The outgoing chief constable of Merseyside Police has said she received "horrific" abuse in the wake of the Southport attack and she called for a continued focus on diversity.
Serena Kennedy branded claims of a two-tier policing system "absolute rubbish" as she spoke ahead of her retirement at the end of August.
She became Merseyside's first female chief constable in April 2021 and led the force through a number of high-profile incidents, including dealing with the attack by Axel Rudakubana, 18, on a Southport dance class on July 29 last year and the disorder that followed.
"The abuse that I got online last summer was absolutely horrific.
"Thousands and thousands and thousands of vile comments, questioning my ability as a chief constable, calling for my resignation, calling for me to be sacked, and my colleagues across the country, both male and female, are subject to that abuse online when they're dealing with a high-profile incident.
However, she noted that senior females in public roles face different kinds of abuse compared to their male counterparts.
"However, the difference is that senior females - I say senior female police officers, but also I would say senior females who are in the public view - are subject to very personal abuse as well, in terms of their appearance, their sexuality, how they identify, their gender.
"That is something very different that our male colleagues don't experience in the same way and with the same voracity and vileness."
She said a focus on diversity, equality and inclusion needs to continue to combat misogyny, which she said is getting worse.
She added: "There's lots of people talking about now that we shouldn't focus on that work, because everybody should get the same level of service.
"I agree with that utopia. Everybody should get the same level of service, and I shouldn't experience the misogyny that I've experienced over the past two years as chief constable, but the reality is not everybody gets the same level of service, and it is worse if you have a protected characteristic."
Ms Kennedy said she was proud of the actions of her officers when disorder broke out in Southport last summer, and she said there was no element of protest to the violent scenes when bricks were thrown at officers and a mosque was targeted.
On claims of two-tier policing, she said: "We are absolutely clear and robust around if people break the law, we will take positive action."
Ms Kennedy told MPs on the Home Affairs Select Committee earlier this year she had wanted to release information on Rudakubana's religion at the time he was charged, to try and combat misinformation targeting Muslim communities, but was advised not to by local Crown prosecutors.
In May, she was involved in the force's decision to release details about the suspect involved in the crash at Liverpool FC's victory parade, including that he was white and British.
She said in that case the circumstances were different because his face was already on social media and there was no need for consultation with the Crown Prosecution Service, as it was not at the point of charging him.
She added: "I think it would have damaged the trust and confidence in Merseyside, and indeed nationally, if we had not confirmed that he was a white British male, locally born."
Ms Kennedy welcomed guidance by the National Police Chiefs' Council and the College of Policing on sharing the ethnicity and nationality of suspects with the public.
She said: "If the criteria is met, then police have to be open, honest and transparent with our communities, and we have to prepare for the impact of releasing that information, whatever that may be, whether that is protest or whether that's disorder, and be in no doubt - there is an absolute difference between the two."
The Everton supporter, who has watched the club's new stadium being built from her office in Merseyside Police HQ, said she feels "mixed emotions" about leaving the force.
She said the families she had met, including the mother of nine-year-old shooting victim Olivia Pratt-Korbel and the parents of Southport victims Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, Bebe King, six, and Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, were the reason she did the job.
She added: "They are just hugely inspirational, brave, courageous people."
"They stand for what the communities of Merseyside stand for, not the other things that we've seen happen here."
Ms Kennedy's successor Rob Carden will take up the role on September 1.