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

Very, very distasteful OP. This really isn't a time this. There are people dead, dying and missing and you are 'devastated' because some reporter said fireman or men instead of firefighter. Seriously?! I watched the BBC today and the reporter did actually apologise so I think you need to get over your feminist rant and think about the people who's lives have changed forever today :-(

No, she said she was devastated when watching news about the tragedy.

Her concern about the firefighter remarks were in a separate paragraph.

This idea that a person can only think of one thing... where did it come from? I can be horrified at the fire and the terrible loss of life and ALSO think firefighters who are female shouldn't be erased. Since they are ALSO risking their lives.

'get over' your feminist rant'

Thats you told OP. Next you'll be accused of being hysterical

Wrt 9/11, I actually watched an entire documentary about the sexist tropes and biases used in the coverage and ensuing narrative. It was absolutely brilliant.

For some reason, we want our heroes to be male. Guess what, America's worse.

The main London Fire Brigade Service chief during daytime yesterday, who referred frequently to how it was the worst fire they had seen in 19 years experience, is a woman.

So broadcasters really should have noticed that this is not a one-sex vocation.

Firefighters - of both sexes - worked so hard. And all of them should receive the praise and thanks.

This is the opposite of, for example, reporting on bombing of civilians when the journalist often says X number were killed "many of them women and children". And I am left thinking "so don't men matter"? I find that equally irritating..and I am a feminist.

It's as if women can't be heroes and men can't be victims.

"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."

That is brilliantly put, powershowerforanhour

John Inverdale the presenter got carried away in the stress of the moment. And yet Murray who had his own stress in just winning the Olympic title, not only noticed the sexism immediately but went on to take the time to correct it. Good for him.

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

That ^

I also wonder how you can watch news of such a horrific event and even notice

Because when it's in your mind you tend to notice it all the time. Some people really are capable of focusing on more than one thing ata time.

I can't remember if it was Manchester or London but the police officer who died, her chief's statement made a point of saying "female police officer" and I thought would he have said male police officer?

Also I feel like advance searching all the posters on this thread to confirm they've only posted on threads about the tradgety as you can't possibly think of anything else

There's absolutely nothing distasteful about raising this issue. The OP has every right to talk about it.

At the basis of the Grenfell tragedy is inequality. We should fight inequality at every source, with equal force.

There shouldn't be this post-disaster rhetoric of tight control over what can and cannot be said or cared about.

Powershowerforanhour that is is spot on.

When equality is really here and not something people have consciously think of these comments won't slip out.

Notangeliejolie hopefully you don't hold a impressionable position in society or we (hoping for equal recognition and respect for each sex) are all screwed.

It's as if women can't be heroes and men can't be victims.

Yes, this pisses me off too.
It's just another example of how deep sexism runs.

The 9/11 doc highlighted the hero/victim thing perfectly. There was a flight stewardess who was ready to use boiling water to disarm the hijackers but the media rewrote it so that men were protecting her, because that's what men do. She was recast as a victim.

Reporter mispoke, fire chief corrected reporter. All over, point made, chill!

Strange how threads like this bring out loads of posters, never seen before, to tell us we are "ranting"

I get annoyed with gendered language too, the "many of them women and children" is irritating.

I also get annoyed that we can only talk about feminism last. Because everyone else's problems are bigger.

Firefighters are posting about this on Twitter, with pictures of the female firefighters. They are bothered by it. So are we allowed to be bothered now?

I bloody hope so.

If every woman picked up on every time we were seen as inferior to men it would push equality forward. Unfortunately we still have women saying:

-Chill out
-There are more important things

• don't but have feminist rants
• it doesn't matter

Which means whilst we are still still trying to convince men that we are equal, there are still women thinking we should "shhhh"

Quite DJBaggySmalls. A number of firefighters have been angrily pointing this out yet according to a few earlier on this thread they're surely completely out of order and giving firefighters a bad name for this

Well if the men are bothered of course we're allowed notice/be bothered now…(sarcasm alert!!!)

Good on them

Why yes. If the hero male firefighters are throwing a bone to the ladies, we're now allowed.

If that picture of the knackered firefighters that's doing the rounds, with the male and female firefighters all in a heap together doesn't make you want to include them, what will?

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

By men. In patriarchy.

Yes, yes, men will forever be killing other men, by wars, or by building shoddy houses, by terrorism, and so on and so forth, and clearly, men who are dying are so very much more important than women could ever be.

Thus, always, men will be dying, and we will always be horrible people for actually wanting to be treated as human beings despite being women.

How very fucking convenient for the fucking patriarchy, that it causes people to be killed all the fucking time, and there's no time ever when there's not some horrible thing you can point at and say "Oh, how dare you, you horrible women, to want to be respected at such a horrible hard time! You horrible feminists, wait until world peace, then you can ask for equality, but not NOW!"

And no one ever stops to think that, perhaps, if there was no patriarchy, men wouldn't be able to kill people in such large numbers all the fucking time.

Why yes. If the hero male firefighters are throwing a bone to the ladies, we're now allowed.

True, but I still rather they recognised the sexism for what it is AND spoke out about it than not.