Man Who Mocked Tinder User on Facebook Faces Jail

A Sydney man is facing up to three years in jail after allegedly posting a series of offensive comments online about a woman whose Tinder dating profile went viral.

Zane Alchin, 25, pleaded guilty and was charged with using a carrier service to menace, harass or cause offense after he allegedly wrote a series of degrading comments directed towards Olivia Melville after her Tinder profile was shared online by another man named Chris Hall.

He previously denied the offense but changed his plea on Monday at Newtown Court, in Sydney.

The comment was prompted from a lyric in Melville’s Tinder bio from rapper Drake’s hit song ‘Only,’ reading: “Type of girl that will suck you dry and then eat some lunch with you”.

Hall posted a screenshot from Melville’s profile to his own Facebook account and wrote next to it “Stay classy ladies. I’m surprised she’d still be hungry for lunch.” Alchin then left a series of comments on his friend Hall’s post that many found offensive.

One of Alchin’s comments said: “It’s people like you who make it clear women should never have been given rights,” the Daily Mail reports.

“You know the best thing about a feminist they don’t get any action so when you rape them it feels 100 times tighter,” he also wrote. An argument broke out in the comments with women pointing out his comments were disgusting, and Alchin wrote “I’d rape you if you were better looking.”

Another post said: “It’s people like you who make it clear women should never have been given rights,” suggesting they should be taken back to the ’50s were women ‘knew their role and shut their damn mouth.‘”

Melville, the woman with the Tinder profile, reportedly attempted to ask Hall to remove the post but when he refused, it prompted her to share the post on her own Facebook page.

When her friends became aware of the post they started to share it and accused Hall of “s*** shaming” their friend and they decided to take action. The friends set up Sexual Violence Won’t Be Silenced and now have over 11,000 likes on the page.

In the exchange, Paloma Brierly Newton threatened to go to the police if the comments continued.

“What law am I breaking? I’m not the one out of the fucking kitchen,” Alchin replied.

Apparently, the answer to that question was section 474.17 of the Commonwealth Criminal Code Act, which carries a maximum sentence of three years imprisonment.

“This result demonstrates that there is a precedent in Australian law that says this behaviour is unacceptable,” the group wrote on its Facebook page on Monday.

“It means that harassing women online is not only legally reprehensible, but socially and morally as well.

“Our victory today sends a message to all women that they don’t have to put up with harassment online; that there are steps and channels they can take, and that Australian law is on their side.”

One Facebook user posted to the page: “Alchin covered his face with a suit jacket as he left the court, while a man accompanying him told reporters and photographers: ‘This is harassment’. Oh the irony!”

Alchin will be sentenced on July 29 and faces up to three years in jail.

Taylor Swift Fan Goes Viral Every Tuesday!

There’s a “Wild Dream” coming out of a very cool 6-year-old name Lilly Neitzert. And, it’s to meet Taylor Swift. Every Tuesday, she gets to catch a little glimpes of what that might look like when Lilly dresses up like her idol. And, the results are unbelievable. It’s like looking into a tiny little mirror!

Lilly just loves Taylor. She’ll be having a birthday party in six months and has decided she wants a Taylor Swift theme party! “So far her [theme] ideas,” says mom Sara, “are ‘pin the tails on Taylor’s cats’ and ‘Taylor Swift Karaoke.'” She also wants to give each invitee Taylor’s 1989 CD as the party favor. “You should hear her ideas for the cake!” says Sara. Lilly is even planning to invite Swift!

But, that’s not all. This little pop princess has gone viral! Sara’s Instagram account has well over 7000 followers and the posts have reached as far as Japan. You remember Sara Neitzert, right? We featured her and husband Andy a few years back on their amazing work as independent film makers! Lilly actually doesn’t want to work in “the biz” but wants to be a helicopter pilot! Of course, if Taylor doesn’t make her a double for all of her music videos!

Well, they have a little star in the making! Good Morning America has even covered the story! Well, we sat down with little Lilly and mom, Sara this week to chat about her “Love Story” with Taylor Swift:

Bold Magazine: Let’s start from the beginning, how did this start?

 

Lilly: I just love Taylor so much and I wanted to dress like her! And I LOVE to pose!

