Nele Somers does not want to show up « like a barbie » in Revue of Advuey: « Do I have to explain to my daughter that this is normal? » (Antwerp)
The words « Barbie » and « Tinder ». Nele Somers (40) had not taken care of the sketch that was planned around her at the review of the Antwerp Balie, an annual show full of sketches and covers for and by lawyers who are almost exclusively inspired by their antics and excesses. Lawyers who collide on parked cars and commit a fleeing crime, who are not dirty of cocaine use, who are convicted of membership of a criminal gang: they are all discussed. No house is holy, nobody is spared. This is also the case with the announcement of the show on March 14: “It is best to hold on to the branches of the trees because the trainees (who take care of this revue, ed.) Do not take a leaf for the mouth. ”
Nele Somers, a lawyer with his own office in, among other things, intellectual property rights and can be seen regularly in the TV program Gert's tablethe organizers of the Revue had already announced that she didn't feel like being put in the show as a Barbie on Tinder. “Apparently I was not clear the first time, because I had to take the phone to say that this is 2025 and I wonder in which world they are as a Barbie Girl portray. It must be done once with those stereotypes based on preventing. That is just harmful. For me and for women in general. I am not on Tinder, I have been with the same man for twenty years, I have my own office, I have a family with a son and a daughter who is almost sixteen. Do I have to explain to her that this is normal in 2025? ” (Read more under the photo)
At the beginning of this month, at the presentation of the Kastaars! – © Carlo Coppejans
She dismisses them that Somers cannot put himself into perspective. For her it is about stereotyping and courtesy. “Highness is part of our profession, I am also busy with privacy every day. We must continue that lawyers in our free time. If I post a picture of myself on Instagram in any outfit, it should not be abused in a different context. I am just who I am, without wearing my hair short and gray paint and a tailored suit to conform. If someone finds it necessary to parody me in a review, they can at least ask me. »
Whether that doesn't sound crazy? Because a stand-up comedian also does not ask for permission from all the people he files in his show? “No, but a review is not a show of a stand-up comedian. It is a performance under equals, for and by lawyers. They can laugh with me, but then laugh with something else. With what I do, not with how I look. ”
It is clear that Nele Somers touches a sensitive chord: she expressed her displeasure on LinkedIn and Instagram, resulting in hundreds of statements of support.
(Read more under the photo)
Somers put her message on LinkedIn and Instagram.
The organizer of the Revue is the Flemish conference of the Balies of Antwerp, which, according to its website, « is faithful to its history characterized by a real Antwerp spirit, a spirit of Breugelian life enjoyment and of student -like Jolijt ». Chairman Katrien Peysmans-De Rick says that the review is a private event of the counter, exclusively for members of the profession: “The content of the Revue remains strictly confidential until the performance and is a surprise for everyone. Even as chairman of the conference, I have no insight into the content. » Nele Somers said he got the guarantee that her « Barbie » sketch was deleted.
