London Fire Brigade: ‘Hunky firefighter’ cliches are sexist
Posted Aug 21, 2018 11:21:35 AM.
Last Updated Aug 21, 2018 12:00:59 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
LONDON – The London Fire Brigade wants the media to stop depicting firefighters as hunky sex objects.
The service says the images are sexist and deter women from joining the profession.
The brigade has criticized reality TV show “Love Island” for including a “fireman challenge” in which male contestants had to strip down and pretend to rescue a woman in danger.
Commissioner Dany Cotton, the first woman to lead the British capital’s fire brigade, said Tuesday that the depiction “reinforces the misconception that all firefighters are musclebound men.”
The brigade also criticizes advertisements for depicting firefighting as “a man’s job,” including an ad for a toilet cleaner in which women objectify a male firefighter.
Just 300 of the brigade’s 5,000 operational firefighters are women — a number managers want to increase.
