Six years earlier, during the 2012 Olympics when he was London mayor, Johnson used his column to detail his "magnificent" time watching the volleyball athletes , describing them as "glistening like wet otters". A few months prior, female members of the London Assembly expressed concern over his "disrespectful, patronising way at meetings" towards female politicians that "[he does] not display when dealing with male assembly members". He denied being "remotely sexist" but the following year he suggested women only go to university because they "have got to find men to marry" , during a panel alongside the Malaysian prime minister.