It’s a trope as old as time. To silence a powerful woman, declare them ‘unshaggable.'
This was exactly the case when Laurence Fox humiliated journalist Ava Evans during an episode of Dan Wootton Tonight on Tuesday. Evans shared a clip of Fox's vile comments on Z this week, captioning the post ‘Laurence Fox just did a whole speech on GB News on why men apparently won’t shag me?'
In the clip, Fox says of Evans 'We're past the watershed so I can say this… show me a single, self-respecting man that would like to climb into bed with that woman… ever… ever. That little woman has been fed... spoon-fed oppression day after day after day, starting with the lie about the gender pay gap.’
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 spoke about the impact of Fox’s comments on ITV’s Good Morning Britain. ‘Half of the comments are very lovely and supportive, and the other side are very threatening, that somehow I’m part of this global agenda that is trying to bring down men and I hate all men, and I need to watch my back and be very careful because there are certain people who are threatening to come after me,’ she said. This comes after she tweeted that Fox’s comments made her feel ‘physically sick’, before telling Channel 5’s show she is ‘really hurt’ by the comments Fox made about her ‘body rather than her work.’
GB News has since suspended Fox and Dan Wootton – who is seen in the clip laughing at Fox - and shared a statement describing the remarks as ‘totally unacceptable.’ Wootton has also posted an apology on X. ‘I want to reiterate my regret over last night’s exchange with Laurence on GB News. Having looked at the footage, I can see how inappropriate my reaction to his totally unacceptable remarks appears to be and want to be clear that I was in no way amused by the comments,’ he wrote.
There are growing calls for Ofcom to investigate GB News over the behaviour of Wootton and Fox. Tory MP Caroline Nokes said GB News ‘should be taken off air’ over the episode, while technology secretary Michelle Donelan said Ofcom had to take the response to the ‘next stage.’ Despite the backlash, Fox posted on X on Wednesday asking for criticism to be directed at him not Wootton. He went on to say he stood by ‘every word of what I said’ and he was ‘totally within my rights to say that I wouldn’t want to shag a hyper-offended 4th wave feminist and not apologise.’
Let's be clear - Fox's comments are pure misogyny. Essentially, he's calling a woman unattractive to men on the basis that he disagrees with her views. This plays into the troubling narrative that a woman's worth, even in a professional setting, is defined by whether a man wants to have sex with her. The clip follows a wave of problematic comments Fox has made about women in the past. In 2020, he revealed he once broke up with a girlfriend for being 'too woke' and women like her are 'primed' to be victims.
Sadly, this trope of men declaring women ‘unshaggable’ to silence them is nothing new. Sophie Walker summed up this attitude in a post on X, writing ‘This is a new low from GB news. Feminists are grimly familiar with angry men decreeing that they are unfuckable as a (failed) attempt to silence and humiliate them. To broadcast it as some sort of political discourse is staggering misogyny. Solidarity with @AvaSantina.’
Perhaps unsurprisingly, one of the biggest pedallers of this misogynistic trope is Donald Trump. In 2015, he was quoted in Rolling Stone talking about the ‘unfuckability’ of his then Republican primary rival Carly Fiorina. ‘Look at that face! Would anyone vote for that? Can you imagine that, the face of our next president? I mean, she’s a woman, and I’m not s’posed ta say bad things, but really, folks, come on. Are we serious?’ he said.
It was the same narrative when it came to another political opponent, Hilary Clinton. In a now-deleted post he retweeted in 2015, Trump wrote ‘If Hillary Clinton can’t satisfy her husband what makes her think she can satisfy America?’ At a 2016 rally, he also dismissed his accusers' claims of sexual assault, implying that none of them were hot enough to sexually assault, saying ‘look at her… I don’t think so.’
Melanie Sykes claimed she ‘cried all night’ after Keith Lemon star Leigh Francis humiliated her in front of a live audience while they filmed ITV’s Through The Keyhole in 2018. She told how Lemon made explicit sexual jokes about her for three hours, including 'I bet your a*****e smells of flowers.'
Responding to Mel's past complaint, a spokesperson for production company Talkback told The Mirror: 'Looking after those who appear on our shows is a top priority and we always strive to ensure our guests feel comfortable and happy during filming.'
They added 'Whilst Through the Keyhole hasn’t been on air since 2019, we continually review and evolve our company welfare processes with the aim for everyone to feel supported.'
Francis did not respond to requests for comment at the time.
These are just a handful of examples that made the headlines. Depressingly, this attitude towards women is just as pervasive in daily life, where men can get away with this type of misogyny without being held to account.
Evans has not, in fact, been silenced. Since Fox's comments, she's been thanking her followers for their support and speaking out about about the abuse. 'This is actually nothing to do with me. This is a producer, presenter problem. This is a network problem,' she told Joe. 'I'm just a vehicle for content, and that's the bit that makes me feel most sick.'