A Renfrewshire MSP was told she was "too young to have experienced poverty" by online trolls following her maiden speech in the Scottish Parliament.
Natalie Don spoke out on Twitter recently after she was hit with "sexist and ageist" comments on social media in the wake of her first speech on tackling deprivation in Scotland.
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But in an interview with the Local Democracy Reporting Service this week, the Renfrewshire North and West MSP laid bare some of the more shocking abuse she was hit with after just a few weeks of taking up her seat.
She said some people told her she wasn't old enough to have witnessed the devastating impacts of poverty she referenced, despite being brought up by her mum in a council house after her dad died when she was young.
Meanwhile, others said she was too young to be a politician at the age of 32.
"There was a range of things I was hit with like I didn’t write it myself because I was reading parts out, or I’m too young to have experienced any of the issues I’m talking about, which is ridiculous because I was speaking about child poverty," said Miss Don, who is still a councillor for Bridge of Weir, Bishopton and Langbank.
"I was told I don’t look old enough to be a politician.
"Most of the stuff has been about my age actually and I find that really surprising because personally, I don’t find a woman in her 30s as being exceptionally young or too young for politics."
"I’ve been a councillor since 2017, so for people to turn around now and say I look like I just got out of high school - which is what some people have said - it’s a shame.
"I’m trying to get a message across and that’s what people are focusing on."
While Miss Don admitted the trolls had made her feel defiant rather than upset, she said receiving online abuse was disheartening after speaking on a subject she felt so passionate about.
She added: "I think in other occupations it might be a compliment when people say you look young but when you make a speech about something that is really important to you and you talk about your own experiences and that’s the comments that come back, it’s quite disheartening because you’re trying to get through to people.
"Plus, regardless of what age I am, we need young people in politics because we are legislating for young people so for me, age is not something that should be a problem."
With more than 2,800 followers on Twitter, Miss Don said her online audience had been gradually growing since taking on her new role.
She added that being targeted online was one of the biggest differences she had experienced between being a councillor and an MSP, with people from right across the country now scrutinising her work.
"Being a councillor is obviously at a local level and I was - and still am - dealing with small rural villages," said Miss Don.
"There’s a lot more scrutiny on you as an MSP and rightly so, but with that comes more spotlight. So putting something out there and it kicking off in the way that my first speech did, that’s not something I had experienced with being a councillor before.
"It’s definitely exploded in that way. That’s been a big change but it motivates me more to be honest when I see it.
"I’ve seen it happen to colleagues for years and years, unfortunately, so if anything I think it just drives me. "
