"UnPC" "joke" goes pear shaped

Roger Hassenforder

While his "joke" is old fare, i dont think its particulary Rabelaisian, and certainly not offensive.

But...
...when you crack a joke to a Professor of Gender studies, prepare for blowback.
While i dont think it warranted a complaint, he certainly hasnt helped himself by "adding insult to injury".


https://reason.com/blog/2018/05/08/joke-elevator-lebow-sharoni/amp?__twitter_impression=true

The old stick is now doubling down and refusing to apologise.

Hande hoche!

He should show up to the disciplinary meeting in lingerie. Would throw them off.

Sleepy

That someone can even find employment as a "Professor" of Gender Studies boggles the mind tbh. It rather diminishes the title imo.

YFlyer

My supervisor was chairing a session at a conference. A female scientist whose surname is Little, was given a presentation on women in science. When she finished he said 'that was a great presentation by the little lady.'

The male audience laughed while the female audience demanded that he be taken off the chair.

YFlyer

Sleepy wrote: »

That someone can even find employment as a "Professor" of Gender Studies boggles the mind tbh. It rather diminishes the title imo.

We have at UL.

Mickeroo

They'll be coming for our dad jokes next

Boom_Bap

I'm going to be honest, I'm going to steal that joke from him.

inter arma

He should have just given her a hard slap.

Your Face

Pair of ****

whisky_galore

FFS it's becoming more and more of a po-faced society, can't even crack a joke that isn't even mildly offensive.

People need to get a fcukin life.

Outlaw Pete

Tell me how

We had to do a team presentation in college. For various reasons, one member had to operate the laptop to control PowerPoint slides while another spoke at the lectern.

One team had a guy speak who introduced two male team members (standing to the side) by name and then referenced the team member controlling the presentation as "my lovely assistant Sarah". There was something very "pretty magicians assistant" about it the way it sounded. It wasn't intentionally derogatory or dismissive of her role, in fact it was probably intended to be complementary but there was a very audible gasp and some boos from the audience.

She was mortified but the reaction went completely over his head.

inter arma

Tell me how wrote: »

We had to do a team presentation in college. For various reasons, one member had to operate the laptop to control PowerPoint slides while another spoke at the lectern.

One team had a guy speak who introduced two male team members (standing to the side) by name and then referenced the team member controlling the presentation as "my lovely assistant Sarah". There was something very "pretty magicians assistant" about it the way it sounded. It wasn't intentionally derogatory or dismissive of her role, in fact it was probably intended to be complementary but there was a very audible gasp and some boos from the audience.

She was mortified but the reaction went completely over his head.

He sounds like an absolute monster. I need to tell Louise O'Neill about this beast.

Vladimir Poontang

Gender studies students/lecturers/conferences are best avoided at all costs if you are a bloke.

It is a minefield and one slip up or perceived slight and you are finished. Career over.

I'd divorce her. Pathetic woman.

valoren

His 'apology' if you could call it that should be;

"I am sorry that I found myself in a situation where my cracking wise happened to be within earshot of a humourless woman who has intentionally failed to see that I was making a joke, bad as it was, and has subsequently and quite ridiculously manipulated that social situation to enhance her own profile by exploiting the MeToo movement. This is an embarrassment to all right thinking people and particularly to the genuine proponents of the MeToo movement of which I am personally a supporter"

ELM327

Is this what the world has coming to?
That joke wasn't even offensive, period.

seamus

Better write-up of it here, I think;
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/she-called-his-elevator-joke-offensive-he-called-her-complaint-frivolous-whos-right/2018/05/03/43ba4084-4ee1-11e8-af46-b1d6dc0d9bfe_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.e20299206b0c

In isolation, a guy sneering "ladies' lingerie, phwoar" in a lift alone with a woman seems like something very poorly misplaced.

But that didn't even happen. It was a busy lift, she made a general request for people to call out what floors they wanted, and he made a relatively common but anachronistic joke that had no actual sexual or sexist connotation to it. He called out "Ladies' lingerie".