 

Sara: For a while, each night as a family, we would watch some music videos together and Lilly and I would dance along. That was right about the time Shake It Off came out and we couldn’t get enough of it! Lilly asked to watch more of TS’s videos and she just fell in love with her music. Lilly loved all of her clothes and repeatedly asked if she could have dresses and outfits just like hers. So we started taking photos and thought it would be fun to recreate some of the poses.

BM: What has the response been so far? 

L: I think lots of people like it. My Nana and Grandma like it the most!

 

S: Once ABC shared the article about Lilly’s “Taylor Tuesday,” things got a little crazy. I never thought I’d say this, but my phone was actually blowing up! I understand what that means now! haha! We have had a lot of inquiries for interviews and I started feeling a little bit uncomfortable with it actually. We still have a big response on Instagram every time we post something, but I have been more careful about posting lately.

BM: What does Lilly think about the response?

S: At first we told Lilly about people liking her photos, but we don’t talk about it anymore. We don’t want it to go to her head or want her to think she needs to measure her self worth in how many Instagram likes she gets. I see that too much with kids and even adults these days and I don’t want her to fall into that, especially not at the age of six.

BM: Lilly has been featured by some blogs and social media pages. What’s been the best experience so far? 

S: I think the best experience has been the response from Japan. It’s amazing how people on the other side of the world are liking photos of Lilly. We showed Lilly where Japan is on a map and googled a little about Japan with her. I have always wanted to visit Japan, and now Lilly does too. I am hoping we can go someday!

BM: Japan? Tell us more!

I get messages everyday from Lilly’s Instagrammers in Japan. Most of them speak very limited English, but they all say “I love you!” and “You are so cute!”. Some have asked us to come to Japan. More than anything I wish we could! That kind of trip just isn’t in our budget right now.  I am obsessed with Japanese candy and I’ve passed that on to Lilly! Lilly and I get a subscription box every month filled with Japanese snacks and stationary called Kawaii Box. We post photos on Instagram and then our new Japanese friends tell us all about the snacks and stuff! It’s pretty cool and helpful because we don’t know what the packages say!

BM: So, how do you all decide which photo to replicate? 

L: My mom shows me some pictures on her phone and I look at magazines. I like to pick pictures where I like her pose and clothes! I wanted to cut my hair because I want to look like Taylor swift.

S: We let Lilly choose, but sometimes we have to veto some of her choices because they aren’t practical or appropriate.

BM: Do you have to find props and clothing? Does it get expensive?

S: We try to choose photos that have simple clothes and props. Everything we do is very budget friendly! One of the photos we did we used a towel for the white background. In the Wildest Dreams photo we did, Lilly and I made her necklace and earrings out of aluminum foil! Most of the outfits we choose are plain and sometimes Lilly has even worn a shirt backwards because the front had a picture on it. We have purchased a few things for some of the photos, like for the blank Space picnic scene one, we bought the gummy worms, animal cookies and chocolate milk. The most money we spent was on the fabric for her black lace Blank Space dress, which I sewed her for Halloween. My sister actually bought most of the fabric for it. The dress took me almost 20 hours to sew, and I had to piece together elements from different patterns to make a dress similar to the one in the video. It was also a challenge to make an age appropriate version. I am very proud of that dress!

BM: So, here’s the question…has Taylor reached out at all? 

S: We are just doing this for fun. We would certainly not be disappointed if she never reached out and honestly, we would be extremely surprised if she did.

 

BM: Have you tried reaching out to Taylor? Will you? 

S: Other than tagging Taylor on Instagram, Tumblr, and Twitter, I do not know how to reach her. She has not reached out to us. I get now though why she hasn’t. Once I started getting a bunch of Instagram notifications, I realized Instagram will only show you about the last hundred of them. After that, you can’t see them. Taylor Swift has millions of notifications, so she probably would never even see if we’ve tagged her in something.

L: If I met Taylor Swift I would hug her! I want to ask her about playing the guitar and I want to talk to her about her cats!

 

S: She didn’t used to think too much about Taylor seeing the photos she takes, but this week she saw a video of her surprising a couple at their wedding and this put some seemingly impossible ideas in her head. She really wants to be her friend. Lilly asked to send Taylor a picture she drew for her. I told her we didn’t have her address and she said “That’s OK mom. I’ll just ask the mailman. He knows everyone’s address!”

