Laura Woods has admitted she struggles with sexist social media trolls as she begins her new role as talkSPORT's breakfast presenter.
The 32-year-old has taken over from Alan Brazil three days a week to front the station's flagship show.
From Monday she will be joined by co-presenter Freddie Flintoff as talkSPORT takes the ratings war to BBC Five Live.
And Woods has admitted she endures an ongoing fight against sexist abuse on Twitter.
"One thing you will never get away from being a woman is a different kind of criticism that is attached to your gender," she told the Mail on Sunday. "It shouldn't be there but it is.
"If I put a picture up on Twitter because I think it illustrates a point or it's something I'm doing, people say I'm begging for attention.
"Even when I got this job, people said I had got it because of the way I look. That makes me laugh. This is radio. How I look is irrelevant.
"I just expect sexism to be there. If I interact with another woman on social media, someone will say something sexually charged.
"If I interview someone, there will be a question intimating I have had sex with them. If I get a new job, there will be comments about how I have slept my way to the top.
"Sometimes, it's like a jab in the guts. It's hideous. It winds you for a minute. Sometimes, you go to sleep thinking about it. I think more now about the importance of mental health.
"The way I try to tackle these things is that it makes me try harder. That is my challenge. It makes me want to say: 'Watch me break through that and get to the next level."
