FORMER Scots Bake Off hunk Tom Hetherington has sparked a sexism row on social media after he accused a woman of lifting up his kilt.
The Edinburgh baker claimed the woman lifted his kilt in a busy bar without his consent while he was out drinking at the weekend.
Tom, in his 30s, wrote on Twitter: “Happy Sunday to everyone *except* the woman who lifted up my kilt in a crowded bar last night without my persmission.
“Imagine if I’d done that with her dress.”
The post, which has since been deleted, received thousands of likes and shares.
Users flocked to the replies to debate whether or not it’s still acceptable to joke about what men ‘keep under their kilts’.
It prompted a huge sexism spat on the popular social media app after Tom highlighted the double standard.
Some called Tom, who is an architect and rugby captain, a “snowflake” for not seeing the funny side of the old joke about men and their kilts.
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One user posted: “Sorry but I ain’t buying into the snowflake p***, you do not speak for men, real people know when something is fun, sure a hand up the kilt should not happen, someone asking whit yer wearing under yer kilt is craic since time began,you and those others need to lighten the feck up.”
But he was swiftly put down as Scots quickly jumped to Tom’s defence, calling the action ‘a form of sexual harassment‘ in today’s day and age.
One person hit back: “There is nothing wrong with Tom’s tweet/ Thinking it’s not OK for a man to lift up a woman’s skirt but that it’s OK for a woman to lift up a man’s kilt promotes a double standard, & that’s what Tom was highlighting.”
Another added: “At the end of the day, if you ask a woman what she’s wearing under her skirt, that’s constituted as sexual harassment.
“Many men feel uncomfortable and violated when a woman does this to them too. You don’t mind? Great. But plenty do, and people need to realise that.”
Someone else wrote: “As a regular kilt wearer I agree with this. It’s irritating to be harrassed by people desperate to know if I’ve got undies on.
“Even more so when they try to flip the kilt up so they can have a gander. It’s not banter, it’s right up there with “show us yer t*** luv”.
What is upskirting, what’s the new law around it and why did it take so long to become illegal?
In 2010, an amendment was made to section 9 of the Sexual Offences (Scotland) Act 2009 for ‘upskirting‘ to be prosecuted under the wider definition of voyeurism.
‘Upskirting’ is defined as taking a sexually intrusive photograph of someone without their permission, usually under their clothing.
The act was made criminal in England in 2019.
Tom isn’t the only Scotman who has hit out about being sexually exploited when wearing a kilt.
Red Hot Chilli Pipers musician Willie Armstrong told BBC Scotland in 2020 that he has often been groped, embarrassed and photographed indecently by women whilst wearing a kilt.
He added that his complaints have often been dismissed and laughed off by others.
Highlighting the double standard, he said: “It’s just been a constant thing even since I was a wee laddie. Women used to put their hands up your kilt.
“I used to tell my mum and dad – they would say it’s just one of those things. But is it really? That was 1976 behaviour, it’s not acceptable.
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“It’s the constant ‘are you a true Scotsman?’ – basically asking you if you’re wearing underwear or not.
“If you reversed that behaviour and I was to say to a woman ‘can I ask what you’re wearing underneath your dress’ it would be a whole different ball game.”
He said at a corporate event a woman snapped a photo under his kilt and passed it around to show her friends.
Willie said: “I actually had to stop playing. I keep thinking, imagine I’d done that to her – I would be arrested, and rightly so.
“I don’t find it funny – and I know other men do find it funny.
“I remember playing at Ayr Town Hall. I came off the stage, the crowd were going crazy, and in trying to get back to the stage I don’t know how many times there were hands up my kilt.
“I’m trying to play my pipes but I’m also trying to protect my own dignity.”
But Willie said consent was paramount and too many times women had “crossed boundaries”.