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Nov. 22nd, 2010 03:12 pmJust wrote a email to a local publication. I'm surprised at myself, actually; I didn't think I'd have the guts to speak out against idiocy so blatantly.
To whom it may concern,
I'm emailing you to express my utter disgust at one of the jokes printed in the edition of Coffee News dating November 15 to November 21. The joke in question, appearing in the "On the Lighter Side" section, was far from light-hearted, and was in fact blatantly sexist. ("Diamond: A woman's idea of a stepping stone to success.") The implication behind this is not only that marriage is the only path to success for women, but it also implies that the majority of society actually thinks this way.
I don't know if anybody at your publication has noticed, but it's 2010. Not 1910. Not 1810. You may think that jokes like this are light-hearted, poking fun at a common foible, but it's actually incredibly insulting to women to have achieved success without having to marry to do it. That being, you know, the majority of women in the western world these days.
It's not too much to ask that you at least consider whether your jokes will insult people before you print them. Normally your publication is pretty good (albeit with a fair number of typos), and I was almost willing to let this one slide, but no, somebody has to say it so that this sort of attitude doesn't continue.
I was tempted to be snarkier about the whole matter, but on reflection, the person who ends up reading the email is probably not the person who okayed that joke, and they don't deserve the kind of verbal beat-downs I was tempted to administer. Years of customer service has taught me that the people I deal with are often not the ones who make the big blunders like this.
I have to wonder if they got any other emails about that stupid little joke, and how many people found insult in it but didn't do anything about it.
...
On another note, I submitted a resume for another job today. Local beer company wants someone to handle their social media stuff. Basically, they'll pay for me to do pretty much what I do to promote my bookblog, but they require a university degree for it. Blarg. I applied anyway, and wrote a detailed cover letter about how I can do the job, that I do that sort of thing for my own promotion, and that a university degree has nothing to do with that. I doubt I'll hear back from them, but, well, nothing ever changed because people didn't do something.
To whom it may concern,
I'm emailing you to express my utter disgust at one of the jokes printed in the edition of Coffee News dating November 15 to November 21. The joke in question, appearing in the "On the Lighter Side" section, was far from light-hearted, and was in fact blatantly sexist. ("Diamond: A woman's idea of a stepping stone to success.") The implication behind this is not only that marriage is the only path to success for women, but it also implies that the majority of society actually thinks this way.
I don't know if anybody at your publication has noticed, but it's 2010. Not 1910. Not 1810. You may think that jokes like this are light-hearted, poking fun at a common foible, but it's actually incredibly insulting to women to have achieved success without having to marry to do it. That being, you know, the majority of women in the western world these days.
It's not too much to ask that you at least consider whether your jokes will insult people before you print them. Normally your publication is pretty good (albeit with a fair number of typos), and I was almost willing to let this one slide, but no, somebody has to say it so that this sort of attitude doesn't continue.
I was tempted to be snarkier about the whole matter, but on reflection, the person who ends up reading the email is probably not the person who okayed that joke, and they don't deserve the kind of verbal beat-downs I was tempted to administer. Years of customer service has taught me that the people I deal with are often not the ones who make the big blunders like this.
I have to wonder if they got any other emails about that stupid little joke, and how many people found insult in it but didn't do anything about it.
...
On another note, I submitted a resume for another job today. Local beer company wants someone to handle their social media stuff. Basically, they'll pay for me to do pretty much what I do to promote my bookblog, but they require a university degree for it. Blarg. I applied anyway, and wrote a detailed cover letter about how I can do the job, that I do that sort of thing for my own promotion, and that a university degree has nothing to do with that. I doubt I'll hear back from them, but, well, nothing ever changed because people didn't do something.