An Oxford don has been branded disgraceful after calling out a young man with Down's syndrome for being sexist after he said he picked out his clothes because he's a man.
Marianne Talbot was hit with backlash on social media for weighing in on a status posted by Brent, a young man with Down's syndrome, on Sunday.
Brent, whose Twitter account is run by his mother Jacqui, posted an image of himself smiling with the caption: 'Good morning Twitter. I'm going out with my sister.
'I'm happy about how I look. I choose my clothes and my hair because I am a man and I can.'
Ms Talbot, who is a philosophy director at Oxford, lectured him: 'Do you mean a man rather than a child Brent?
'It comes across as a man rather than a woman and I'm sure you don't believe that women can't choose their clothes and hair! You look great!'
Brent's mother later responded to Ms Talbot, saying: 'Mam here. For Brent it's always man as opposed to boy, and adult as opposed to child and his personal choices.
'It's very important to him as an adult with DS. It's never man v woman. Ever.'
Ms Talbot said: 'Hi there! Nice to ''talk''. I was a bit worried about the implication that girls/women can't choose.
'But I do see that they might not have been Brent's implication. It is lovely that you have found this way for him to have a voice.'
Ms Talbot has been the Director of Studies in Philosophy at Oxford University's Department for Continuing Education since 2001.
On her university bio, she says she was thrown out of school when she was 15 years old for bad behaviour, returning to her education aged 26.
In May, Ms Talbot tweeted to Brent's account: 'I am delighted you are following me. Thank you. Do you know what philosophy is? Ask Mum to help you look it up....'
Social media users were quick to blast the director for her remarks, saying she was insensitive, extremely offensive and militant.
Packer wrote: 'If criticism wasn't intended, why did you write what you did? I absolutely think you should apologise and delete the tweets.
'They didn't add anything of value anyway, they just came across as extremely offensive.'
A 38-year-old mother said: 'I'm a mother too and I have to ask, what were you thinking? It was obvious that Brent made that Tweet in order to show that he's independent and able to make choices for himself.
'It had NO sinister meaning behind it. Why were you trying to make it an example of your own beliefs?'
Daniel added: 'Everyone understands what you meant. You couldn't pass up the opportunity to ''correct'' someone.'
JD Erickson said: 'A person with taste, foresight, grace and wisdom would have realized that publicly criticizing someone with Down's syndrome over word choice was a terrible idea, no matter the ''intent''.
'Are you now expecting mentally disabled men to be ''thoughtful feminist allies''? Militant. Gross.'
Another said: 'Really making us ladies look like critical thinkers, Marianne! keep it up!'
One tweeted: 'He looks great, but this tweet doesn't make you look very good. I think an apology is in order.'
And a man wrote: 'Standards at Oxford Uni have really dropped.'
After the backlash, Ms Talbot later apologised on Twitter, writing: 'I follow Brent as I'm delighted he has a voice and following on twitter.
'This was an amicable exchange between Brent and me. Absolutely no criticism was intended. I am sorry this exchange has been misinterpreted.
'I understand neither Brent nor his Mum think I was bullying him.'
This article has been adapted from its original source.
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