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A barrister has named and shamed a senior partner at a London law firm who sent her a LinkedIn message praising her "stunning" profile picture.

Charlotte Proudman received the message from Alexander Carter-Silk, a senior partner at the London office of solicitors firm Brown Rudnick, after they connected on the professional networking site.

Mr Carter-Silk sent the controversial message with the subject "RE: PICTURE".

It said: "I appreciate that this is probably horrendously politically incorrect but that is a stunning picture!!!!

"You definitely win the prize for the best Linked in picture I have even seen.

"Always interest [sic] to understant [sic] people's skills and how we might work together."

Ms Proudman, who describes herself as a "fearless feminist" on her Twitter biography, replied to Mr Carter-Silk, telling him she found his message "offensive", and his behaviour "unacceptable and misogynistic,"

Her reply read: "I find your message offensive.

"I am on linked-in for business purposes not to be approached about my physical appearance or to be objectified by sexist men.

"The eroticisation of women's physical appearance is a way of exercising power over women. It silences women's professional attributes as their physical appearance becomes the subject.

"Unacceptable and misogynistic behaviour. Think twice before sending another woman (half your age) such a sexist message."

The barrister, who is also studying for a PhD in sociology at Cambridge University, then took screenshots of the correspondence and posted them to Twitter.

Ms Proudman told the Standard she is seeking a public apology from Mr Carter-Silk, has contacted the CEO of Brown Rudnick to complain about the message, and will also be referring the matter to the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

She said: "It's very disappointing, there are serious professional misconduct issues, as a legal professional he is required to uphold the law, and that includes the Sex Discrimination Act and the Eqaulity Act.

"I felt as though it was an attack really, that's what sexism is.

"I'm on there for business purposes and I thought he may be interested in my skills and experience as opposed to my body.

"People are treating LinkedIn like Tinder, I've received many messages based on my physical appearance, but this one was from a senior partner."

Since posting the message, Ms Proudman has been inundated with supportive messages from other women who also say they have received unwanted advances on LinkedIn.

Mandeer Kataria tweeted saying: "I changed my LinkedIn profile photo to an uglier one so I'd get fewer creepy men adding/messaging me."

Clare Bates tweeted: "Met with a guy through LinkedIn on the pretext of start up support, asked if I used it as a dating site & if I had a boyfriend."

And another Twitter used posted saying: "My colleague has received sexualised messages from three different men on LinkedIn. It's not OKCupid!"

Ms Proudman said she felt heartned by the outpouring of support on Twitter, but said the inappropriate LinkedIn messages received by women were indicative of how they are viewed professionally.

"It shows how men perceive women in the workplace, they look a physical appearance as opposed to your skills and experience" she said.

She added that she agreed "110 per cent" that it was important for women to expose men who display sexist behaviours, saying: "The only way we're going to end sexism within our generation is if we name them publicly, if we call out sexism, and if there are consequences, so be it.

"And if calling out that sexism has consequences on your workload, I wouldn't want to be instructed by sexist solicitors."

Carter-Silk later explained his actions to legal website RollOnFriday, claiming his comments had been misinterpreted.

He said: "Most people post pretty unprofessional pictures on Linked in, my comment was aimed at the professional quality of the presentation on linked in which was unfortunately misinterpreted.

"Ms Proudman is clearly highly respected and I was pleased to receive her request to linkup and very happy to instruct her on matters which [are] relevant to her expertise that remains the position."