2 February 2011

What’s The World Coming To ?

Last week I posted a blog which was a bit tongue in cheek but I still got some stick for it, predictably from females, who thought it was a bit sexist. It was about females and football (an oxymoron ?) and I finished with some statements about an assistant referee in a Premier League football match, to whom some commentators were making disparaging remarks, off the record.

Well, this turned out to be a bit of a ‘scoop’ on my part because the story blew up big time and both commentators are now looking for new jobs!   

Well, just to balance things out a bit, this blog is about men, so you girls can have a bit of a laugh and I’m sure the boys will have a titter as well.

Look at the picture on the left. Quite pretty aren’t they? Well, pretty for models. They’re usually so skinny and gaunt (there I go again) but the one on the right appears to have quite a nice body if you like that sort of thing.

Well, I’m sorry to inform you that the models in the picture are one and the same person and ‘she’ is a male!

I’ve lost the original article in one of the papers but for some reason, the guy is in huge demand to model female couture. And it’s not some obscure fashion house using ‘him’. The major couture houses are using ‘him’ and he’s probably raking it in. Maybe it’s because he’s tall and has no boobs (there I go again!).

What's the world coming to ?


And then there’s the story about PC Air in Thailand, which has yet to take to the skies, and which selected three "Ladyboys" in its first round of hiring  to act (perform?) as ‘stewardesses’ for the new airline (see picture below - I'm sure I know one of them!).

In an act to promote equal opportunities for what is dubbed the "third sex" in Thailand, Peter Chan, the new airline's boss, was enthusiastic about his groundbreaking move because of the opportunities it would afford transsexuals.


One of the successful candidates was Thanyarat "Film" Jiraphatpakorn, who won the annual Miss Tiffany "katoey" beauty pageant in 2007. "At first I thought they would just take applications but not actually recruit us, as happened at other places before," said the 23-year-old, adding that ‘she’ was delighted to have been chosen.

Thailand has the largest number of "katoeys" – as they are called in Thai – in the world, with the country's surgeons pioneering cheaper and quicker sex change operations because of the sky-high demand from men wishing to become women.

PC Air did not make proof of sexual reassignment a criteria for the job, merely that the applicants possessed the necessary oral skills and the potential to provide a good service.

The mind boggles.

And finally, a male shop assistant in London is claiming sex discrimination after a 68-year-old woman colleague allegedly slapped his bottom three times while working at the flagship John Lewis department store.

Konstantinos Kalomoiris, 40, says Bianca Revrenna (you couldn’t get two better names could you?) tapped his bottom in the locker room and twice on the shop floor of the Oxford Street shop.

Furniture department worker Mr Kalomoiris, who says he quit his job as a result, told an employment tribunal that when he told her to stop, she replied: "I do that to all the boys."

What’s the world coming to?


6 comments:

Anonymous said...

"What's the world coming to?"

Hopefully, a place where there is equality of opportunity for all instead of just a privileged few - as has been the case in the past.

Just out of interest, Tom: do you have a problem with transsexuals? If so, why do you feel that way?

Also, even though it's too early to comment on the John Lewis court case as it's still proceeding, most of the British tabloid media seems to have already made up its mind (i.e. sexual assault victims - particularly if they are judged to look 'ugly' should stop feeling traumatized and count themselves lucky that anyone would even deign to touch them).

But let's turn this 'round sunny side up for a second, eh?

Would you be upset if a male colleague groped your bottom several times - even after you'd asked him to stop - and when you complained to your manager he or she told you that you should be 'delighted'?

Becky

Tom Cupples said...

If somebody groped my bottom, male or female - I'd be delighted!

Anonymous said...

Okay, so groping may not be the most serious form of sexual assault and looking through your blog, I realise the tone tends to be 'tongue-in-cheek' here (no pun intended:)

However, there is a serious side to this:

How would you feel if someone groped the bottom of your wife though, Tom - or even your daughter or son on their first day of work experience with their manager merely laughing it off by saying that this is the way things are done in his/her workplace and, moreover, that they should be flattered?

Becky

Tom Cupples said...

So - who are you Becky? The delightful young lady who came out to France last year with Sarah? Or somebody I don't know?

I take your point though. I can imagine my daughter being appalled and disgusted but this was a 40 year old Greek guy - hardly an innocent young lad I would have thought - and she was a 68 year old granny for heaven's sake !!!!!

Tom Cupples said...

A male John Lewis shop assistant who accused a 68-year-old female colleague of sexual harassment was today told he was too sensitive as his discrimination claim was rejected.

YES - a victory for common sense !!!!

Anonymous said...

Hmmm...well, if the decision of the court is to be trusted and the newspaper reports are relatively believable then it's turned out that the aggrieved party is the woman who was falsely accused of sexual harassment. It's bad enough at any time to be accused of a crime you did not commit - especially one of a sexual nature (hence the current situation with Julian Assange, for example) where mud espeically tends to stick as even if someone is proven innocent there's still that little doubt in other people's minds - i.e. the 'no smoke without fire' syndrome etc.

I must say though, that I'm still more than uncomfortable with the John Lewis manager's bold assertion to the tribunal that he would act in exactly the same way (i.e. do nothing and basically say "lighten up") if any member of staff female or male reported that they'd been groped.

No, I'm not the Becky that you've met before, Tom. I just stumbled on your blog through researching gender issues on the Internet. So, first time I've been here.

Excellent photos in your latest post, btw.

Becky