When parenting blogger Mel Watts wrote a Facebook post about the reality of ‘parent sex’ she was hailed a hero by sympathetic mums and dads.
But as the post went viral, that praise turned to a barrage of on-line hate, with commentators lining up to attack Watts, her family, her marriage and her parenting skills.
In her original post “Did we just have a quickie” Watts explained that she had been turnimg down her husband for “long enough” and knew that it would only “take a few minutes”.
“[I’d] had dad sex jokes thrown at me all morning. Packages dropped on my shoulder, dry humping my leg and asking if I want sausage to eat. I would hardly say it was romantic. I may have to admit it was quick and slightly obligated,” she wrote.
Read the full post here – it does get a bit racy.
The post attracted a barrage of abuse with comments that personally attacked Watts and called the the story “humiliating”, “degrading” and “insulting”. One user wrote, “why are you posting this sh*t online?” Another wrote “and you wonder why spouses stray.”
Taking the trolling even further, some started to attack the Central coast mum with insulting comments. She was called a “basic low-income woman” and men would “hate to have a child” with her.
In a YouTube clip Watts hits back at the trolls for causing her pain.
“I’ve seen huge amount of resources and money go into teaching our children about bullying. The actual problem isn’t our children, it’s the parents,” she says.
“All I did was write an opinion, and everyone is saying horrible things about me that aren’t true,” she says. “You either like it or you don’t, if you don’t have anything nice to say then scroll on, you don’t troll.”
After blocking some of the trolls on Facebook they started to contact her on other platforms.
“They started personally messaging me. I’ve had numerous people try and contact me in other ways, and write horrible things,” she says.
“It’s not called for. They go write nasty things so everyone else has a sh*t day, and I have to sit here and feel like I am the one who is failing.”
In the video, a tearful Watt defends herself she is a “good wife, really good mother, and most of all a really good friend” and the abuse was not necessary.
“You don’t know me. Would you stay this stuff to me in the street? People need to know there is someone else behind that screen,” she says.
Since posting the video to her Facebook page, hundreds of fans have given her support.
One commenter wrote: “Stay strong , don’t let anyone change your mind about anything you believe. You are a human being that deserves as much of this world as anyone , keep your head up high smile it’s a new day tomorrow.”
