Male period dignity officer sacked so whole idea scrapped...

[Chevyimpala67]

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-tayside-central-62807683

Why?
Why not just give the job to - oh I don't know - a woman???

Why scrap it totally?

If a man can't have the job no one can?

Ffs.

All men are arrogant chancers didn't you know?

Only women can hold any job even loosely related to policies around menstruation

Part of the job is engaging and empowering a large range of people... ...particularly young people who menstruate. So yeah, chatting to teenage girls about their periods if that's how you want to put it.🤷‍♀️

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Pray tell - what understanding of the job do we sheep not have eh? What is YOUR understanding of the job?

Even putting aside the fact he’s a man, he had absolutely zero qualifications for this job, clearly only got it on the back of his friendship with the recruiter.

Anyone defending the (blatantly nepotistic) appointment of this man to a role that anyone with half a brain cell knows should go to a woman is defending a nonsense.

And the notion that it was only about management, logistics etc appears to be contradicted by that press photo of the man "explaining" period products to a woman and her daughter.

You clearly have zero empathy and think the rest of us are just dUMb mAn HAteRz because there is no way possible our opinions could be just as valid as yours. We understand the role. We also understand a bigger picture that you don't seem to see.

Also, very few women will care if men want a male only prostate dignity officer because that makes sense.

The Lead Officer will provide outstanding project leadership and management for a range of activities, events, and outcomes. This will include engaging with staff, partners, communities and young people in developing and delivering a campaign that stretches across our regions, raising awareness and understanding of the Period Product Act and the expanse of work happening in our respective communities. Energy, enthusiasm and excellent interpersonal skills are needed, backed up with a qualification at degree level and a successful track record of engaging and empowering a large range of people from a diverse range of cultural and socio-economic backgrounds, in particular young people who menstruate

The job description itself says the person appointed will be expected to engage with young people … in particular young people who menstruate. So an enhanced DBS would be something that they should have, as should anyone who works with young people.

Craziness. Moat women would prefer it to be a woman any way..I'm sure he's a decent chap and he has a great understanding of it all. But he can't represent women or have empathy as actually he has no bloody clue how any of it feels! And never will.

Why is a period dignity officers even required? Periods are not new dontcha know, they've actually been around since women were invented. Don't the authorities trust us any more to deal with a natural bodily function?
Should someone appoint a bowel officer in case people need instructions on how to correctly take a shit?

So they realised that this guy wasn't up to the job, so rather than sack him they got rid of the post to avoid a payout or a court case about sex discrimination against him. Or they realised the role was a load of bollocks that was counter productive.

Either way, someone spent a lot of time and money on the whole exercise rather than spending it on actual women and women's needs in the workplace. And THEY won't be held responsible for this farce.

Instead we get a man painted up as a victim and feminists wanting women only services monstered and vilified as being unreasonable and not inclusive.

Except this is supposed to be about improving women's health and issues. Not a media circus about the insanity of employing someone in a bollocks job which doesn't actually achieve very much.

The money, from the word go, would be better spent on NHS services and training for women's health. Not promoting something which just says 'this is a period' which seems to be largely for the benefit of men who haven't worked out what a period is. It's hot air not services. Services which aren't available and women cant access because they don't exist.

'Empowerment' means fuck all if there is no substance behind it. All this awareness crap helps precisely no one, if you are aware you have a period problem but can't get practical help and support for it. And you will be well aware if you have a problem.

The whole thing is bollocks (sic) from beginning to end.

A complete farce.

Possibly yes.
Because they are the ones who have had experience of periods and can interpret the law accordingly.

Saying periods are an issue for everyone shows little knowledge of what periods are and who can get them. It is worrying that he didn’t understand that only females, those born with the XX chromosome can have periods, Those born with the XY chromosome don’t.

Periods are not an issue for everyone.

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Strange circumstances surrounding the beginning and end of this very short post, not least the language used by the recruiters as well as short-lived acting postholder as to the 'young people' the initiative was trying to reach.

