Helen Yost, founder of Brissy lady-run plumbing company Tradettes, appeared on ‘The Project‘ tonight to talk about a sustained harassment campaign being spewed forth from MRA man babies Anti-Feminism Australia.
Tradettes have received abusive messages and negative reviews from members of Anti-Feminism Australia ever since this appeared on their Facebook page on Saturday:
Talking to presenters Waleed Aly, Carrie Bickmore, Steve Price and Tommy Little, Yost said:
“They’re saying that we’re trying to run the industry down and that we’re not doing a good job as female plumbers. They’ve also been sending emails, they’ve been sending messages through the Facebook page and they’ve been prank calling us all day today.”
On Facebook, Tradettes describe the business as “a plumber’s knowledge with a woman’s touch“: “We say that we’re going to clean up after ourselves and that we’re going to show up when we say we’re going to show up,” Yost told ‘The Project‘.
Price asked if the people trolling were other plumbers or “a bunch of lunatics just trying to wind you up“, and Yost indicated it was the latter, but concluded the interview in good spirits:
“I think it’s been a massive backfire. They were definitely i think angling for us to either close our doors or change the way we do things, but in fact it’s actually going to fuel our fire.”
The ‘misunderstood’ blokes from Anti-Feminism Australia have responded on Facebook with the tried and true: “Any publicity is good publicity!“
And loads of people have come out in support of Tradettes, sending them a heap of sweet messages and five-star reviews, and leaving the good ol’ plumbing biz with a healthy 4.8-star rating on Facebook.
It’s quite the sight really: a huge collection of really kind, positive messages, with the odd joke about “having some sexist bimbo clean my shit outta my dunny” thrown in. We couldn’t make this shit up if we tried.
Still, Tradettes appreciate their supporters, and have posted a few Facebook Live videos to share their excitement about their ‘Project‘ fame, as well as this note:
Thank you for all the love everyone!!! We will be on the project tonight! Please tune in and watch us! ??????
Posted by Tradettes on Sunday, 25 June 2017
No, Tradettes. Thank you.
Photo: Facebook.
