Sexism alive and well in the Examiner.

ballooba

Class!!!

Deadwing

I want the 5 seconds i wasted looking at that back.

ferdi

me too

RuggieBear

Good spot!!! I know it's only a small thing but that's the sort of small petty sexism that nealy always escapes under the rader....it's like saying "black safety officer" innit!?

fletch

so what....

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

this is what happens when you let women into the workplace

radiospan

So what? Would this have been sexism if they said "male safety officer"?

Kêrmêttê

If we want to get hung up on symantics... the article also stated that three women fled the building. :rolleyes:
The owner of the hair salon is female... the manager of the local Spar is a man.
Male/female survivors/witnessess... male/female safety officers what's the difference?
What we have here is a report of the FACTS!!! That's the purpose of newspapers... isn't it??

No one was hurt... that's the main thing!

seamus

I think the point of saying "female safety officer" from the tone was that the reporter was talking to some undentified person who happened to be female.
It's all part of personalising the text. In the abscence of names or any ID, the reporter uses a basic description to add humanity to a character in the story.

fletch

Kêrmêtt&#234 wrote:

If we want to get hung up on symantics... the article also stated that three women fled the building. :rolleyes:
The owner of the hair salon is female... the manager of the local Spar is a man.
Male/female survivors/witnessess... male/female safety officers what's the difference?
What we have here is a report of the FACTS!!! That's the purpose of newspapers... isn't it??

No one was hurt... that's the main thing!

well said

ballooba

plazzTT wrote:

So what? Would this have been sexism if they said "male safety officer"?

That's not the point. They wouldn't have mentioned the gender if it was a bloke (or if there was no accident).

I'm male myself but I found this funny. Mostly because it's a bit sad.

Kêrmêttê

They did mention the MALE manager of the local Spar shop... how is that sexist.

I repeat again... the reporter wrote about the facts as they were at the time.

LegacyUser

isn't on-site hyphenated, the proximity of the only error in the piece to the word female is disturbing, perhaps trying to subliminally infer womens inferiority ?

RuggieBear

Kêrmêtt&#234 wrote:

They did mention the MALE manager of the local Spar shop... how is that sexist.

I repeat again... the reporter wrote about the facts as they were at the time.

But they mentioned him by name...i think the use of "female" was unneccessary to describe the "safety officer". They didn't mention the sex of the gardai or the other safety workers. Couldn't be arsed explaining this further...
Perhaps Seamus is right: perhaps it was just a poor attempt at personalising the text...

impr0v

Nah, he's saying she knocked it, the incompetent cow. And that she should have been in the salon gossiping and getting her upper lip waxed, not wearing a mans uniform.

It's all there, just read between the lines people.

RuggieBear

bananayoghurt wrote:

isn't on-site hyphenated, the proximity of the only error in the piece to the word female is disturbing, perhaps trying to subliminally infer womens inferiority ?

LOL....That's the only rational explaination....

seamus

impr0v wrote:

Nah, he's saying she knocked it, the incompetent cow. And that she should have been in the salon gossiping and getting her upper lip waxed, not wearing a mans uniform.

It's all there, just read between the lines people.

Heh, you're saying what we were all thinking....

ballooba

Kêrmêtt&#234 wrote:

They did mention the MALE manager of the local Spar shop... how is that sexist.

I repeat again... the reporter wrote about the facts as they were at the time.

No, actually he named the SPAR shop owner and also the salon owner.

It seems pretty clear to me that there was no reason to mention the gender of the safety officer other than to deride her. Other than of course some half-arsed attempt at personalising the article.

Can you imagine him writing 'while a male safety officer on site refused to comment'?

It would look bloody stupid.

ballooba

impr0v wrote:

Nah, he's saying she knocked it, the incompetent cow. And that she should have been in the salon gossiping and getting her upper lip waxed, not wearing a mans uniform.

It's all there, just read between the lines people.

LOL but in essence... yes.

ixoy

bananayoghurt wrote:

isn't on-site hyphenated, the proximity of the only error in the piece to the word female is disturbing, perhaps trying to subliminally infer womens inferiority ?

Actually, in this example on site shouldn't be hyphenated. It should be hyphenated if it was been used as a compound adjective, such as the on-site safety worker. However, if you're saying "female safety worker on site" you don't need to hyphenate. I just checked this up with the grammar expert beside me to confirm it (he's a proof reader so he knows what he's talking about)....

As to the point, I think it's a bad case of trying to personalize the story...

Zulu

...so let me get this straight: the crazy, hormonal, female safety officer was trying to park her car, when she knocked over a crane and destroyed a beauty saloon?

therecklessone

Zzzzzzzzzz

Someome sponsor me not to commit suicide...

:rolleyes:

jesus_thats_gre

Oh my god.. They said "female".. Its a new low for me..

**** off

simu

So who wants to join my Feminazi plot to bomb the Examiner's printing press? And why is it Exa"min"er and not Exa"womin"er anyway?

Pay attention and you'l notice that newspapers often specify people's gender for no apparent reason, if it's not to fill space.

impr0v

The female poster has a point.

bizmark

Jesus some people need to come off the pc tablets their takeing

luckat

Yes, it's sexism - it's an unconscious sexism that treats women as a subspecies of the (truly male) human race. Not meant to be derisive, but it is so. It's like those reports about "A man and his wife in his car were attacked..." - everything's in relation to the male. Alas. Ah well, this too shall pass.