messages.

One troll even threatened to come to the event 'in a car' in an apparent reference to recent terrorist attacks where vehicles have been used to kill pedestrians in city centres worldwide.

A threatening comment left on Jolene Guillum-Scott's Facebook video.
A threatening comment left on Jolene Guillum-Scott's Facebook video. Photo credit: Caters

The 'march for consent' was organised after Ms Anello-Kitzmiller, from Portland, US, was groped by a male reveller at Rhythm & Vines festival on New Year's Eve as she partied with 'glitter boob' decorations, designed by Ms Guillum-Scott's company GypsyFest, covering her breasts.

Footage which captured a man running up to her and grabbing her cleavage before Ms Anello-Kitzmiller chased after him and punched him four times went viral.

The pair have hit back to insist their march - the exact time and location of which has not yet been revealed - will still go ahead with more than 100 attendees set to take part.

On Tuesday Ms Guillum-Scott, from Auckland, took to social media to explain what the march was about but became upset when trolls harassed her while she spoke in a live video.

The 22-year-old said: "I was really excited to talk about something which means so much to me, but I actually could not believe the comments I was getting."

While many of the trolling commenters, men and women, were from New Zealand there were some whose Facebook pages said they were from Australia, the United States, Taiwan and Indonesia.

"It destroys me that there are people out there in this world that thing it is okay to touch somebody or do anything to anybody when they have said no or didn't ask for that," Ms Guillum-Scott said.

"We need to start talking about it and we need to start doing something about it... I'm sick of it, I'm sick of sitting down and letting it happen and I've always wanted to do something about it and so has Madeline."

Caters.