The singer Robin Thicke has been named sexist of the year by a body representing dozens of women's groups around the UK.
The singer achieved fame and notoriety on the back of his single Blurred Lines, which was accompanied by a video in which he was surrounded by naked dancing models and has been condemned as suggesting date rape is acceptable.
Thicke topped the voting in a poll conducted by the End Violence Against Women Coalition. David Cameron, Britain's prime minister, was runner-up for the second successive year.
The coalition – which has more than 60 member groups working to end sexual and domestic violence, trafficking and other forms of abuse – also highlighted comments Thicke had made in interviews.
Speaking to GQ magazine, he said:"People say, 'Hey, do you think this is degrading to women?' I'm like, 'Of course it is. What a pleasure it is to degrade a woman. I've never gotten to do that before'."
The coalition said it would be sending Thicke a voucher to enable him to download Aretha Franklin's hit song Respect as a prize.
Sarah Green of the End Violence Against Women Coalition pointed out that Thicke's video had created such a backlash that it had actually had the effect of fuelling a campaign against videos using sexist imagery.
"Our heartfelt congratulations to a worthy winner Robin Thicke for both his concerted sexist efforts, and in the end the platform he created for rejection of the use of women as objects to promote mediocre pop."
"Sexism might be de rigeur for some music industry 'creatives' but the times they are a-changin'."
source//endviolenceagainstwomen.org.uk