Ever since a man lost his job because Clementine Ford reported his online abuse to his employer, flame-throwers have accused her, among other things, of being a man-hating whore.

The respected writer and commentator was called a bitch, a dumb c**t, and was told she deserved "to be gang raped by a pack of AIDS infested n*****s".

On top of this, conservative commentators like Tim Blair accused her of hypocrisy because of her own tendency to not shy away from using strong language.

The whole episode has been painted as one bold woman against a horde of angry critics.

But now hordes of other bold women are eager to demonstrate Ford is not alone, and that they too are angry about online abuse, and more outing of trolls looks likely to follow.

The events unfolded after Michael Nolan, a supervisor at Meriton Apartments, commented on one of Ford's Facebook posts with the word "slut".

Ford later posted screenshots of Mr Nolan's abuse to her page, linking in Meriton Group and asking if they were aware of their employee's behaviour.

"There are basically no consequences for men who behave like this, so we have to start making consequences for them," Ford wrote.

On Monday, Ford shared a message she had received from Meriton Group informing her that Mr Nolan had been sacked.

What happened to Mr Nolan is about more than Ms Ford and feminism, it is about workplace conduct and the huge shift in the standards employers expect of their employees.

More and more, abuse of any kind in a public forum is considered unacceptable, and grounds for dismissal.

Josh Bornstein, a principal at Maurice Blackburn Lawyers in Melbourne, says that while there is no legal obligation for employers to sack staff who engage in threatening or harassing behaviour outside the workplace, more are increasingly willing to do so.

"There have been many cases of people being sacked for their participation in social media, even when their comments are apparently unrelated to their work," Mr Bernstein told the ABC.

"Employers are increasingly resorting to disciplinary action against employees over a range of conduct outside the workplace and particularly if that conduct gets public exposure.

"Employers often argue that such conduct may adversely impact their brand."

Such conduct, recently labelled by the United Nations as online violence against women, may also adversely affect the women it is targeted at.

Dr Emma A Jane, a senior research fellow at the University of New South Wales, says there is a tendency for some people to downplay online abuse and rape threats because it is "just words" or "just the internet".

But her years of research on online harassment of women show it can have serious effects on women's health.

"While some of these women are able to shrug it off or laugh it off at least some of the time, others have suffered periods of intense depression and anxiety during which they have withdrawn not only from the cybersphere but from other aspects of life as well," Dr Jane said.

Dr Jane, who is no stranger to online abuse herself, says Meriton Group's decision to hold Mr Nolan to account for his actions should be applauded, and urges other employers to take a stand against gender-based harassment.

"Unfortunately, countless numbers of other men engage in the same behaviour online with impunity," Dr Jane said.

"I would like to see more of these men exposed and more of them held to account, but this needs to occur alongside significant institutional interventions.

"The responsibility for solving the problem of gendered cyber-hate should not lie with female targets alone," she said.

Ms Ford says she spoke out about Mr Nolan's abuse because she was "sick and tired" of men "getting away with" intimidating women online, adding that women were often attacked further for standing up for themselves.

Ms Ford claims that no matter how women respond, they just can not win.

"Too many women are harassed into silence by men who flounce about the place doing and saying whatever they like," Ms Ford said.

"I'm sick and tired of women being held responsible for the actions men choose to take."

Her comments echo countless others made by women from all sides of the political spectrum, famous faces and stay-at-home mums, baking enthusiasts and gamers, who have had enough of feeling bullied, belittled and afraid.

And a view is growing that until more workplaces and governments take a stand against men's harassment of women on the internet, we need as many voices like Ford's as we can get.

As Dr Jane says: "Not everyone is going to have the strength or resources to fight this battle but those of us who do ... need to fight."

"Doing nothing is acquiescing. It's handing the internet over the bullies and the misogynists and the rapists."