It sounds like the fact that all the men had a chuckle made her feel like it was a sexist issue, and she's interpreting her own discomfort at the men laughing as being an indicator that it was a sexist issue. When it wasn't. A failure on her part to understand that just because you are offended, doesn't mean the other person is wrong.

Although, it is also worth noting that he's not in any real trouble for the remark itself. He's mainly in trouble for writing directly to her to call her complaint frivolous, when he really should have waited for the committee to close the complaint before rightly telling her that the complaint was frivolous.

whisky_galore

ELM327 wrote: »

Is this what the world has coming to?
That joke wasn't even offensive, period.

Yes. Totally.

She should go off and get a ride for herself...

ELM327

whisky_galore wrote: »

Yes. Totally.

She should go off and get a ride for herself...

I feel you may be joking, but yes that's true.

cantdecide

whisky_galore wrote: »

Yes. Totally.

She should go off and get a ride for herself...

Well it seems even when she gets a ride in a lift, the authorities have to be notified so not sure that wouldn't just make things worse.

Varik

Roger Hassenforder wrote: »

While his "joke" is old fare, i dont think its particulary Rabelaisian, and certainly not offensive.

But...
...when you crack a joke to a Professor of Gender studies, prepare for blowback.
While i dont think it warranted a complaint, he certainly hasnt helped himself by "adding insult to injury".


https://reason.com/blog/2018/05/08/joke-elevator-lebow-sharoni/amp?__twitter_impression=true

The old stick is now doubling down and refusing to apologise.

Would say it's better to never back down, seem if you do then you just keep getting pushed.

fancy pigeon

ELM327 wrote: »

I feel you may be joking, but yes that's true.

Could have caught her at the wrong time of day, or month

valoren

I wonder was his joke a self deprecating one? i.e. lemme off at the ladies lingerie, I need new knickers.

Falthyron

Academics. Alongside celebrities, they are the most self-absorbed and self-centred people out there. She won't back down because it will look good for her career and he won't back down for the same reason. Both, however, are close to orgasm with the amount of attention they are getting, I can guarantee you that.

Outlaw Pete

An Aerosmith fan perhaps.... 'ladies lingerie' being one of the stop off points the hot elevator chick lists.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3Yrhv33Zb8

ELM327

fancy pigeon wrote: »

Could have caught her at the wrong time of day, or month

Bloody hell that's shocking.
There's some sort of cycle of inappropriate jokes around here.

He should have said he identifies as a woman.

valoren

She got offended by a well known joke.
She got offended about him using the word 'frivilous' in his reply.

I'm starting to see a pattern emerge here.

Wheety

Vladimir Poontang wrote: »

Gender studies students/lecturers/conferences are best avoided at all costs if you are a bloke.

It is a minefield and one slip up or perceived slight and you are finished. Career over.

And it changes so quickly. Few years ago you could address men and women by their gender. Now you can't assume. Then Ze and Zer etc.

Now I think we're going back to 'their' and 'them' etc.

In years to come will we be looked back on as uncultured oafs like Alf Garnett is now? Will we be put down by new generations because we use words which were ok when we were growing up but they're not anymore?

SEPT 23 1989

Is she hot?

ELM327

Deleted User wrote: »

He should have said he identifies as a woman.

OOOhhh nice.
Then who would the SJW support? The triggered woman or the triggered trans?

ELM327

ELM327 wrote: »

OOOhhh nice.
Then who would the SJW support? The triggered woman or the triggered trans?

It would be a story about men in a lift laughing at a confused transperson who thought she was in a department store.

Misogyny Victims 101: Make shlt up.

Cantona's Collars

He should have just farted in the lift instead.
That would have been wrong on many levels.

seamus

valoren wrote: »

I wonder was his joke a self deprecating one? i.e. lemme off at the ladies lingerie, I need new knickers.

I didn't get the joke initially. It's very specific and you have to be both American and of a certain vintage to get it. So for anyone who doesn't:

It was common, in the past, in the US to have lift operators. People whose job was literally to go up and down in the lift all day, pressing the buttons, opening the doors (when they were manual open), etc etc.

Big city department stores in particular probably held onto them the longest - the lifts are big, so when they're crowded and there are twenty floors, having someone whose job it is to push the button is convenient.

