Anne Robinson accused of ‘victim blaming’

ANNE ROBINSON has suggested modern women are too “fragile”, meaning they are unable to deal with sexual harassment at work.

The presenter, 73, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that her generation were more “robust”, saying that she would just “slap” a predatory man.

Reacting to allegations of sexual harassment in Parliament, Ms Robinson drew particular attention to the fact some MPS appeared to know about their “sex pest” colleagues but said nothing until after allegations relating to the Harvey Weinstein scandal had brought the matter into the spotlight.

She said: “If a woman is clever enough to become an MP, and even a former female cabinet minister is speaking about this, why hasn’t she spoken out [earlier]?

“Why haven’t they been fighting for some sort of recognition of this behaviour?

“In the early days, 40 years ago, there were very few of us women in power and I have to say, we had a much more robust attitude to men behaving badly.

“The glass ceiling has been shattered but running alongside that is the fragility of the women who are unable to deal with the treachery of the workplace,” she said. She questioned why the former secretary to a minister agreed to buy him sex toys: “I’m in despair!” she said, adding, “In my day we gave them a slap, and told them to grow up.”

Her comments were not well-received. One Twitter user wrote: “Now we have Anne Robinson blaming women for not speaking out – she clearly doesn’t understand the balance of power.” Another said: “This is classic victim blaming. Absolutely disgusted.”