Question of the week #28

ImgresThere are many men who make sexual innuendos and my sense is that most of them do not even realize that they are offending the women in the room.  That certainly does not make it okay.  I am not saying you can't teach an old dog new tricks but you can call them on the mat when they do it.  I have called a few on the mat and they have profusely apologized and then they do it again. 

With that being said, here is the question of the week:

I'm an occasional watcher of The Chew,
frequent enough to notice that Mario Batali shamelessly flirts with
every female celebrity guest, while making sexual innuendos. I find it
offensive and degrading to women. Am I alone? Disappointing that ABC
condones

I happen to know Mario.  He is full of life and he is also a very intelligent man.  He is beyond well read, has a head for business and has serious street smarts.  I'm a fan. He also flirts shamelessly with women for whatever reason. 

Should ABC do something about that?  If he continues to get the ratings they are not going to say a word.  If a woman barks back at him on air when it happens then perhaps things will change.  I doubt it but it might make ABC think about how as a network they are condoning his behavior. 

What I wonder is where did that kind of behavior start?  Did the men I know have fathers who did the same thing?  As young men was it their way of getting a womans attention?  Did it make them feel less insecure by openly flirting because women reacted to it?  Perhaps it is all of those reasons.

Bottom line in a professional environment it is not okay for men to say inappropriate comments to women.  Unfortunately it happens all the time.  I wrote about this when I answered the question regarding the inapproprate behavior at the PyCon conference.  It is up to us as women who are flirted with inappropriately or asked questions that are irrelevant to the conversation to speak up and say no it is not ok to talk to me like that.  Until then, this conversation will continue going on for years to come. 

Comments (Archived):

  1. AMT Editorial Staff

    It sets a bad example and dumbs down the content. It happens on other shows. Example: American Idol. Randy was giving a fairly critical assessment to a female performer. He then tried to make it positive by commenting on her shorts/outfit. This show does it all the time. The women judges do it too. But maybe for Idol, dress is part of the “performance”. But often the commentary seems very trivial. There is a fine line between happy flirting and sexual innuendo…And often the defining factor is how it is perceived by the recipient.

    1. Gotham Gal

      Agreed. Unfortunately the recipient more than likely will say nothing.

      1. Tess

        God! Have some fun. Everyone should flirt and be happy.Everyone is so politically correct.

        1. leslie

          All for fun, but i have worked for guys like this, (i’ve not seen the chew) and as a freelancer who needs work, this sucks . I can handle most guys with humor, but should one have to play work as some sort of game? I agree, women need to speak up and where at all possible report. I do think some of these celebrities have bought their own hype hook, line and sinker!

  2. pointsnfigures

    I haven’t seen the show. Maybe ABC edited out retorts-you never know what winds up on the cutting room floor.