Sexist?

[gothick]

I'm curious about this. I'm wondering if some comments have been left out. The hospital's spokesman says Lord Mancroft's comments were an "outrageous allegation" against "women in general", and Peter Carter says they're "sexist insults about the behaviour of British women."

But I can't see anything in the Lord Mancroft quotes that mentions women. He only mentions "nurses". Okay, I he seems to be a lunatic, and is clearly abusing his position, but I don't see how a diatribe against nurses which never once mentions women turns into a sexist attack against women in general. Not unless the accusers are making some fairly sexist assumptions themselves, that is. I mean, I've met drunken, promiscuous nurses, and they certainly weren't all women :)

Comments

[ruthj.livejournal.com]

Yes it does look as though some comments have been left out.

If you read the speech in full you will see that it includes the following:

The nurses, who probably are the most important people in this complex area, were what I would describe as an accurate reflection of many young women in Britain today. What do I mean by that? ... The nurses who looked after me—not all of them; we should never generalise and there were one or two wonderful ones—were mostly grubby, with dirty fingernails and hair. They were slipshod, lazy and, worst of all, drunken and promiscuous.

(http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200708/ldhansrd/text/80228-0011.htm#08022878000409 )

So I think it is fair to say he doesn't only mention "nurses" in his diatribe, he implies that many young women are like this.

Cheers,

RuthJ

[gothick-matt.livejournal.com]

Thank you! A rather... unbalanced, I guess, report from the BBC. Maybe just some bad editing.