As we all quickly come to realise, the world is a cruel, cruel place.
Whilst our parents and schoolteachers waxed lyrical about the importance of kindness and empathy, some people just choose to forgo all semblance of human decency for no apparent reason.
Now, wherever you stand on the nature vs. nurture debate, you're going to have a hard time arguing that what happened to Sophie Stevenson was anything less than an act of complete and pre-meditated cruelty. The 24-year-old spent £350 on a 400-mile trip to meet a boy that she had been involved with - only to discover that she was the victim of a "pull a pig" prank.
Stevenson, who hails from Stoke, met Jesse Mateman whilst holidaying in Barcelona in August. After keeping in touch, she decided to fly out to meet him in his hometown of Amsterdam.
The bar supervisor has since stated that she believed that the two were involved in a "proper romance" following their romantic liaison in Spain. However, Jesse failed to turn up when she arrived at the airport and sent her a cruel message six hours later.
Mateman wrote to her on Snapchat saying, "you were pigged" and added the pig and laughing face emoji's. He later said, "it was all a joke".
Stevenson who replied rather politely by saying, "how can you be so cruel though!" was quickly blocked by Mateman. She then proceeded to change her flights and headed home the following morning.
Speaking to The MailOnline, Stevenson's mother, Julie, told of her daughter's distress. Describing Sophie to be "in absolute bits", she clarified that "[Jesse Mateman] would call her everyday and Sophie was so excited and would go off and take the call."
"He said he wanted to come and visit her in Manchester and was planning a visit. He then said he could not wait and asked if Sophie would come over to Amsterdam.
"Sophie said as she was getting on the plane he was calling her and telling her he couldn't wait to meet her at the hotel.
"It just shows you the lengths he was going to to make a fool of my daughter."
Julie continued:
"He has shattered her confidence and most nights she just sits there in tears. It is breaking my heart to see how this has affected her. Why would any man do that to a woman. It is just heartless.
"It hurts me so much to see her so dejected. It is going to take a lot to build up her confidence. Something should be done to this man to make him stop. You have to wonder if there are others he has tricked or what he will do next time."
While, Sophie later explained that "'pulling a pig' is where a guy tries to pull the fat ugly girl", the people of the internet quickly rushed to her defence, and tried to console her.
"I hope his mother reads this, what a w*nker! Sophie Stevenson, you’re gorgeous and he’s an utter a**hole," one Twitter user wrote, while another corroborated "This is so horrible & cruel. I think Sophie is lovely, that guy has no decency or class."
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In a world where women are expected to conform to oft unreachable beauty standards, Makeman has thoroughly succeeded in reinforcing negative stereotypes of young, immature men. But whilst we can hope that he realises the severity of his actions, one thing's for sure; he sure has
a lot of karmic justice headed his way.