When the doors began to close, the operator would ask people to call out their destinations - "Menswear", "Drapery", etc etc, and he would press the relevant buttons.

Of course, a man calling out "Ladies' lingerie" is basically a Dad joke. It's the only place in the whole store that a man wouldn't go.

But if you didn't understand any of the above context, and suddenly all of the men around you are chuckling, it's understandable that you'd get a bit uncomfortable. But that doesn't make it worthy of a complaint.

EdEd

SEPT 23 1989 wrote: »

Is she hot?

Not at all.

jimgoose

EdEd wrote: »

Not at all.

She's 57 years of age, for fuck sake - a seasoned woman who should have a bit of sense, as opposed to some half-daft youngwan.

wexie

jimgoose wrote: »

She's 57 years of age, for fuck sake - a seasoned woman who should have a bit of sense, as opposed to some half-daft youngwan.

I don't think you can manage to end up being a professor of 'gender studies' if you have a bit of sense. These are the kind of people 'inspiring' all those half-daft youngwans

jimgoose

wexie wrote: »

I don't think you can manage to end up being a professor of 'gender studies' if you have a bit of sense. These are the kind of people 'inspiring' all those half-daft youngwans

This is true enough, I suppose. :pac:

SnazzyPig

He should have just said "Lingerie".

That would take a bit more effort on her behalf to work out how she was offended.

super_furry

Well that answers my question of 'what stupid American nonsense is After Hours working itself up about today?'

super_furry

super_furry wrote: »

Well that answers my question of 'what stupid American nonsense is After Hours working itself up about today?'

No one is worked up. We're just mocking retards.

SnazzyPig

super_furry wrote: »

Well that answers my question of 'what stupid American nonsense is After Hours working itself up about today?'

To-day America, to-morrow The World.

whisky_galore

super_furry wrote: »

Well that answers my question of 'what stupid American nonsense is After Hours working itself up about today?'

Don't worry, there's plenty home-grown fcukwittery to choose from.

_Dara_

Sleepy wrote: »

That someone can even find employment as a "Professor" of Gender Studies boggles the mind tbh. It rather diminishes the title imo.

Well, gender studies is a load of rot only because it’s basically women’s studies. But it’s quite anti-intellectual to say that an area of study is not worth examining. I think gender studies needs to be reformed because as of now, it focuses too much on the plight of women and looks to bend data toward showing that women are always at a disadvantage.

But gender studies has the potential to be a very interesting field if it was more interested in finding out what’s going on with both genders. The unexamined life and all that...

Pat Mustard

Hande hoche! wrote: »

He should show up to the disciplinary meeting in lingerie.

Or in this shirt:

jimgoose

Fuaranach wrote: »

The most interesting thing about that link is the website's revealing motto: 'Reason: free minds and free markets'

Is there a special google search for dodgy rightwing reactionary websites that are focused on creating a faux sense of victimhood among marginalised males?

If you prefer, Ruth Marcus has it in the Washington Post as well, referring to the episode as "the latest exemplar in the academy of political correctness gone wild". :pac:

LINK

J Mysterio

Fuaranach wrote: »

The most interesting thing about that link is the website's revealing motto: 'Reason: free minds and free markets'

Is there a special google search for dodgy rightwing reactionary websites that are focused on creating a faux sense of victimhood among marginalised males?

Wtf?

jiltloop

ELM327 wrote: »

Is this what the world has coming to?
That joke wasn't even offensive, period.

:eek: careful now!

fatknacker

Women's Knickers!










I'm not even sure how it's supposed to be funny or offensive or both. Seems like something a 10 year old boy would say while snickering. How does an adult manage to find it amusing?

Assetbacked

The problem with people in general is that they have some sort of personal problem where they cannot actually confront the person themselves and rather require someone else to fight their battles for them.

Why not resolve this issue with the guy who made the complaint, they are both academic professionals? This episode just adds further weight to the very strong argument that a lot of academics are unnecessary (gender studies; a means of identifying differences in the genders as opposed to focusing on human rights as a whole).