I think Bob Beckel is supposed to be the “liberal” on The Five on Fox News, though their idea of “liberal” on that channel seems to be “someone who thinks perhaps, in some cases, bosses shouldn’t be allowed to hold your children hostage in order to compel you to work late without pay”. Not that it matters much one way or another, but just a little context for this moment that Media Matters captured:

They’re talking about a recent episode of The Bachelorette where one of the male contestants, angry over being rejected for another contestant, complains to her: “If you weren’t in love with me…. I’m just not sure why, why you made love with me.” It’s a really uncomfortable moment, because while we can all relate to feeling low because someone we thought had feelings for us did not, it’s framed to be maximally shaming. I mean, we all know why someone would have sex with someone they don’t love, but there’s still a strong stigma against women ever admitting that they experience lust or a desire for sexual adventures. Those are still, in 2014, supposed to be desires that only men are allowed to admit in public. To drive this home, they even have the guy saying, “That night, that was like fiancee-type of stuff.” Because, in 2014, you can still hurt a woman by implying she got a little wild in bed, or at least did it without getting a ring first.

Anyway, we all know the purpose of Fox News dwelling on this—to get their audience to gripe about girls these days and disingenuously pretend that they never had adventures of their own—but most of the hosts, even Greg Gutfeld, knew well enough that they don’t have to actually come out and say that. (Demonizing female sexuality while maintaining plausible deniability about it is a delicate art, y’all.) But Beckel was apparently afraid that the audience wouldn’t get their point and so made the subtext text.

“She’s a slut!” He added lots of finger pointing to all this for emphasis. “She sleeps with someone else and doesn’t, doesn’t tell,” he sputtered, unsure of how to phrase what he was saying now that he’d opened that door.

Andrea Tantaros actually pushed back. “Excuse me, Bob, you probably sleep with a different woman every night!”

“Yeah, but I’m not some kind of bachelorette,” he continued to sputter, adding, “….bachelor” and continue to sputter around because he clearly wanted to say he’s not a woman, but was beginning to realize that this perhaps was not the road best taken. “This is where is America’s gone to!” he added, finally getting a cogent sentence out. That’s the ticket, Bob! Keep it vague. You don’t need to tell the audience that men get to do whatever they want but women are dirty if they have sex for pleasure instead of just as a bid to get a ring. Your audience is well ahead of you, sir!

Anyway, an interesting moment on Fox News. I wonder if they’re going to have to have a training at the network now on the art of implying that someone is a slut without coming right out and saying it. Keep your eyes on the prize, people, and remember that the official line is you’re against abortion because “life” and against contraception access because “religion” and make sure that judging women for being sexual is all in the eyebrows, because they can’t quote that in the New York Times.