Woman groped at R&V the target of serious online abuse including death and deportation threats

Madeline Anello-Kitzmiller was assaulted by a man at R&V, abused online, now she’s marching for consent.

A broken hand is a reminder to Madeline Anello-Kitzmiller of the moment she stood up for herself against the man who groped her at a music festival. And the moment her name was splashed onto headlines across the world.

The 20-year-old American woman was at the Rhythm and Vines Festival over New Year when a man approached her from behind, grabbing her breast.

"All of a sudden I see this hand come up from beside me and kind of grab my breast like that," she told 1NEWS.

The incident was caught on camera and immediately went viral, not because she turned around and punched the man four times, but because she was bare-chested except for body glitter.

Dubbed the "glitter booby" woman, Ms Anello-Kitzmiller has received threats to her life as well as abusive comments online following the R&V event.

"People have taken the time out of their day to message me saying that I'm disgusting that I should be ashamed of myself," she says.

"Somebody claimed to start a petition that already had 900 signatures to get me deported."

Ms Anello-Kitzmiller, who is taking part in a march on the issue in Auckland on Sunday, says some of the abusive comments were about how she deserved to be assaulted because she wasn't wearing a top.

"Because I'm walking around topless doesn't mean anyone has the right to touch me."

Ms Anello-Kitzmiller says the abuse for going topless at the festival began almost immediately after getting the glitter art.

Festival goers yelled abuse and grabbed her breasts as she walk around the Gisborne event.

"Some people would just come up and grab my nipple and pinch it really hard - which was just horrible.

"And some people would yell 'that's disgusting' or 'you're a slut'."

Ms Anello-Kitzmiller says she was "tired" of all the abuse she was enduring when the man groped her.

"I didn't have time to think. I was just so tired of everyone harassing me.

"It just seemed like there was no other option at that moment."

The criticism for how she handled the incident and the comments about her "deserving it" because she was topless has "saddened" Ms Anello-Kitzmiller.

"A lot of the attention from the video came because I was nude and that created a lot of unwarranted attention.

"People focused more on what I was wearing rather than there was a guy grabbing me.

"I was proud of myself and that I totally had a right to do that."

Jolene Guillum-Scott, the glitter artist who painted Ms Anello-Kitzmiller at R&V, says the criticism her friend has received online is shocking.

"[I'm] just ashamed.

"Ashamed of being a part of a race - a human race - that have those horrible views."

Ms Guillum-Scott has experienced first-hand the type of abuse her friend has received during a Facebook live she filmed while defending her friend and trying to speak about sexual harassment.

"It was honestly just comment after comment after comment. I even had really, really rude ones, really, really rude ones like 'get my boobs out'.

"I was on here to talk about sexual assault and how it's not OK and people were just taking the piss out of me."

Together Ms Guillum-Scott and Ms Anello-Kitzmiller have organised the Consent Movement march as a "stand in solidarity" with victims of sexual assault and victim blaming.

The pair says the march isn't about gaining attention as critics have claimed online.

"It really saddens me when people accuse Jolene and I of doing this for attention because it’s so much more than that," says Ms Anello-Kitzmiller.

"It's so much more than myself and Jolene and more than what happened at Rhythm and Vines.

"It's not my topless march; it's not a march for glitter tits. It's a march for consent."

The friends hope to use their experience of harassment to continue the talk about consent and sexual abuse.

"No one has the right to touch you. No one has the right to violate you and it's disgusting to think that anyone has the right to do that."

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