A portrait and a text with sexualized content appeared on a Facebook page on Wednesday, targeting 24-year-old Oda Oline Omdal.
Omdal is an advisor to Kristiansand Mayor Mathias Bernander. NRK reported that an unknown man posted the material, writing that he is also fond of young girls though he does not call them advisors or assistants.
The post drew parallels to the Vågå case, where former mayor Rune Øygard was convicted of sexual abuse against a minor.
“I was first very sad, and then I got very angry,”
Omdal said to NRK, noting that such behavior scares people away from public debate and lets the worst voices win.
Omdal said that she has grown used to her age being used against her, but expressed strong reaction to the sexualized context. She told NRK that the post framed her as a puppet incapable of making independent choices, prompting her to file a police report.
The man who created the post removed it within hours and sent an apology via SMS. He told NRK that making the post was pure idiocy and that he mixed apples and oranges.
Mayor Bernander offered full support to his advisor, labeling the online harassment a major democratic problem. He described Omdal as a qualified political talent and said that no one should endure such abuse.
Omdal said that she has experienced varying degrees of online harassment previously, though never this severely. She said that the toll makes her reconsider whether to run for election on Høyre’s city council list.
