AIBU to wonder if women feel excluded from workplace sport chat?

[Littletoaster]

www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-51261999

Basically the women in this article thinks football and cricket chat in the workplace should be moderated as it excludes women. As a woman, I like cricket and join in with cricket chat. I don't like football but I don't feel excluded if others are discussing it. I don't think we need to start moderating sports chat. What do you all think?

Any chat you find dull or know nothing about excludes a person surely. I have excluded myself from any chats about sport, reality tv and makeup .

Huge football fan and talk about it with mostly male colleagues almost every day. There are 100+ people across the organisation playing fantasy football and talking about that and the weekend results takes up a lot of my time every Monday morning.

I dislike my job and the lively sports and football rivalry chat is perhaps the only aspect of office life I enjoy.

Some of my male colleagues ask me to explain a cricket decision to them, we hold football conversations- rugby though I haven't a clue nor do I with Love Island!

It was one of the most sexist article I have read

One end of the office chats about Love island, my colleague and I, at our end of the office chat about our horses 😁 It gets very horsey at our end - in fact, as we both go to sort horses out before work, we weren't surprised when a plug-in air freshener appeared at our end of the office seemingly from nowhere... 😁

I too, follow rugby, cricket, motorsport, and football, as well as the traditionally ‘non-male’ dominated sports. I know more than lots of males. Not because I’m trying to be a ‘cool girl’, because I love sport. I’d love cricket chat in the office. I’d join in wholeheartedly. I don’t like people speaking for me and saying I feel excluded by it.

I don't have much interest but I'm keen to learn more about women's sport. I'd happily join in a conversation about that but nobody ever starts one.
So yes, I feel a bit excluded.

Sports chat is useful in giving me an early heads-up on who to avoid in the workplace. While I could imagine being amused by someone obsessed with synchronised swimming or toe wrestling or something, if your idea of conversation is perennial hilarious bantz about Spurs’ performance at the weekend, I will conclude something has hurt you into having the inner life of a marrowfat pea, and go and talk to someone else. Probably to your relief.

DH feels excluded from sport chat because he doesn’t watch it. I don’t think it’s sex based - lots of people of both sexes don’t like sport.

@PhilSwagielka - LOVE your username...proud owner of a cat called Phil Jagielkat. I’m usually the leader of any football chat in our office, this article is based on ridiculous stereotypes

They're talking about this on 5 live at the moment.
I don't think it matters what the topic is if it's something you don't know about/aren't interested in then if it's the only subject people ever talk about then it can exclude people. In my case it's gym classes but it could be books & 1 colleague wouldn't ever join in or films/love island/music/sport. It doesn't matter.
Best to create an atmosphere where all topics are discussed. apart from politics

In my office, the women talk about sports (some actually work on sports sponsorships) and the two men who sit next to me are both huge Love Island fans.

I thought it was odd. I don't follow sport, but in my experience, plenty of women do so I don't see it as a gender issue. I'm not bothered if people discuss it, I don't have to be part of every single social conversation we have at work!!

I've never heard anything more sexists and ridiculous. If my colleagues are discussing any topic I don't follow, I'll happily glaze over as in sure they do at times when I'm discussing an interest only part of the office shares.

If it's obvious that one colleague is always left out because they don't watch Game of Thrones then that person should be made to watch all seasons until they understand what they're missing it is polite to talk about other things too but that's just about good manners and being a grown up, not sexism as such.

If I try to join in, I just get stared at. Even if it's a sport I know well. They then carry on as if I've not spoken.

It's a very toxic, male-dominated office environment in a place which claims to want to be "top on the diversity index."

I want to scream "Can any of you actually hear me?" a la The Fast Show

m.youtube.com/watch?v=DE3r_CgScms

So the woman who wrote the linked article wants management to 'moderate' office chit-chat in such a way that it is inclusive.

Bonkers.

The article is silly and the idea unenforceable. If people in my office talk about football I put my headset on. However I would say that I have been in unpleasant social situations where I firmly believe Alpha males stop whatever a group is talking about to shout 'wahahey what about the result today then' when they don't like or understand what is being discussed. I have a family member who does this and have experienced it in social settings. It's an attempt to shut little women up. Fails if any of the women like football though 😉

No. I watch football, cricket and F1 though.
We're all adult enough that we can join in with things we are interested in and sit out the other chats.

If I try to join in, I just get stared at. Even if it's a sport I know well. They then carry on as if I've not spoken.

It's a very toxic, male-dominated office environment in a place which claims to want to be "top on the diversity index."

I suspect the above is the type of chatting that the article actually refers to, not some 5 minute chat on a Monday morning on how Rangers did at the weekend.

I’d agree with sexist balderdash if I was talking in general about my experience in life and as an avid sports fan UNLESS the author of the article had the displeasure of working in an office like inexperienced for a short while a few years ago. Here I was the only female in the team and the supervisor was a lazy arrogant shit who with his mate talked sport non stop in a way to exclude me and another male colleague who they basically treated like a dogsbody. I could Have joined in and held my own as he wasn’t that knowledgable but I kept my head down did an excellent job whilst finding a better position elsewhere. I think my exit interview was an eye opener for the MD

Sports chit chat is an excellent social lubricant for men (and women). WTF else are people who don't really know each other going to talk about? The weather can only get you so far.

It’s all very confused. I kind of get the idea: historically I think sports chat was quite a male preserve and fairly exclusive, but not today.

You can’t have it both ways: if you start banning people from talking about sport you could ban them talking about anything. Very short sighted.

Equally as excluded as when women chat about children🤷
Actually I take that back. I know more about football.

I would really love if people stopped patronising women.

I'm lucky because there is no sports chat in my workplace, so I never feel excluded.

I hate sports chat but wouldn't complain about it in an office setting although i think its rude to exclude anyone from a conversation so i wouldn't do it

All I do is talk about football with the men. She’s being sexist. Loads of women love sport.