Fat-shamed burlesque dancer claps back in the best way
Jessica Davey-Quantick is a burlesque dancer and Canadian business journalist. Last week, her professional skills overlapped into her personal life when she used her investigative know-how to track a teen who was trolling her boudoir-style photos on Instagram.
After growing tired of the fat-shaming insults that were filling her comments, Davey-Quantick and her burlesque buds planned to uncover a repeat offender and hold him accountable for his threats and name-calling.
They narrowed the hunt down to a 15-year-old boy who they located on Facebook. His father and his school in London, England, were also found.
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According to CBC reports, Davey-Quantick emailed the boy’s father and the school’s headmaster demanding an apology.
Davey-Quantick has said she hopes to set an example against internet trolls so that people can use the online domain free of fear or shame.
By the time email contact was made, the dancer had already been called a “whale,” “disgusting” and unlovable.
“He ended it by posting that I should slit my own wrists and eat my own blubber,” said Davey-Quantick, but by then many had joined the fat-shaming frenzy.
“I am over the idea that we have to somehow have to protect the individuals [involved],” she said.
The boy’s father, who allegedly first responded with apologies, eventually denied the incident. He claimed his son wasn’t involved and that she and her friends should be ashamed for targeting him.
According to Davey-Quantick, the father finished by saying that she should keep her Instagram account locked to avoid abuse.
“That’s the advice you always get to internet bullying….Turn the other cheek. Don’t respond. Ignore it. Turn off the computer. Delete your account. Or keep your account private. Or don’t post those things.
“I can definitely tell people are going to say, well, I shouldn’t have posted a burlesque photo if I didn’t want this kind of commentary. And for me that’s troubling. Because what we’re doing then is we’re ceding public spaces to trolls.
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“We’re giving over public autonomy and the ability to be in a public space to other people. We’re giving them the power.”
Meanwhile, the headmaster of the boy’s school made requests for Davey-Quantick to forward screenshots of the insults to the school’s head of discipline — which she did.
Her persistence led to a message from the 15-year-old saying he and his friends had been suspended and their phones had been taken away.
“More importantly, he was so apologetic. And I got this email from him basically telling me he is so ashamed of himself. He is so ashamed that he has done this to his parents, to his friends, that he doesn’t do this normally, and that he’s learned his lesson,” said Davey-Quantick.
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