Woman Groped While Topless At Festival Says Trolls Are Trying To Get Her Deported

'Glitter boobs' were a huge fashion trend last year and saw hundreds of women going topless at different events with sparkles covering their breasts. But unfortunately for one woman, this drew some unwanted attention at a festival in New Zealand - where a bloke groped her and ran off.

But Madeline Anello-Kitzmiller wasn't going to let her attacker get away and a video of her chasing him down and smacking him over the head went viral.

While some praised the 20-year-old for sticking up for herself at the Rhythm and Vine Festival, she's drawn some serious criticism on social media.

Madeline told New Zealand's 1 News: "People have taken the time out of their day to message me saying that I'm disgusting, that I should be ashamed of myself.

"Somebody claimed to start a petition that already had 900 signatures to get me deported.

"I want to say that I was proud of myself and that I had a right to do that [be topless]."

Madeline and make-up artist Jolene Guillum-Scott, 22, launched the Glittery March for Consent walk in the wake of the initial attack.

They were hoping to have plenty of women marching through Auckland's streets with glitter boobs aplenty to let the wider community know that just because they're on display, doesn't mean they are opening themselves up to be stared at, groped or worse.

But in just 24 hours, they became even bigger targets for online trolls, with some alluding to killing her while others have made vulgar comments about her body.

One person wrote: "I'm gonna be there with my car."

While another added: "Get your white privileged ass out of our country, we don't do that here."

The Facebook event, according to the New Zealand Herald said: "Nobody has the right to touch you without your consent - it does not matter what the circumstance may be, your body is yours, and nobody has the right to take that away from you."

Dozens of people eventually turned up to the event and even had a few blokes join in with bare chests. Protestors yelled 'no means no' along with 'yes means yes' to make it perfectly clear what consent means.

Auckland resident Elise Leslie told the Herald: "It's really important to stand up for other women in our community and look after each other."

Featured Image Credit: StoryTrender

Topics: New Zealand, Festival, Assault, Sexual Assault, Community, Protest

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie is a Trending Journalist at LADbible. His first job was as a newsreader and journalist at the award winning Sydney radio station, Macquarie Radio. He was solely responsible for the content broadcast on multiple stations across Australia when the MH17, Germanwings and AirAsia disasters unfolded. Stewart has covered the conflict in Syria for LADbible, interviewing a doctor on the front line, and has contributed to the hugely successful UOKM8 campaign.

@stewartperrie