Responding to anti-male comments in public

[blackmanx]

Okay, this just in. I'm at my campus library, and there's this woman standing in front of the printer. It's jammed. She calls the female librarian for help. The librarian comes, and jokes about the printer : "It's male, you have to slap it on the head, just like a man." The other woman laughed.


I felt blood rise to my head. Angry, I rose and went to the librarian's desk.
I told her : " I don't know if you were joking back there or not but I found it offensive." She looked at me and said that she was joking. I nodded and returned to my seat. She came back to me and told me that she has six brothers, worked in the national guard and that she loved me. I nodded again.

I HAD to say SOMETHING !!! If I hadn't, it would have bothered me all day.


What do you think ?

[TheManOnTheStreet]

Reasonable enough.  I would have said more to the point that I didn't find her "joke" to be too amusing either though.

I think it is good to point out these things to people when they do it.  Doing it with respect goes along way.  No need to get all 'feminasty' about it, but be sure to not let it pass when you see it.  I do.

Al

[slayton]

What do you think ?

Good job, blackmanx! That you reacted is the most important thing!

Next time something like this happen, you can even use a more cynical approach:

(friendly tone):

"Excuse me ladies, I overheard you talking about slapping a man on the head in order for him to do something for you. I must say I agree; in fact, from my personal experience, I find this practice to be very effective indeed; I often slap my wife on the head, usually when I come home and dinner's not ready yet. Boy does she hurry back to the kitchen then, lemme tell ya, ho ho..."

observe their reactions

She looked at me and said that she was joking. I nodded and returned to my seat. She came back to me and told me that she has six brothers, worked in the national guard and that she loved me.

Good job, blackmanx, good job... what was that all about? LOL

[Quentin0352]

Good job saying something! She was good enough to reply and apologize to a degree to which is good. I've noticed that many in our society don't even think about things like that and how if it would be reversed they would become very upset. By pointing it out you help raise awareness about it and maybe start to get them thinking some. The only thing I would have done different would be to have stated I found it offensive and asked them if the genders were reversed in the joke if they would have thought it equally funny.

[blackmanx]

Why,  thank  you,  folks  !  I  appreciate  that.  I  just  had  to  say  something,  you  know.  I  would  have  done  the  same  thing  if  someone  had  said  something  deragatory  about  African  Americans as  well.  Putting my peoples  down  isn't  cool.