Professor Mary Beard speaks of his shock at the horrific abuse suffered by internet trolls after his appearance on Question Time, and the support he received from his colleagues and strangers

Professor Mary Beard described as having a thick skin. But over the last 10 days, during which the classicism of 58 years, was subjected to a stream of vitriolic abuse online after an appearance on

even she struggled to maintain emotional balance.

"I just had a little cry once, though," he admits. "It was when a colleague sent a tweet really nice. I just opened!"

In fact, he says, his colleagues and students have been very positive. "A very experienced colleague at the university email to say that I was very proud of myself. For some, I'm still young. 'S immensely reassuring! "

all began when Beard appeared as an expert on the TF1 program, filmed in Lincoln. In response to a question whether the UK could face more immigration cited a recent report states that immigration actually brought some benefits to the region. Something quite reasonable to say, or what you would have thought.

But the next day, commentators on the site no longer exists, I begin by encouraging anonymous posters to express their anger against targets chosen by the administrator, launched a fierce attack against Barbe constant . Internet trolls has published dozens of horrific sexual abuse in a language very offensive to reprint. The level of violence was so impressive that even those who are accustomed to verbal jousting online discussion were horrified.

In one example the sweetest, Beard was called "an excuse vile, nasty by a woman who eats too much and cheese sticks cabbage teeth." Beard characteristics overlap even an image of the female genitalia.

"It was so awful that I did not feel personal or personally critical," says Barb now, with the passage of time in question. "It was generic and violent misogyny. Somehow I felt that it was not me. "

The controversy led to the site being closed by its director said Tuesday. But experience has had a lasting impact on the beard that says made her feel "a sense of aggression." She staggered to her as a "punch".

Is that the level of violence faced an indication that some men - and it is usually men - just do not like the idea of ??a woman shamelessly chip or not to use hair dyes Botox express their views on the screen? This is the idea that it refuses to answer somewhat worrying for them? "One question should be, as you say, in fact a woman, 58 years old and looking, saying what I think, against the current, is explosive," says Beard. " But I can not be everything. There is frustration that is realized in the vile comments. Course, is the misogyny, but also alienation and resentment, rightly, on voice and speech.

"The web is democratizing and also the voice of those who feel they have no other choice. And that voice can be punitive. "

beard is the latest in a long line of high profile dispiritingly women who have been victims of threats and harassment online. They include former Conservative MP Louise Mensch (including children were threatened by a Twitter user) and comedian Shappi Khorsandi celebrity chef Lorraine Pascale.

In his own blog, donate life, Beard wrote that the violence showed classic signs of bullying playground fault. "Is more than enough for many women to publicly display, contribute to policy discussion "

Beard, one of the great classics of the country, has never been particularly interested in their appearance, preferring to concentrate on what she thinks and how best to communicate. Her long hair is left shamelessly gray and his face bears the marks of his life.

And that in itself is a form of attraction. For many women, this is a kind of hero: a refreshing presence in an industry dominated by television young and mold infinite beauty

But this means that no foreign insults. When Beard presented the BBC2 series

Last year, the TV critic AA Gill wrote that she should "stay away from the cameras in "and was" far from being the subject of a Channel 4 documentary "dating (probably a reference to the

The Undateables a controversial series on the channel persons with disabilities who seek to find love).

Rod Liddle columnist wrote that most blog comments are just. "refutations down your argument meaningless" on the benefits of immigration


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