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?

So, if they had had masculine traits then it would have been OK to mention them, but because they had what are traditionally considered feminine traits, it was inappropriate?

So masculine traits = OK to talk about feminine traits = Shameful, inferior and a denigration.

That's not a brand of feminism I wish to be associated with.

Equally slaughter of the innocents - I don't believe for a second that that wouldn't have been used if it was a 23 year old man. Or do you think they weren't innocent?

seeker
However much you twist and turn I still think it is a fucking cheek for anyone to criticise the words used by grieving relatives and colleagues to describe their own loved ones.
It's no business of yours what they choose to say.

I know they were quotations. But there would have been many words to choose from- and those were the ones chosen.

It wasn't a funeral tribute. It was an official statement by the police hierarchy.

What if the person saying them had been a woman?

Good Lord is this tread still going round in circles!

Haven't you got to the bottom of that hole yet seeker?
It must be getting very hot down there.

Maybe they should have emailed you the list of words so that you could approve them?

Or maybe you should stop looking so hard for something to be offended about.

seeker,do you have children?

Seeker But there would have been many words to choose from- and those were the ones chosen

Do you have inside information then? Otherwise how the heck do you know there were other words to choose form?

wow day 2 and still the op is trying to justify this sick thread.

There may have been other words to choose from. He may have chosen the best of them. He may have not had all that much to choose from. We just don't know.

I think this thread needs to be deleted. Otherwise it's going to be seen at some point. Maybe not now- maybe in a few yearsIt's in AIBU where everything is normally kept.

I'm actually concerned that M. Wrong or some writer for a handily-sized/Metro-sized collection of pages could quote bits from this thread.

Sorry if above sentence is confusing. Don't want to lead such personages to thread through Google Analytics.

Yes sorry, of course it was an official statement. I'm not disagreeing with you Seeker, I just think there's a time and a place. You don't deserve the hammering you're getting on here. Unfortunately it often happens to people who put their head above the parapet.

or if the are wrong

Couldn't agree with you more Seeker. I was struck by the oddly patronising way that these women were being described. No doubt it was said in kindness, but that doesn't mean we as women can't rail against the powerful language used to constantly reduce us to 'girls'.

How is this a 'sick thread'? What a strange accusation.

Seeker haven't you ever arranged a funeral? As far as I remember, people aren't good at giving quotes for the funeral on the same day.

I think it demonstrated tremendous strength of will from her friends and family that they'd given him any quotes at all.

I know what you mean Jessie.
Sooner or later the devastated relatives are going to see it quoted and think what a heartless bunch of morons these hardline feminists are.

She's not getting a hammering. She's getting a lot of people disagree with her.

My personal opinion is I would want an official statement to be personal from the families,much better than officialdom,imo.
Sounds like seeker would like everything kept official.

One word.

Bubbly.

Ever hear a man called bubbly?

Men are often described as gentle tho

But never chatterbox

Or bubbly

or funloving

Yes I have children.

Yes there would have been other words- and I know that because I have, in a previous life, relevant experience.

And if anybody connected with these two women does read this thread I hope they will see that all I want is for the two women to be acknowledged by their superiors as the professional competent police officers they were.

I agree with the sentiment here, but would say I'm cross at the society in which this is the norm, rather than at the CC for using those words.

It is true that the women have been talked about in infantilizing and very female terms: 'the worst of it is, she was going to get married' and so on. Same with the family in France - 'Said Al-Hilli and his family have been murdered' etc.

There was an interview on BBC breakfast this morning in which the presenter said: 'now, obviously, with your own daughter, your instinct is to protect her at any cost: should these women have been sent alone?'; 'well, I think that's a distraction, but of course with them being young women, there is a sense that you want to look after them'.

It's a worrying aspect of the society we live in and its media, and I'm crosser at the media than at anyone doing the actual tributes.

Check back through the thread, and someone does indeed link to instances when men have been called 'bubbly'.

hully
ever had a loved one shot dead?