When did TV become an ‘I wouldn’t **** that woman’ show?

The furore sparked by Laurence Fox’s grossly misogynist comments on GB News about commentator Ava Evans has shone a light on the sort of abuse women on television have to put up with

Laurence Fox was suspended from GB News after saying of Ava Evans: ‘Who’d want to shag that?’ (PA/BBC)

At the weekend, a friend asked me how I deal with the unpleasant comments and tweets that tend to come my way after I’ve written an article, especially those that dare touch on the topic of gender equality.

They’re important, those reality checks. Taking a moment to reappraise what’s normal and what most certainly isn’t. It’s too easy to become immune to the sort of remarks that, viewed in the cold light of day, are misogynistic, sexist and plain gross.

I’m sure that Ava Evans is having that moment right now.

The political correspondent for online news website Joe was at the sharp end of an offensive rant by GB News presenter Laurence Fox on Tuesday, in response to some comments she’d made previously on BBC Politics Live about having a minister for men.

“We’re past the watershed, so I can say this…” began Fox, which should have set immediate warning sirens screeching in the TV studio.

“Show me a single, self-respecting man that would like to climb into bed with that woman,” he continued. “I’m going, like, if I met you at a bar… chances of me walking away are just huge.

“Who’d want to shag that?”

Evans shared the clip on social media, writing “Laurence Fox just did a whole speech on GB News on why men apparently won’t shag me?” adding: “I feel physically sick.”

Yes, ladies and gents, that’s where British broadcasting is right now.

Woman: “I’m not sure we need a minister for men.”

Man: WELL, NO MAN WOULD SLEEP WITH YOU ANYWAY.

Ask any woman who’s been slapped down in this way and she’ll tell you that she’s open to criticism and will happily debate her views – that’s the job of any journalist, activist, academic out there.

This is not that. It’s a grim tactic to cut a woman down for using her voice and reduce her to a sex object. Because, naturally, our only currency – even at work – is sexual.

That’s what it so often comes back to: I don’t agree with you, therefore I’m going to tell you that you’ve made yourself unattractive to men. As if that’s the worst insult a woman could hear; that she’s not desirable to the sort of bloke she wouldn’t touch with a barge pole.

I’d like to claim that I never read below the line or pick through the responses to my own work, but honestly, it’s hard to avoid it all.

So I’m well aware that I’ve been called “a ruptured firehose of period blood”, and had a man question whether my husband has me on a tight leash at home or instead calls me “the flange who must be obeyed”.

Forcing myself to think about it, there have been so many. “Seems like someone needs a nice c**k in their mouth or up the batty,” read one. “Her Rampant Rabbit has run out of juice,” suggested another helpful chap.

Enough. Because while I might be able to laugh off some of the more ludicrous remarks – what other choice is there? – the truth is that these crude, misogynistic words are being sent to women who are simply going about their professional lives. On a normal day at work.

Laurence Fox just did a whole speech on GB News on why men apparently won’t shag me ? pic.twitter.com/XoQD0DUQVm

— Ava-Santina (@AvaSantina) September 26, 2023

And when the words aren’t sexual, they’re demeaning. Fox also called Evans a “little woman” – which reminds me of the men who have called me a “stupid girl” (that one was from one of Britain’s best-known broadcasters) and sent me messages saying things like “get back in the kitchen, NOW”.

GB News has suspended Fox and opened an investigation into him, while his fellow presenter Dan Wootton, whose show the rant appeared on, has tweeted Evans to apologise for not calling it out in the moment. Never mind that, as a broadcaster, it’s his job to be able to react live to guests who go off piste.

In fact, his response on air to Fox was to say, “she’s a very beautiful woman Laurence, very beautiful” – not so much providing editorial balance as turning the entire segment into a “would you have sex with that woman?” contest. Misogyny dressed up as news.

I wish I could tell you that the exchange was a one-off. It isn’t.

It’s the law that under any comment in which a man calls a woman an ugly, unshaggable feminazi, another man must pipe up to reassure her that she’s actually ”beautiful”. As though all we want, in reply to having been demeaned, is another man to weigh in on our looks.

No wonder Evans feels sick.