MERSEA’S Saskia Clark has joined thousands of women to hit out against being called ‘unintelligent’ and ‘ promiscuous’ in the dictionary.

The Olympian has backed the #IAMANESSEXGIRL campaign, which challenges experts at both the Oxford English Dictionary and Collins Dictionary for defining an Essex girl as “unintelligent, promiscuous and materialistic”.

The Collins Dictionary goes on to call Essex girls young and working class but also devoid of taste.

Taking to Twitter, Saskia captioned a photo of her and team mate Hannah Mills after their spectacular Olympic gold medal win in Rio.

She said: “Olympic champion and have a degree. Turns out your definition is wrong OED. Better get it updated.”

Nearly 6,000 angry supporters have backed the change.org petition to have the definition removed from the dictionary including Emma Milne, from Colchester.

She said: “I am an Essex girl and about to submit my PhD in Sociology.”

Laura Wells also said she is “shocked at how far this prejudice has gone” while Dr Aisha Gill, of Essex University, said she was proud of her connection to the county in a tweet.

Colchester boasts one of the highest achieving girls’ grammar schools in the country.

Colchester County High School, where Saskia studied, this year saw 88 per cent of GCSE exam results at A or A*grade.

Doctor Ruth Bensusan-Butt, who died in 1957, was the first female doctor in the town and was instrumental in establishing our first maternity hospital.

The campaign founders, Natasha Sawkins and Juliet Thomas, are originally from London, but live in Brentwood - famously known for its star-studded links to the The Only Way is Essex.

The mums will continue to fight the outdated stereotype, which they say is reinforced by being written down.

However, a dictionary spokeswoman said “nothing is ever taken out of the OED” and added definitions can only be changed.