Grim reading

London Fire Brigade institutionally misogynist and racist:

London Fire Brigade is “institutionally misogynist and racist”, according to a damning review into its culture.

A black firefighter had a noose put by his locker, while a female one received video of a colleague exposing himself.

Hey you know what other London institution is misogynist (and we might as well assume racist too) according to report? The police. So, that’s great.

The independent review was established by the London Fire Commissioner after a trainee firefighter took his own life in August 2020.

The review, conducted by the former Chief Crown Prosecutor for north-west England, Nazir Afzal, concludes that unless the “toxic culture” is tackled then other firefighters will take their own lives.

At some fire stations men huddle around a screen to watch porn.

Talking to the BBC, Mr Afzal said the report made for “grim reading”.

“We’ve heard example after example about women who were harassed or sexually assaulted – constant sexual taunting to the point that I am now saying that the London Fire Brigade is institutionally misogynist,” Mr Afzal said.

They’ve invaded the boys’ club.

“Women told us they were told [by male firefighters]: ‘We want to get you out of here, we don’t want you to be a fire officer.’ It goes back to the whole fireman concept.

“I sat with a very senior female officer who said to me, through tears, that whenever she goes through a dangerous incident, she’s always thinking: ‘Will the men have my back? Will the men around me protect me given how they have treated me back at the station?

“If they feel they can’t trust the men around them because of their behaviour or misbehaviour and worse, then they aren’t safe and neither are we.”

The report also found that while there was often “considerable sensitivity” in the brigade around issues of race, there appeared to be “a worrying blind spot” concerning misogyny and sexism.

That “worrying blind spot” is everywhere. Absolutely everywhere. People rant and rave about “transphobia” and racism while never breathing a word about misogyny. Women just don’t count somehow. Is it because there are so many of us? We’re roughly half the population so how bad can it be? Is that it? Or we’re roughly half the population so that’s just way too much work so let’s focus on literal minorities, like, biting off no more than we can chew type of thing?

One firefighter told the review that she advised her female friends not to let male firefighters in the house to give safety advice because “they go through women’s drawers looking for underwear and sex toys”.

Great. Keep that in mind, should your toaster go up in flames.

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