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Original poster

How/if to respond to this email.

34 replies

TickledOnion · 04/09/2020 13:47

My office is roughly 50:50 men to women. It’s generally a great place to work, supportive, friendly but with a good amount of banter. People occasionally send round jokes or quizzes on a Friday particularly since we’ve been working from home.

One such email included the jokes from this link. www.sitclub.co.uk/Jokes/Joke11.htm

Would you say something about it? I like the person who sent it. He is generally a nice, easy to get along with bloke. I don’t want to get him into trouble. If he told a sexist joke to my face, I would say something and he would probably take it well and apologise.

I’d like to reply in a jokey way but to get him to think about what he wrote.

OP posts:
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thinkingaboutLangCleg · 04/09/2020 22:42

I'd describe them as jokes 'with the funny bits taken out'.

Well put!

aliasundercover · 04/09/2020 22:18

I've seen those before, I think they came from a Viz book called 'The Joy of Sexism'.

I thought he book was funny, and it took digs at both sexes - there were male 'records' included as well. When someone strips out the jokes about men and just leaves those about women you don't need to wonder about their motivation.

OP, I think you dealt with it well.

NearlyGranny · 04/09/2020 21:19

Meanwhile, you notice your man there has boldly gone and hidden behind his teenage daughter!

Did she agree to be his human shield? Will she come to his HR interview and hold his hand while explaining how it's just daddy being daddy?!

WhereOnEarthDoIStart · 04/09/2020 18:00

OMG! This is great! Send this back with a "...meanwhile this is what the men were up to"

DeaconBoo · 04/09/2020 16:46

@DeaconBoo

If i had endless time I'd have dug out the most pointless and cringey records from the actual Book of Records that were achieved by men (e.g., and I'm guessing, biggest collection of rubber bands etc) and listed them while noting actual women's achievements alongside.... Smile

Just as sexist and pointless but would've been fun!

cough recordsetter.com/world-record/consecutive-hit-punch-balloon-face-while-balloon-rubberband-is-held-mouth-15-seconds/43937?autoplay=false cough

Will not, repeat NOT, get sucked into a World Record rabbit hole...

Thelnebriati · 04/09/2020 16:39

So he's sexist and plays the ''woman approved''' card. Classy.

DidoLamenting · 04/09/2020 16:26

Quite a lot of what posters complain about on here strikes me as not worth complaining about/ looking for something to complain about but I would pass that on to HR.

It would get very short shrift with management at my workplace who would likely recommend some mandatory diversity training.

DeaconBoo · 04/09/2020 16:19

If i had endless time I'd have dug out the most pointless and cringey records from the actual Book of Records that were achieved by men (e.g., and I'm guessing, biggest collection of rubber bands etc) and listed them while noting actual women's achievements alongside.... Smile

Just as sexist and pointless but would've been fun!

ArabellaScott · 04/09/2020 16:14

@TickledOnion

It wasn’t a link. It was copied and pasted.

I replied all saying “the 1970s called. They want their sexist jokes back.”

I’m looking forward to the replies. Grin

Ha! Pitched it just right, OP.

I was hoping some of them would be at least a bit funny. They're just shit, though.

TwentyViginti · 04/09/2020 15:09

@RoyalCorgi

Manual choke, not manual joke!
Manual choke is what pornsick men do to women during sex now Sad
wellbehavedwomen · 04/09/2020 15:06

@MissLucyEyelesbarrow

I bet he wouldn't have shared equivalent jokes about black or gay people. It's only misogyny and ageism that are still OK.

If you are his peer, I'd probably reply with sarcasm, "the 1970s rang and they want their jokes back" and an eyeroll emoji. Something like that.

You'd be disciplined, and possibly fired, for sharing equivalently homophobic, racist and/or transphobic jokes.

Sadly, misogyny doesn't seem to trouble the woke. How can it? They're certain that gender roles are so rigid, they take primacy over sex.

RoyalCorgi · 04/09/2020 14:59

Manual choke, not manual joke!

RoyalCorgi · 04/09/2020 14:59

Interesting that his super woke daughter found it so funny... kind of shows up how misogyny is an integral element of wokery.

Hit the nail on the head there.

One of the jokes has a reference to the choke on a car being out. I reckon it must be 20 or 30 years since cars were last produced with a manual joke, so I think this must be a very old set of jokes indeed.

growinggreyer · 04/09/2020 14:58

Maybe let him know that his daughter was only laughing to be nice to her dear old dad. It doesn't mean that the rest of the office will hang on his words. Unless he wants to send everyone some pocket money?

FinallyHere · 04/09/2020 14:53

Posted too soon

Would love to know which his D.C. were really laughing about

FinallyHere · 04/09/2020 14:52

I'd describe them as jokes 'with the funny bits taken out'.

WhereOnEarthDoIStart · 04/09/2020 14:51

Where they really funny? They seem incredibly old and dusty. They seem like you would find them in a book when clearing out the house after granny passed away.

queenofknives · 04/09/2020 14:50

Interesting that his super woke daughter found it so funny... kind of shows up how misogny is an integral element of wokery.

ItalianHat · 04/09/2020 14:41

I’d actually find it quite offensive that a colleague thought this was OK to send around the office. I’d wonder about the bias and prejudice of his decision making in other areas of his work.

But I’m a humourless feminist, sick of being paid less than men are, and able to call out sexism where I see it.

Yes, it’s all very well for him to be a nice bloke etc etc, but ask him if these were jokes about Jewish people or black people. Would he have done it? Why is making nasty comments about women (passively aggressively disguised as jokes) any more acceptable?

Sheheshehe · 04/09/2020 14:37

Oh the ‘Office Joker‘. Tell him he reminds you of Colin Hunt from The Fast Show - if he doesn’t know who that is he’ll hopefully give it a Google Grin

giletrouge · 04/09/2020 14:35

Great response from him - he sounds sort of ok and maybe his kids are not doing him any favours!

Original poster
TickledOnion · 04/09/2020 14:32

He’s taken it quite well.

He also replied to all with:

“Apologies, I did agonise over whether to send this and whether it would be offensive but when I read them out to my children they laughed their heads off so I took that as a green light especially as my daughter is 19 and very much woke.
Right, I have to go to iron my flares and get to the Bernard Manning seminar.”

OP posts:
CharlieParley · 04/09/2020 14:24

God these are tedious. I think the reply you sent was very fitting.

queenofknives · 04/09/2020 14:18

@TickledOnion

It wasn’t a link. It was copied and pasted.

I replied all saying “the 1970s called. They want their sexist jokes back.”

I’m looking forward to the replies. Grin

Great response. I expect most of the others in your office will be glad you pushed back.
sooveritalready · 04/09/2020 14:10

Well done for calling it out OP, I bet all the women were seething!

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