Sydneysider’s Reference To Drake On Tinder Profile Sparks Mass Slut-Shaming

A throwaway reference to Drake, a tinder profile and a screenshot – the story of how one Sydney woman’s profile sparked a defiant online movement against slut shaming, violent threats and online abuse speaks volumes on how quickly felled a person’s actions in 2015 can become.

Finely dissected by Max Chalmers of independent news publication New Matilda, the story of Olivia Melville and her now-infamous Tinder profile traces the origins of the below Facebook page, commenting on how a nuanced conversation on sexual violence and privacy can be sparked from the most fleeting of beginnings.

In a nutshell: Olivia Melville, a 23-year-old woman from Sydney, lists the following lyric on her tinder profile: “Type of girl that will suck you dry and eat some lunch with you.” 

For the unacquainted, CC: Drake’s verse in Only.

After a fellow tinder user, Chris Hall, came across Melville’s page, screenshotted it, and posted the image to Facebook, commentary [from people unfamiliar with the work of Drake, smdh] on the profile spiralled.

A mutual friend of Olivia Melville saw the interaction take place, documenting the conversations on her own Facebook page. 

“Shame on you Chris Hall for your ignorance of Drake & good taste,” Melville wrote on her profile.

On a change.org petition that has now emerged over the incident, the women describe the series of events, and detail some of the threats that were made.

“On Tuesday 25th of August 2015 my friend had a screenshot of her Tinder profile posted publically on a stranger’s Facebook profile. She was called a slut, told her behaviour was disgusting, and asked what her parents would think.

When we began to defend her, commenters began to threaten the said women’s safety and the safety of all women involved.

We were told –

“Do me a favour go home and slap your mother obviously your father never did it enough”

“I’d rape you if you were better looking” “If I could fuck your mother if I seen her”

“If anything you’ve proven the only good thing a woman’s mouth is good for is to get face fucked till she turns blue and then have a man hot load shot straight down it”

Further altercations on Facebook continued, eventually, according to New Matilda, culminating in further traction provided by writer Clementine Ford, and the below post, which prompted Melville’s friend Paloma Brierley Newton to take the escalating matter to the police.

As of yesterday, according to the Sexual Violence Will Not Be Silenced page, established by Melville and Newton, the women still have “no answer” from police regarding the matter.