Ashley Judd basketball abuse
Ashley Judd is standing up to online bullying and misogyny after refusing to bow down to a torrent of abuse Getty

Ashley Judd has come out fighting against Twitter trolls, after receiving a barrage of abuse and threats, after tweeting while watching her college basketball team play on March 15.

Judd, 46, tweeted that she thought that Arkansas' team was "playing dirty" against her alma mater University of Kentucky, in the SEC basketball championship.

After sending the tweet (which Judd has since deleted) other Twitter users sent her abusive and threatening tweets.

Since the game, Judd has stated that she intends to press charges against each person who sent her an abusive or threatening message.

"This particular tsunami of gender-based violence and misogyny flooding my Twitter feed was overwhelming," Judd wrote in an open letter for Mic.com.

"I routinely cope with tweets that sexualise, objectify, insult, degrade and even physically threaten me. I have already — recently, in fact — looked into what is legally actionable in light of such abuse, and have supplied Twitter with scores of reports about the horrifying content on its platform," she wrote.

Judd, a survivor of rape and sexual child abuse, is now hitting back at cyberbullies and describing the abuse treatment she received as "the social norm experienced by millions of girls and women on the internet".

The actress's efforts of highlighting this issue are garnering widespread support from other Twitter users.

The Cybersmile Foundation offers a free helpline for people directly affected by cyberbullying, or who need advice to help others. The helpline is available worldwide on +44 (0)800 783 1113.

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