You might expect it at a Gentlemen’s drinking club or even tolerate it at a male-dominated Board Meeting of a FTSE 100, but you wouldn’t really expect it at a Surrey sixth form pastoral evening or a reputable summit for communications professionals. But I’m afraid that, even in the 21st century, wife-bashing in public is alive and well – and probably happening at a conference near you.
Having been to three public events in the last week, I’m sick to death of hearing men taking cheap shots at the women they‘ve chosen to live with. How many times do otherwise intelligent men have to tell us that they’re victims of female spending, the sole earners in their families, reduced to weekends of female nagging and infantile games?
I have to tell you, guys, stop! If I’ve paid to go to a conference about macro-economic trends or environmental accountability, I don’t want to listen to your cheap jibes at your nearest or dearest.
You might have heard from some presentation skills training that winning your audiences over with humour is important: but before you make a quip about the other half, take a look at who you’re speaking to. And next time you’re talking to a room full of intelligent women, of child-bearing age – majority mothers and working mothers at that – remember, we’ve already heard the one about the thief who stole your wife’s credit card and is actually cheaper to run than her; we’ve heard about the list of chores you have to do at the weekend; and we’re NOT INTERESTED.
When I stand up in front of an audience of men, I don’t try to win them over with a diatribe about the pleasures and pain of dirty socks, rugby songs or flatulence – or the countless sacrifices I make in living with members of the opposite sex. So why should I listen to patronising jokes about women.
Grow up, guys, find another flogging horse and stop wife-bashing in public.
