A Cambridge University professor says she was targeted by internet trolls after an appearance on Question Time. On the programme last Thursday, Mary Beard dismissed claims that migrant workers were overwhelming Boston, Lincolnshire. But she said it was not her comments that drew criticism, but her appearance. Professor Beard said misogyny on the internet was enough to ‘put many women off appearing in public [and] contributing to political debate’. Scroll down for video . Mary Beard was targeted by trolls following her appearance on Question Time on Thursday, pictured . In a blog post for the Times Literary Supplement, the presenter said a torrent of abuse was posted on the Don’t Start Me Off website following her appearance, with many viewers concentrating on the way she looked. Professor Beard, 58, said she did not find any of the comments funny and likened the abuse to ‘vile playground bullying.’ One internet user described her as ‘a vile, spiteful excuse for a woman, . who eats too much cabbage and has cheese straws for teeth.’ Another added: ‘She’s an idiot who’s a disgrace to Cambridge Uni and . Woman-kind. We let her get away with it by calling her a Lezzie which . she obviously isn’t as she’s married.’ She added: ‘I’m outing this because I have a thick skin and, in the end, [it] doesn’t move me half as much as worrying about the next chapter of my book I’m supposed to write.’ Professor Beard was recently criticised by acid-tongued critic AA Gill  who claimed she was ‘too ugly’ for TV. The Cambridge University professor is most famous for presenting the programme Meet The Romans, pictured, but was recently described by AA Gill as being 'too ugly' for TV . But the professor hit back with a riposte, asking Mr Gill to explain why he ‘thinks he can pass off insults as wit’, after he wrote in a Sunday newspaper that she ‘should be kept away from cameras altogether’. Prof Beard, known to millions for her BBC Two series Meet The Romans, said that she would like to take her revenge for his ‘misogynist’ remarks by inviting him to attend a tutorial in her study to justify his opinions. She added, she said felt happy enough in her own skin not to bother with hair dye and make-up, and admitted to having ‘big, tombstone teeth’ and an ‘uncompromising double chin’. ‘I’m every inch the 57-year-old wife, mum and academic, half-proud of her wrinkles, her crow’s feet, even her hunched shoulders from all those misspent years poring over a library desk.’
The Cambridge University professor was attacked online for her looks .
She said the misogyny on internet was enough to put 'many women off appearing in public and contributing to political debate'
A Cambridge University professor says she was targeted by internet trolls after an appearance on Question Time. On the programme last Thursday, Mary Beard dismissed claims that migrant workers were overwhelming Boston, Lincolnshire. But she said it was not her comments that drew criticism, but her appearance. Professor Beard said misogyny on the internet was enough to ‘put many women off appearing in public [and] contributing to political debate’. Scroll down for video . Mary Beard was targeted by trolls following her appearance on Question Time on Thursday, pictured . In a blog post for the Times Literary Supplement, the presenter said a torrent of abuse was posted on the Don’t Start Me Off website following her appearance, with many viewers concentrating on the way she looked. Professor Beard, 58, said she did not find any of the comments funny and likened the abuse to ‘vile playground bullying.’ One internet user described her as ‘a vile, spiteful excuse for a woman, . who eats too much cabbage and has cheese straws for teeth.’ Another added: ‘She’s an idiot who’s a disgrace to Cambridge Uni and . Woman-kind. We let her get away with it by calling her a Lezzie which . she obviously isn’t as she’s married.’ She added: ‘I’m outing this because I have a thick skin and, in the end, [it] doesn’t move me half as much as worrying about the next chapter of my book I’m supposed to write.’ Professor Beard was recently criticised by acid-tongued critic AA Gill  who claimed she was ‘too ugly’ for TV. The Cambridge University professor is most famous for presenting the programme Meet The Romans, pictured, but was recently described by AA Gill as being 'too ugly' for TV . But the professor hit back with a riposte, asking Mr Gill to explain why he ‘thinks he can pass off insults as wit’, after he wrote in a Sunday newspaper that she ‘should be kept away from cameras altogether’. Prof Beard, known to millions for her BBC Two series Meet The Romans, said that she would like to take her revenge for his ‘misogynist’ remarks by inviting him to attend a tutorial in her study to justify his opinions. She added, she said felt happy enough in her own skin not to bother with hair dye and make-up, and admitted to having ‘big, tombstone teeth’ and an ‘uncompromising double chin’. ‘I’m every inch the 57-year-old wife, mum and academic, half-proud of her wrinkles, her crow’s feet, even her hunched shoulders from all those misspent years poring over a library desk.’
on the internet was enough to ‘put many women off appearing in public [and] contributing to for TV. The Cambridge University professor is