And now, those scary, terrifying, threatening women - you know the ones constantly on social media or hanging outside people's homes making threats of violence, graphically telling their victims what they are going to do to them and with the physical capability of carrying out those threats - have turned their well-documented intimidatory tactics on a man, causing him to feel so unsafe his post has been ended with no indication that a successor will be appointed. The experiment is scuppered.

BS antenna quivering uncontrollably here. You'd almost think they were deliberately trying to make a point.

What, like this?

The role wasn't about instructing women how to correctly have periods.

This scheme was in my local area. His job was essentially project management and distribution. He had a team of working working with him as the "boots on the ground" if you will.

Many local women backed him as they had felt he was great, approachable and respectful in his previous role as a wellbeing officer, and many women who knew him felt he would be great in this role.

Local news websites and social media who ran the story had plenty of abuse left in the comments, mainly by women, including a few who insisted he must be a paedophile, a pervert, a threat to women etc.

Well, some of us might have had a good idea, may even have applied, had it been advertised for the usual amount of time and in the usual places for such posts. But it was not.

His appointment was badly done from so very many angles it is hard to explain. But, when you learn more about him and how the job was advertised, allocated, his being male and wanting to 'break down those barriers' is the least of the problems with his appointment.

The sob story they are selling has as much to do with the truth as a kitten has wings

It doesn't in words of one syllable. However when he was appointed and interviewed by the local paper, his own comments made it clear that he regarded the job as much more than being a pen pusher.

“Although affecting women directly, periods are an issue for everyone. We’ll also raise awareness of the menopause, which, although a natural process for women, has wider repercussions in the world of work and family.
“It’s time to normalise these topics and get real around the subject.
“I believe I can make progress by proving this isn’t just a female topic, encouraging conversations across all genders and educating and engaging new audiences.”

So he's going to have conversations about menopause, about periods with girls aged 14 (that was another quote but I can't find it, the Courier have locked the article). Educating and engaging. he's not going to do that just by making sure the law is adhered to and filing a report if not.

And which part of this in the job description suggests he's going to be sitting behind a desk all day?

This will include engaging with staff, partners, communities and young people in developing and delivering a campaign that stretches across our regions, raising awareness and understanding of the Period Product Act and the expanse of work happening in our respective communities.

Or do you think all the people - men and women - who've said it's ridiculous are wrong and you're one of a select few who are right?

I remember you from another thread boasting about how side-splittingly funny you are.

I suppose it's true, in a way.

The fact that women who know him thought he would be great is neither here nor there. I'll happily chat to male family members and friends about my periods, doesn't mean that other women would, nor would I expect them to.

Every council in Scotland will have someone doing this and in many cases it will be a man. Possibly an equality officer or procurement logistics specialist or whoever has to find time in their day. Can we not instead celebrate that women in Scotland now have a legal right to free period products.

These women didn't appear to be personal family or friends, rather students who had experience with him in his previous role.

Well yes, just like that, Soontobe60 . Amazing to think that once again we are being told that what happened actually didn't, how peculiar! NOT.

In a way, I don't mind him saying that periods/menopause affect everyone, in the sense that everyone, of both sexes, ought to be aware of how they work and the effect they can have on women, because men and boys are going to have contact with female friends, coworkers, and family members all the time. Males shouldn't be encouraged to have the "Eww, gross!! I don't want to hear it!" mindset.

That said, it's not clear to me from that position description that "demystifying periods for men so they are more understanding of it" was a key part of the post, so it's not entirely relevant. Also I think he could have worded it a lot more diplomatically.

His previous job experience listed in LinkedIn didn't sound at all relevant. Maybe he had very relevant experience that he hasn't bothered to put there, but that's an unusual choice for someone being appointed to a role that is bound to undergo public scrutiny. Marketing for a tobacco firm and being a personal trainer. Not impressive IMO.

But overall the optics of the appointment were terrible ... it was just obviously going to be bad PR for the project to appoint someone who might then be accused of mansplaining women's health issues. Surely there were female applicants who were equally qualified??