BN Hot Topic: Abeg, Don’t Compliment My Looks at Work, It’s Sexist!

Another day, another BN Hot Topic.
I am so curious about what my BN fam will say about this one.

Ok, here goes.
Charlotte Proudman is a 27 year old barrister in the UK, she received a message from 57 year old Alex Carter-Silk, a senior lawyer (not at her firm) via career social networking site Linkedin.

The message was a response to Miss Proudman’s request for them to connect on the site. In addition to indicating that he was happy to connect, he also complimented her Linkedin profile photo as “a stunning picture” and said she would “definitely win the prize for best Linkedin picture I have ever seen“

Miss Proudman was offended by the message and instantly responded by calling him “sexist” and labelling his behaviour as “unacceptable and misogynistic“.

She also took the step of sharing their exchange on Twitter and then the news has gone viral.

Now that the news has spread like wildfire, Miss Proudman says her career has been damaged due to backlash while Mr Carter-Silk’s is unblemished.

People all around the world have been chiming in. Some feel Charlotte was being too sensitive and should have accepted the compliment in good faith; while others are congratulating her for championing the cause of working women everywhere but standing up against objectification.

I asked 2 friends about this via Whatsapp prior to publishing this. Both are successful young working women. One is a young Nigerian woman with a heavyweight job senior role in a Venture Capital firm while the other is a VP at a major biotech firm.
One sent this photo in response to my message.

The other said, “Miss Proudman is My Hero”

BellaNaijarians, what are your thoughts? Also let us know your compliments at work stories.