Readers of the Financial Times have defended the behaviour of men who allegedly groped and sexually harassed women at a male-only black tie dinner, according to an undercover investigation by the newspaper.
On Tuesday night, the paper published an exposé of the Presidents Club annual dinner, a charity fundraiser at the Dorchester attended by 360 influential figures from business and politics. Undercover reporting revealed that "hostesses" were made to dress in skimpy clothes and were allegedly groped and propositioned.
Commenting beneath the article, many said the party was "all good harmless fun" and attacked the newspaper for taking on the subject, despite the gravity of its revelations, prompting national outrage.
While many commented to congratulate the FT on its "courageous journalism" a significant minority defended the behaviour at the party and called the newspaper "puritanical" for covering it.
One commenter, calling himself Zapista, wrote: “Nobody was forced to be at this private event, anyone there was free to leave at any time. What consenting adults do together at a private event is none of anyone else's business. I'm sure Mary Whitehouse would be very proud of this article.”
Most of the comments supporting the event prompted ridicule from other readers. One poster, 'Kitty', wrote: “Wow...a large proportion of the comments are demonstrating how many FT readers live under the exact same rock this article's lifted up.”
Several of the readers lambasted the paper for its political correctness and claimed that if no crimes were reported it was not a story. 'MrTitus' wrote: “I'm amazed by the puritanical tone of this piece. What a boring, self-righteous place Britain is becoming.” While 'Sir Chasm' wrote: “Anyone coerced? If not, no story.”
One user called Equivocation wrote: “There is a reason why hostesses for these events get paid what they get paid. You may not want to hear it, but hostessing is one notch above prostitution. Why not send your reporters undercover to a brothel and then report on the shocking news that they were sexually propositioned? As long as all parties were properly informed, I see no problem.”
Another, 'nachoman,' wrote: “Yellow journalism. Not only there is no news in the story, but also were there to be some news it has nothing to do with finance. THIS IS THE FT! Or used to be...who knows.”
The community editor at the Financial Times, Lilah Raptopoulos, told BuzzFeed News she was “disappointed but not surprised” by the tenor of many comments below the line. She said: "Comments are sometimes a microcosm of public opinion and we know that our readers go to the comments to see how people feel about a topic. I do think it was striking to see that a lot of people still didn't see what the problem was with the widespread sexual harassment and that if there wasn't a crime there wasn't a story.
The comments were open for just over five hours after publication and shut at midnight when the moderation team went to bed. “We were happy to leave the comments on with active moderation to allow thoughts to be publicly challenged.”
“I was disappointed but I wasn't surprised because I work with the comments,” Raptopoulos said. “I know that [articles] like this, especially when they're forcing people to reflect inwards and look at their own behaviour, can bring out really contentious opinions.”
Commenting on FT readers' reactions to the story, Rachel Krys, codirector of the End Violence Against Women Coalition, told BuzzFeed News: "The reason they're not shocked by this is because they're used to it. I think this shows that we've got a long way to go before women have equality.
"If these are the attitudes that are so entrenched that this sort of behaviour and these sort of events are seen as normal, then it's not a surprise that we continue to hear about endemic levels of harassment, violence, and bullying against women at work."
Krys said it suggested that many in the financial world had not changed their attitude since the advent of the #MeToo movement. "It's very sad that in the last six months, with all the Weinstein allegations and the #MeToo allegations and what's happened in Westminster, these people haven't heard that and thought maybe this should be a bit of a wake-up call about how they're going about their lives."
The revelations prompted national outrage with politicians and campaigners condemning the event. Sam Smethers, Fawcett Society chief executive, said: “Sexual harassment but all in a good cause? This is completely outrageous and proves why we need sexual harassment by clients or customers to be covered by law. At the moment, these women are unable to hold their employer to account for putting them in that situation.”
Some, however, chose to blame the women who were allegedly groped.
Shouldn’t the women who agree to work at this event also be utterly ashamed? https://t.co/cSM6YYtWOe
Why did the FT even do that Presidents Club story? Tons of resources thrown at bears-shit-in-woods clickbait that I… https://t.co/h7klL768o7
The Presidents Club has said it will carry out a full investigation into the allegations. In a statement, a spokesperson said: “The Presidents Club recently hosted its annual dinner, raising several million pounds for disadvantaged children.
"The organisers are appalled by the allegations of bad behaviour at the event asserted by the Financial Times reporters. Such behaviour is totally unacceptable. The allegations will be investigated fully and promptly and appropriate action taken."