BBC news reporter saying 'your men' to fire chief

[leccybill]

Watching the 6 o clock news about the Grenfell Tower tragedy and feeling absolutely devastated.

BBC reporter speaking to the asst fire chief for the London Fire Brigade, began by saying the public want to thank 'your men' this evening for their heroic actions. Later asked if 'your men' had accessed all parts of the building and used the phrase once again later in the short interview. To his credit, the fire chief did say 'our firefighters, both men and women...'
Surely the reporter is aware that women work in frontline emergency services too these days

I saw this too and a little later as I've had the news running for a while this evening the reporter corrected himself as viewers had highlighted his error. Full respect to fire-fighters of both genders who take these risks day in day out, and to the other emergency services for that matter.

It crossed the mind of the fire chief being interviewed. He corrected the reporter.

Why? It obviously crossed the fire chief's mind and someone at the BBC given the reporter later apologised and corrected themselves. Are you appalled that the fire chief corrected the reporter?

It may well be posted on the feminism board but it's still a ridiculous thread

If this was 9/11 would you have started a similar thread? Probably not. There's a time and a place.

The real social issue here is that scores of working class people have been incinerated because of corporate greed and government failure. If you want to take offence at something then how about picking that?

The real social issue here is that scores of working class people have been incinerated because of corporate greed and government failure. If you want to take offence at something then how about picking that?

How do you know anyone posting on here hasn't? Did the fire chief who corrected the reporter not care?

How do you know what anyone might have gone through themselves? You don't know the background of anyone who is also posting about this. It's incredibly rude to assume you do or assume you know what people care about.

Nobody on here is criticising the fire chief for correcting the sexism, but some people on here are happy to criticise off the OP for noticing the sexism.

Strange when you think about it, really.

A logical stance would be also to criticise the fire chief for taking the time to correct the sexism. All those poor people and THAT is what matters to the fire chief?

And yet there is no criticism forthcoming.

Two women a week are murdered by their male partners, so should no-one ever post about anything else? Because surely that's ongoing and for anything else to cross your mind "beggars belief"?

Oh FFS - is this thread really necessary?

'you should realise there's more important things in life to worry about.'

Well off you pop and find a thread about Big Important Things to comment. Some of us can hold more than one thought in our heads at once.

OP, ignore the eye rollers. Language matters. I'm glad the fire chief corrected the reporter

Marcia, no idea what you being the mother of a teenager had got to do with anything

The female firefighters who went up that tower today are heroes. It isn't petty to want them to be respected in the same way as their male colleagues.

This.

The idea that noticing sexist language - as well as all other word choices I might add - means that I somehow don't care as much about all these people who have died fucking horrible deaths which could have been avoided is absolutely laughable.

I could just as well say, "I can't believe you're arguing AGAINST recognition of a couple of the firefighters who risked their lives. Don't you have more important things to worry about on a day like today?"

I am perfectly capable of caring about more than one thing at a time and feeling more than one feeling at a time. I'm not fucking Tinkerbell.

I agree OP.

It's language like this used in everyday that people disregard as not mattering because there is something else to be concerned about more.

If everyone thought 'it doesn't matter there are more urgent/awful/shocking/tragic matters to concern ourselves with', women still wouldn't be able to bloody vote.

We shouldn't accept sexist language, in any situation.

It's important in situations like this to consider the wellbeing of the both the public and the emergency services. Pretty much everyone who has been on tv has expressed concern for both those who live in the tower block and for the emergency services.

The photos of the fire fighters show that there are both women and men there. It is important that we value the safety of and respect the work of all the firefighters involved.

I didn't see this but it would have annoyed me too OP, very much.

From what I saw this morning, the reporters were leeping on these poor, traumatised people and asking them to repeat their harrowing accounts for the cameras. They are despicable and the fact they are sexist too, doesn't surprise me.

I agree OP. I'm glad the language was corrected. I'm also horrified by what has happened and the loss of life. Both those things are true.

And yes I agree that seeing reporters pushing traumatised people for more details ('you saw people throwing children from the windows?') has been horrible.

For the record, it really doesn't bother us (majority of female firefighters). It's very very common. We just nod, smile and get on with the job. The fire service get vast amounts of equality training and I wonder if the chef went into auto pilot.

I didn't see that report.

But I've watched a lot of coverage of the fire today and have heard fire fighters repeatedly referred to as fire women and fire men, which was great.

They could just say fire fighters though.

I'm not going to get upset about this today.

It may well be posted on the feminism board but it's still a ridiculous thread

If this was 9/11 would you have started a similar thread? Probably not. There's a time and a place.

I remember a LOT of emphasis on praising and acknowledging emergency services crews after 9/11. It's important to do especially on days like today. You don't do that by ignoring a proportion of the personnel and their impressive contribution.

Exactly

YANBU, OP - not that you asked that, but you are NOT.

And no, that kind of lazy sexism is not the 'most important thing' about the Grenfell disaster, but that does not mean that it doesn't matter at all.

Applause to the fire chief correcting the reporter quick-smart

Assassinated has an interesting point. No doubt the reporter, under less trying circumstances, would have remembered all the equality training they had and refer to firefighters. But under pressure, I suppose many or most of us would have a tendency to unconsciously revert back to the default setting of internalised sexism. It's so all pervasive, so ingrained from such a young age, that it's almost instinctive.

One day, people who are physically or emotionally stressed, or tired, or jubilant (like John Inverdale interviewing Andy Murray at the Olympics) or drunk, won't automatically revert to people=men, women= don't count/special case/Other. This will be one of the markers that true equality has been reached in society- when women are considered equally human in people's subconscious, not as some sort of bolt-on.

Glad to hear it was acknowledged in a later news bulletin.
And yes, believe it or not, I can hold more than one thought in my head- both empathy for those affected, and a nod to equality at the same time, much like the asst fire chief who almost definitely had other matters on his mind but took a second to remind the reporter.

Meanwhile, on a brighter note the male officer quoted was the deputy fire commissioner.

The head honcho, the grande fromage, the London Fire Commissioner is Danny Cotton, a woman.

There's a time and a place. There is. When the women and men of the Fire Brigade are risking their lives it's time to acknowledge their incredible work.

'There are more important things to worry about' has been used FOREVER to shut women up. The women's suffrage movement was suspended during WW1. There are always more important things going on than equality.

Mrs TP
"There are more important things to worry about' has been used FOREVER to shut women up. The women's suffrage movement was suspended during WW1. There are always more important things going on than equality"

In that instance, three quarters of a million men being slaughtered in France.