A local hockey website took a poll among readers, choosing the ugliest girlfriend among Habs players. Critics were swift to react and a cyber security expert says its internet bullying.
They call themselves the black sheep of hockey and they have a pretty solid following.
With over 100,000 likes on Facebook, Hockey 30 has a wide audience.
And one post that’s creating a whole lot of buzz.
Published on Wednesday, the headline reads, “According to you, this is the ugliest girlfriend among the players of the Montreal Canadiens.”
The post attracted comments almost instantly.
Personal stylist Caroline Alexander argues that image and self esteem go hand in hand
She calls the post appalling.
“I was horrified when I saw that article,” Alexander said. “I think it’s a terrible question to put to the public.”
According to her, the article blatantly objectifies women.
“It’s erasing all of these important markers of their identity of who they are and just looking at them as objects,” she said.
On top of that, cyber security expert Terry Cutler said the article is flat-out cyber bullying.
“What they don’t realize, the people who post this, is that the Internet never forgets,” Cutler said. “It’s online forever – so they can be bullied for long periods of time. Random strangers can be walking by and say ‘hey, you’re the worst looking girlfriend.’”
Cutler said he usually sees this type of bullying from anonymous Internet users.
“I mean, these guys are apparently getting over 20,000 views per day or 20,000 visitors,” Cutler said. “With that kind of traffic, they should be keeping it classy.”
Global News reached out to Hockey 30 for comment on the article, but have yet to hear back.
As for the Montreal Canadiens, a spokesperson says they refuse to comment on these kinds of articles.
© 2016 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
By Felicia Parrillo
Reporter Global News
