Top radio star says women are treated like sex objects at the Brownlow Medal – but his female co-host hits back to defend the AFL’s night of nights

Veteran radio presenter Neil Mitchell has criticised the Brownlow Medal for objectifying women, but his female counterpart Jacqui Felgate has responded with a completely different take on the AFL’s biggest awards ceremony.

The annual ceremony celebrates the season’s best and most beautiful football stars, but it’s often the players’ glamorous wives and girlfriends who steal the limelight with their stunning red carpet appearances.

Mitchell said he doesn’t want to be the “fun police,” but stressed that the women at the event “are judged on their appearance.”

“Why do we get preached all year round that it’s sexist and offensive to objectify women, and then on Brownlow Night it’s like, ‘Let’s objectify women’?” he asked 3AM Drive presenter Jacqui Felgate on Tuesday.

“You are objectifying women.”

Felgate strongly disagreed, saying the event is meant to celebrate the partners of the stars and not treat them as objects of desire.

“I don’t think the Brownlows see women as objects,” she explained.

‘And as someone who has attended many and has organised it for two years, I would say that I think Brownlow has become an event where partners can support the players and players can support their female partners.

3AW radio star Neil Mitchell clashed with fellow presenter Jacqui Felgate over whether the Brownlow Medal treats women as sex objects

Mitchell argued that women at the event are judged by their appearance when they walk the red carpet (pictured is Annalise Dalins, Josh Daicos’ fiancée, at this year’s ceremony).

‘I think men get almost as much pleasure from seeing their partner and enjoying it.

And if you look at social media [media]you will see that every male player who posted last night posted about his wife, girlfriend or partner, saying she had a great night and looked fantastic.

“I don’t think women are being objectified by this.”

Felgate went on to say that women choose to expose themselves and that players often bring their mothers with them on the red carpet.

Mitchell disagreed, saying he has no problem with women participating in the event, but finds it “grossly inconsistent” with the competition’s focus on women’s rights.

“I’m really disappointed that you’ve abandoned the principles of feminism to support this,” he said.

Felgate responded: ‘A core principle of feminism is choice – and these women chose to appear on the red carpet.

Mitchell said he was disappointed in his co-host for abandoning the “principles of feminism” to support the way women are treated at the Brownlow count (pictured is Port star Jason Horne-Francis’ partner Isabella Cavallaro on the red carpet)

‘If you are a private individual, you can enter through the back and avoid being photographed.

“They want to be there and that’s great because they’ve been supporting their partner all season long – and a lot of them are mothers. They’re not just 21-year-old influencers, some of them are.

‘But some of them are women who consider it one of the most important nights of the year – and their husbands and partners celebrate it.

“They don’t objectify them, and neither do we.”