One of the BBC ‘s most well-respected weather presenters has revealed that she is the regular victim of misogynistic and judgmental hate.
Sam Fraser has been a staple of the BBC’s southern coverage of the weather since she joined the team in 2012. Giving weather forecasts on BBC South Today, she is regularly helping viewers at home by giving crucial updates on the weather for the coming days.
But speaking to MailOnline in a recent interview, Fraser has opened up on some of the sick trolling she has received by misogynists. She went on to reveal that she has been sent sex toys and been included on the “Babes of Britain” list, despite her wanting to be taken seriously.
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Taking on the trolls directly, she slammed the users for their judgmental treatment of weather presenters and meteorologists in general. Speaking during a BBC Radio 4 segment called Scorchio! The Story of a Weather Girl, she had previously called out the vile accounts for what they said.
(Image: BBC)
“I wanted to be taken seriously,” she told the newspaper. “After all the time pouring over pressure charts and learning about climate subtypes – heck, I even built a home weather station – I kind of assumed I would be.”
She went on to admit her hopes had been thoroughly dashed after seeing what people were saying about her. “But within a fortnight of appearing on screen, my a**e had its own online club and had featured on a YouTube channel called Babes of Britain,” she added.
Fraser is not the first weather presenter to hit out at the misogynists mistreating women for their good looks. Fellow presenter Kawser Quamer the judgmental nature from viewers is directly affecting women who want to go into the profession.
“I hope to be seen as a trusted, respected broadcaster,” she confessed. “So when you see yourself objectified and when you hear about these websites, when you are judged on your looks alone when you worked really hard to get there, it is difficult.”
(Image: PA)
Quamer added that she believes that because weather presenters are “invited into people’s homes”, there is a feeling of familiarity, and the trolls believe “as if they can say anything and it’s fine.” Other well-known meteorologists including Sian Lloyd, who presented the weather for decades on ITV also echoed the sentiment, saying being a weather woman was “degrading”.
Hitting out on the language of the trolls, she said: “Male adults are never called weather – boys they are always called men – which kind of implies we are not fully grown up. We are not as authoritative as men and maybe do not have the credibility or confidence, this is the perception, when of course we do.”
(Image: BBC)
Weather presenters go through years of education to get their qualifications to study and predict upcoming weather patterns. But some believe that all that time establishing credibility goes out the window if you look good.
Fellow BBC weather presenter Sara Thornton admitted that sometimes stations bring people on to present the weather based on attractiveness, despite having no qualifications. She explained: “Normally, they’ve been a journalist or a meteorologist, but sometimes, you get people who are neither – they were just deemed attractive enough to be on TV.”
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