BM: That is hysterical! Lilly, what do you like to do when not posing as Taylor Swift? 

L: I like to play with marble works. I got it for my birthday from Darrah, Daisy and Richard (our friends). You get to build stuff and then watch the marbles go through it! I also love drawing. I love to draw cats! Because Taylor Swift loves cats! I like helping everyone. Like when someone falls down on the playground at school. I like to help homeless people because they don’t have a home and that makes me feel sad. I give them food like fruit and snacks when I see them and we are in the car driving. I wish I could give them a house. I like giving my parents concerts because they are sweet to me. I play my guitar. I make it up because I don’t know the real way to play it yet. And I write songs about things like my family and cats. I really want a pet cat!

BM: Who are Lilly’s favorite artists including and besides Taylor Swift? 

S: Lilly loves music from Beauty and the Beast and she says she likes Katy Perry, but I am not convinced she actually knows who she is…

BM: So Sara, last we spoke, your film and production career were really picking up. What’s gone on since then? 

S: For now, we have been focusing on one project at a time. Right now we are working a documentary about a remarkable woman who had a terrible accident falling from a horse and her journey to get back on that horse. It’s a very inspiring story. Right now we are submitting the film to festivals. We’ll see what happens.

BM: And, how about Andy? Has he been involved with filming and our with Lilly’s photoshoots? 

BM: So…lastly, what makes Lilly BOLD?

Local vet fires back on Facebook after being told: ‘have some respect’

When Rebecca Hayes came out to her car on Monday after shopping at the Coddle Creek Harris Teeter, she discovered a note criticizing her for parking in a spot reserved for veterans.

“This parking is for Veterans, lady,” it began. “Learn to read and have some respect.”

Hayes, a Concord resident, is in fact a veteran of the U.S. Navy.

In response, she turned to social media.

The criticism of Meg Ryan’s appearance reveals a bigger issue that is NOT getting better

From HelloGiggles.com – During last night’s Tony Awards, Meg Ryan introduced the cast of She Loves Me, the Broadway musical that inspired her 1998 film with Tom Hanks, You’ve Got Mail. Not long afterwards, Ryan became a target for Twitter users who were concerned with the 54-year-old actress’ appearance.

News outlets and Twitter users (both men and women) criticized Ryan, saying that, among many other cruel things, she looked drastically different than before.

First of all, it’s been years since she acted in When Harry Met Sally, You’ve Got Mail, and Sleepless in Seattle so, NEWSFLASH! She did what every human does: AGE.

In a 2015 interview with Net-a-Porter, Ryan had discussed the issue of aging, women, and plastic surgery rumors, saying she didn’t pay a lot of attention to the accusations. “There’s a lot of hatred in the world today. It’s so easy to judge,” she said at the time. “Imagine being a hater, how stupid.”

This whole thing with Ryan might feel like déjà vu, especially when compared to Renée Zellweger, who was at the center of her own plastic surgery rumors in 2014. All in all, the same people who think it’s their place to speculate whether or not a woman has had plastic surgery are most likely the same ones who would criticize her for looking older. Women, especially in Hollywood, are under pressure to maintain a youthful appearance more than men. While male actors can age gracefully and become “silver foxes,” women are expected to retain their looks, and if they decide to get plastic surgery, they will be condemned for that as well. How can anyone win?

Whether or not a woman wants to forgo plastic surgery OR use it to alter her appearance, it is nobody else’s business but the woman’s. Unfortunately, there are still people out there who will continue to comment on the appearances of others, but there are also many who recognize that the issue is preposterous and there are more important things we should be focusing on at the moment.

“I love my age,” Ryan had said in the same interview. “I love my life right now. I love the person I’ve become, the one I’ve evolved into.”

We all should take some inspiration from her words.

The post The criticism of Meg Ryan’s appearance reveals a bigger issue that is NOT getting better appeared first on HelloGiggles.

Brock Turner’s Fate and its Impact on America

We at Bold Magazine have been biting our tongues during this Brock Turner trial outcome media frenzy. It didn’t seem like we’d have anything new or interesting to share. But, a few days later, it’s important to note that Brock Turner’s life is certainly going to be impacted. However, this “Ellen Doe” is going to be impacted in a dramatic way, as well. The difference? She is not responsible for the impactful action that will now shape all of her sexual interactions for the rest of her life. Turner is.

