So, Emily, what would you say if a male BBC presenter posed with a half-naked stripper?
AT the BBC, she is often considered a vocal feminist, particularly over equal pay.
But it seems even Emily Maitlis couldn’t resist posing with a semi-naked member of The Chippendales. The Newsnight presenter was pictured beaming as she put her arm around the oiled-up, tattooed and bearded performer in the raunchy troupe’s changing room in Las Vegas.
Miss Maitlis tweeted the photo to her 100,000 followers yesterday, captioning it: ‘Backstage with #thechippendales.’
The 47-year-old Cambridge graduate, who is understood to be visiting Sin City for work, was quickly bombarded with criticism from some of her more right-on fans.
One wrote: ‘If this was a male presenter with a scantily clad female, the cries of sexism would be deafening.’
Another posted: ‘Wondering what the reaction would of [sic] been if any one of your male Newsnight colleagues were photographed smiling gleefully beside a female stripper?’
One even accused her of exploitation, writing: ‘Rich powerful woman exploits poor working man forcing him to demean himself for her pleasure just to earn a living.’
Miss Maitlis, who has worked for the BBC since 2001, was once asked what she thought about Page 3 girls in downmarket newspapers. She replied: ‘I think it’s a really interesting debate. I know I should find it deeply offensive, and yet there are things I find much more offensive. I think my generation probably didn’t take feminism or sexism as seriously as we should.’
Last night a spokesman for Miss Maitlis declined to comment.