Double Standards

Reward wrote: »

Parker Kent, your opinion is that I'm moronic, ignorant and talking rubbish, seemingly because you don't understand the origin or meaning of the man bad, woman good mantra that permeates our culture, you are not trying to debate or contribute to the conversation. You are just attacking something that you have not heard about straight off the bat, then in your next post you claim that I'm the one that wont accept other opinions. Ironic on a thread entitled double standards, no?

DarkJager wrote: »

I know this is a topic visited many times here, but todays sacking of Andy Gray for comments he made has got my blood boiling again.

His comments (which by the way weren't even broadcast on air) have resulted in him losing his job. However, just watching TV this afternoon, I have seen 2 different "womens" chat shows making derogatory comments about men. This was on air, not some recorded conversation leaked afterwards. I just can't understand this and to me it shows what a complete and utter farce this anti-sexism **** is.

The TV shows were debating about current issues. One of them managed to turn a topic which had nothing to do with genders into a 5 minute male bashing fest, with the cretinous hosts bawking at their own jokes about male stupidity. The other, decided to rip on males about "fashion choices" - something I'm sure none of us really give a **** about because we aren't as vain or clothes obsessed as the opposite sex.

However, it got me thinking how pointless the sacking of Andy Gray actually is. Why was it done? To appease female viewers of Sky Sports? (which I'd be interested to know what majority they make up of its viewership). Already countless forums are being filled with pissed off sky subscription customers saying they will cancel because of this. Meanwhile, these ****ing self obsessed idiots are making a joke out of our gender for entertainment on afternoon tv shows.

When do we say enough is enough? When do we start lodging complaints about dopey bints making snide remarks ON AIR, about our gender and then having a great old guffaw about it? It makes me worry that we, as men, are simply satisified to sit back and watch and allow this to happen, while someone like Andy Gray gets fired from his job over comments he didn't even make while the programme was being broadcast. We can't even have a ****ing advert for Hunky Dorys with female models because its sexist, yet we are treated to the sexist **** that is the RSA "He Drives, She Dies" advert year after year and are supposed to ****ing take it all in our stride?

Are we ever to going to find the balls to call a halt to this sexist nonsense, or does society see us as having to be acceptant of taking this on the chin and going on with life? Are we now supposed to suffer humilation as a gender now because people who aren't even breathing anymore, gave women a hard time before we were even born? I find myself getting more and more infuriated with these double standards we allow to happen. I am sick to my teeth of watching this absolute bull**** carry on, without even a second glance from my gender.

When does it stop lads? When do we start taking back our pride? I don't want to sound completely anti-female but the more I see this happen the more I can't hating their arrogance and societys blind eyes for allowing to them carry on with it.

This was to prove prescient because in 2002 his world was turned upside down. Ulrika Jonsson, the television presenter, published her autobiography, in which she claimed she had been raped in a hotel room 15 years earlier when she was working as a weathergirl for TV-am.

She did not name her attacker but said it was a well-known television presenter. Mr Leslie was outed by the show-business journalist turned television presenter Matthew Wright who named him live on air – apparently by mistake.
Once the allegation became public a number of other women came forward alleging he attacked them and he was suspended from his £200,000 a year job.
Police began an investigation and eventually Mr Leslie was charged with the two counts of indecent assault on a 23-year-old actress. No action was taken on claims by two other women, a weathergirl and a showbusiness agent.
In August 2003, the case was dropped. New information was said to have been found and the judge told him he could leave "without a stain on his character".



http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2190441/John-Leslie-From-scandal-hit-celebrity-to-obscure-property-developer.html

An Open Letter to Jesse James' Fiancée

January 20, 2011 at 8:40PM By Zoë Ruderman | 18 comments

Dear Kat Von D,
We couldn't find a card that read, "Best wishes on becoming the fourth wife of a total asshole", so you'll have to accept our congratulations via this blog post instead.

Read the entire blog post

http://www.cosmopolitan.com/celebrity/news/jesse-james-kat-von-d-engaged

Why is this kind of casual sexism so prevalent? According to Boycott, there is a sense that women "have got what we wanted" and it is true that the genders are now on a much more equal footing (although, in a country where there are still only four female cabinet members and a 10% pay gap, there is arguably still some way to go). "There is a perception that women have arrived, therefore we don't need to worry about it any more," says Boycott. "If you challenge sexism, you're regarded as an old-fashioned bluestocking."

It is a perception underlined by the rush of (mostly male) cultural commentators who opined forcefully last week that men, not women, were now the true victims of sexual inequality. Columnist Giles Coren pointed out that women "are allowed to say the most terrible, terrible things" about their male counterparts and get away with it. Coren cited the example of comedian Jo Brand, who when recently asked what her favourite kind of man was, on Have I Got News For You, replied: "A dead one."

But the difference between Jo Brand and Andy Gray is arguably the power structure around them. For all the progress that has been made over the last three decades, women remain on the back foot: the majority of chief executives, corporate board members, newspaper editors, politicians and, for that matter, comedians are male. And when men are in a position of such dominance their sexism carries deeply unpleasant undertones

Macha wrote: »

I'll just say that if those comments had been made about a black person, this level of debate would not be taking place.

Macha wrote: »

What I mean is that there wouldn't be so much debate about whether the comments were acceptable or not. I wouldn't be reading op-eds in newspapers or back-and-forths about whether calling someone a "f***ing lazy think n*gger" was OK or not.

BROADCASTER Eamon Dunphy has said he is still shocked by a "sexist and ageist attack" on him during a TV debate.

The 64-year-old and fellow journalist Fintan O'Toole appeared on RTE's new TV debate show 'The Eleventh Hour' on Monday, alongside political analyst Elaine Byrne.

She turned on her fellow guests for abandoning plans for a new party, telling them: "This just looks like more middle-aged angry men, who are telling us what the world should look like and then, they talk the talk and don't walk the walk."

Mr Dunphy said: "She did an Andy Gray on us. What she said was sexist and ageist. In Sky TV, that would be a sackable offence."

He also hit back during the on-air row, telling Ms Byrne: "If you have anger or passion you should direct it elsewhere."

Defending herself, Ms Byrne, a TCD lecturer, said her comments "originated from a deep sense of disappointment".

Eamon Dunphy spoke to the Irish Independent at Aviva Stadium, where he helped launch the 'Walk Of Dreams' fundraiser on March 27 for community football projects with George Hook and Johnny Giles.

- Ken Sweeney Entertainment Editor

iptba wrote: »

She did mention the gender of course:

If somebody criticised a group saying:
they could well be criticised for bringing in the people's gender.

iptba wrote: »

Sometimes simply flipping things around can be useful i.e. replacing "men" for "women" and vice versa. This may not be the best example but I've noticed plenty of times where it would allow people to look differently at how the genders are discussed or treated.