To be angry that the Chief Constable chose the words..

[seeker]

"gentle" and "a chatterbox" respectively to describe the two women police officers who were murdered on duty yesterday.

Can you imagine those words ever being used to describe a man?

Of course parents can describe their child how they like. TBH it's mainly the 'young girls' comment that bothers me. Because frankly I wouldn't want 'young girls' doing police work.

Did it never occur to you that maybe the officers were trying to portray that they weren't JUST police officers, as in a faceless body, but two ordinary young girls/women going about their business and doing their job.
Pointing out that they are human too and just doing their job.
Bringing feminism into it is ridiculous, and incredibly petty.

It might be worth some people's while to just check back and have a look at the point of view the "frothy" posters on this thread hold.

And if anyone can find me an example of a man being publicly described as a chatterbox I will eat my hat.

There's army lads been described as 'daft'

That's along the same lines as chatterbox. Would you object to that?

To be honest I think the only thing Seeker is guilty of is bad timing and posting in AIBU.

Her point is valid but posting a week from now in FWR would have perhaps been wiser.

lady the parents picked the words. Young girl or whatever the family picked them. What's the issue?

One of the Mr Men is Mr Chatterbox. I don't mean this frivolously - it just demonstrates that male chatterboxes are in popular culture.

I hope Seeker, at some point, you will have dug your hole deep enough to stop you reaching your keyboard.

"And if anyone can find me an example of a man being publicly described as a chatterbox I will eat my hat."

So what? How is that relevant to anything?

The people best placed to describe these two officers are their families and workmates. They are the ones who have loved them, lived with them, and knew them best.
It's none of your business to judge the words they use. None at all.

:o @ Squeaky

Squeaky, I think I love you.

I have images of these hands appearing out of a hole, clutching for the keyboadd

The words young girls were not used by the family. These are inappropriate words to describe 2 professional woman in their 20's and 30's.

And this matters because everyday sexism like this continually makes it clear that women are thought to be inferior to men.

This is a bit of a non argument really, you say your issue was with the Chief saying this, but now you know it came from the family and their friends, do you think he should have said God good I cant say that in a statement, itll upset the feminists!`

"And this matters because everyday sexism like this continually makes it clear that women are thought to be inferior to men."

Oh dear.

Good God, not God Good!

What bupcakes said!

I hope Seeker, at some point, you will have dug your hole deep enough to stop you reaching your keyboard.

Other colleagues proudly described how PC Bone had flourished over her five years as a constable in Greater Manchester.

?When she first joined the shift she was quite quiet and reserved,? they said in a statement read by Sir Peter at a sombre press conference.

?However, she came out of her shell and had a great sense of humour, always enjoying a good laugh.

?Her fellow officers said that they always loved being partnered off with her as she was always calm, collected and professional, and could defuse situations with her calm, gentle way.

?She was an excellent bobby, and cared about her job and the community she served.?

'Sir Peter added: ?Greater Manchester Police is in mourning today for the loss of two very brave, courageous colleagues who exemplified the very best of British policing.?

Ian Hanson, chairman of the local police federation, said: ?What we?ve got are two young girls that went out this morning and they?ve got an absolute right to come home tonight to their loved ones.'

Again, the statement in full. Nothing less than respectful, IMO.

Eats
I said families and workmates. The words were passed up to the CC for him to quote and I see no harm in them, neither have the families complained.

But in this context wasn't the "young girls" bit by a senior female police officer reacting to the murder of two younger female police officers?

She's not going to say, "well, the 32 year old had had a good innings, and I think it's okay that she was murdered".

She wants all the public to stop seeing police officers as legitimate targets!

I'll add the link to the Condolence page that GMP has on their site.

www.gmp.police.uk/mainsite/cond.htm

x-post. oh, it was a male police officer as well. I expect that makes lots of difference to some, then.

My goodness is op still on, thought she was signing off. Just for the record I have eard grown Army personnel who have lost their lives as being one of the lads, a nice boy, daft, up for a laugh. Good god op have you got nothing better to do than spout garbage. Yes go make a complaint and see wat they say

I am 42 and would much rather be described as "one of the girls" than "one of the middle aged women"

And if we took a vote on it, I would bet the vast majority would agree with me too.