Gobsmacked.

[veggiechicken]

Dare I say but maybe we're all wrong here. Colin meant to post his message on the Jokes thread:-
Have you heard the one about the 2 plumbers who walked into a pub, one was 6'2 and weighed 16 stone, the other petite, pretty and blonde. Just as they were about to order their drinks there was a tap on the door; the barman looked up, puzzled?
"How did that happen? he said, to which the plumbers, who were the best of mates. answered in unison "Funny sense of humour - plumbers!"
Get it?????

[Newton]

Aye, that's right. I interpreted every comment like this on a daily basis for all 14 years in Civil Engineering totally incorrectly.

So we can be patronising and sexist but lets not upset the sexist patroniser by pointing this out. Hmm....

I am sorry to hear that you have been on the receiving end of sexist comments over the years but you cannot berate Colin for his innocent comments in the same vane. Im sure he certainly didn't mean to cause you any offence.

Firstly his comments were made in general. Secondly they were not intended to be at all sexist.

[Jeanied]

I was once doing a quick training session for some police officers on equality issues - and they were mostly with me all the way.
At the end of the session they wanted to know what I thought of all this 'political correctness' in language- clearly they expected me to give a negative answer because of all the bad press it has received over recent years.

I just said that if you are going to use words as your main method of delivering your message, you have to be careful in choosing them! Unintentional offence is still offence.

I felt that by asking me that question they validated the whole training session I had just delivered because they were now thinking about it all

[Two_Sheds]

Let's get a few more women running banks and a few more men teaching in primary schools

Roughly 40% of our teachers are men (primary school) and very good they are too. Nobody expresses any surprise ... they're seen as teachers, not as male teachers.

They do, however, tend to leave their cake wrappers and dirty cups on the staffroom table instead of washing them up ... lol

[bearded bloke]

Its not flattering to hear that any man looks at a woman and assesses her in terms of what size clothes she wears, her hair colour etc. Would Pots have made the comment if she had been older, larger, mousy and less able to stand up for herself when surrounded by "men"? I doubt it frankly.

Sadly most women assess men in the same manner,a large percentage of male plumbers are not built like pompiers,as has already been noted in this thread ......

some big hairy bloke with his backside hanging out of his trousers fix their tap

[hollychap]

the lady who lives opposite me is a corgi registered gas fitter

[Two_Sheds]

It's nice to be paid a compliment about how well you do the job. It's not nice for you to be judged more on your looks rather than your ability. It's not nice for people to be surprised that you can use a dipstick/change a tire/use a drill, or for them to secretly think that although you can do it, you clearly can't do it as well as a man could.
It's not nice to be paid less, treated less fairly, passed over for promotion, because of your gender.

[zazen999]

Firstly his comments were made in general. Secondly they were not intended to be at all sexist.

Of course they were! He is gobsmacked...

I just couldn't get my head around the fact such a pretty, and intelligent lady would want to be a plumber and what's worse she couldn't tell me.

With all due respect - what the chuff has it got to do with Colin why she wants to be a plumber and why does he feel that she has to explain herself to him? Did he ask every person there why they wanted to become plumbers?

The very fact that he asked is sexist. The fact that he started a thread on it is sexist. Let alone the actual words use to describe this unfortunate accident of a woman literally falling by mistake into a plumbing class and upsetting all the blokes.

[zazen999]

Sadly most women assess men in the same manner,a large percentage of male plumbers are not built like pompiers,as has already been noted in this thread ......

Last time I looked [last Sunday] Chris was a bloke.

[Two_Sheds]

If you're not sure if it offended (was sexist) or not ... try replacing the word "woman" with the word "black"

[veggiechicken]

Sadly most women assess men in the same manner,a large percentage of male plumbers are not built like pompiers,as has already been noted in this thread ......

I agree BB. We all form an initial opinion of a person whenever we come into contact with someone, whether face to face, on the phone or by reading what they have written. I have a mental image of you, for example, as you probably have of me. Neither of us would be prepared to go public with it, I'm sure!
And no matter how much political correctness we are required to observe in public, this will not change ones thoughts - and long may it be so. Freedom of speech and thought and all that.
Personally, I think Pots put himself up to be shot down as he must know that there are lots of people on here with strong opinions on various topics, who are not reticent in coming forward.
I hope his dainty wife has given him a good clip round the ear'ole and told him to stop dribbling over other plumbers.

[salome2001]

Roughly 40% of our teachers are men (primary school) and very good they are too. Nobody expresses any surprise ... they're seen as teachers, not as male teachers.

They do, however, tend to leave their cake wrappers and dirty cups on the staffroom table instead of washing them up ... lol

I think my DH must work at that school... because he leaves them at home too

[SarzWix]

While on the one hand I think what Pots was saying was questioning why someone who could do 'better' would want to be a plumber, on the other hand, the fact that this amazement was preceded by a description of the lady's 'assets' tips it over the line IMHO.
If he'd been equally amazed about good-looking & intelligent blokes wanting to be plumbers, then that would merely have been disparagement of the plumbing profession.

[donnakebab]

He wasn't being nice.

You're doing it again Zaz.

[zazen999]

You're doing it again Zaz.

I know. My bad.