Sexual assault occurs more on college campuses than on any other US professional or school setting. 20% of women in the US will be raped in their lives, and the majority of these attacks occur in late teens and early twenties. Contrast that with one in 71 males. 91% of rape victims are female. College campuses like Stanford University which have lower rape counts than other colleges of its size aren’t necessarily doing their jobs. They may actually have similar amounts of sexual assaults and rapes, but they are simply not reporting them.

Yes, Brock’s life will be severely impacted based on the violent crime he committed. It’s called the justice system. “Ellen Doe’s” life is forever scarred. It would have been nice if before she was attacked, her father could have written a note to her attacked telling him how this might effect her appetite and demeanor. I wonder if he would have chosen a different path…

Plus Size Blogger Rachel Gee Bee Sits Down with Bold

So you think you can blog? So many of us dream of starting our own successful blog. But, it takes a lot of hard work to blog about women’s fashion. May we introduce Rachel Gee Bee (rachelgeebee.com) Gee Bee self-proclaims her site as as a plus size fashion and beauty blog written by herself. She describes herself as a 30-something from New Zealand. But, there’s so much more to the story. One of her more popular posts, “Being a woman on the internet,” hit global headlines when she investigated the harassment behavior of a few of her 10000+ Instagram followers.

Blogging is not Gee Bee’s full time job, but it certainly takes up a good deal of her time. Even when she’s not blogging, she’s answering friends’ questions about her clothing style. We love that spread of positive karma! Well we sat down to talk to this blogging queen and see what she had to say about her online style sessions!

Gee Bee really loves to blog about fashion. We asked if she would venture into other plus size content and she knows that “broader content would require more time commitment…” And, with her already time consuming day job, expect Gee Bee to stick to fashion! And, of course, sticking to her personal life with her husband, dog, and Playstation 4! Here goes!

Bold Magazine: So, tell us the story. Why did you start blogging?

RGB: My biggest challenge as a blogger is probably trying to remain inclusive.  As a plus size blogger who is on the smaller end of plus sizes, I am aware I may alienate bigger plus women or women who aren’t an hourglass shape.  I am aware that I can possibly come across as “more of the same” as most plus models resemble my shape and size and not necessarily that of my readers and followers.

BM: Ah, got it. Do you have a full time job other than blogging?

BM: Wow! We agree! So then, who are your influences? Who would you want to share some drinks with?

As suggested, since Gee Bee’s blog is picture heavy, so is ours today!

      

Graham and Holiday: Are either of these typical plus size women?

Bold Magazine has been covering plus sized models, actresses, and singers, since 2008. But, there’s an amazing revolution happening in the plus size world!

The average women is between a size 12 and 14 in the US. The average shopper actually doesn’t buy a size 14. It is the least purchased size in retail stores. But, the American public seems to be obsessed with the new plus size trend. The two women who at the helm of this frenzy are Ashley Graham, Dress Size 16, and Tess Holiday, Dress Size 22.

In the coming weeks, we’ll be discussing a number of bloggers, models, and fashionistas who are all covering the plus size beat. Some have been sensationalizing it in the media. Others, even fetishizing it. But, what does the plus sized woman look like? Act like? Feel like? We seem to think that Ashley Graham and Tess Holiday have epitomized what it is to be plus for us. Why? Do other models and actress epitomize what it is to be a woman?

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As we met up with all of these ladies, we had a very important question to ask them:

Does being a plus sized woman preclude being just…. a woman?

And, we ask that same question of our readers. Does being plus define you? Does it compare to your role at your job? At home? Does it compete with your gender? Race? Religion? Other demographics? It’s important to begin asking these questions as the plus size community grows.

Amy Schumer had an interesting stance for/against the plus size community. She didn’t want to be defined as plus sized. Some say it’s because she did not want to be included in that size category. Others say that she was standing up for females who may have the wrong connotation in mind when they see her and hear the words “plus sized.”

But, there is this odd unspoken (sometimes spoken) debate around that term. Plus sized… it almost creeps me out just to hear it. Why are we using that phrase so often now? Are the same women who were larger than average in 1995 now a different type of woman because they are plus sized? What is the big deal about being plus?

And, more importantly, when are we going to have more than two mass media role models to wear our clothes?