NY Woman to Become Fire Fighter Without Passing Physical Exam

[Trippy Turtle]

Well its kinda stupid but I'm hardly going to fault anyone involved.
The woman wanted the job, she got it.
The department got the mayor off their asses.
The mayor evaded a little of the bullshit the public was probably throwing at him about a lack of women in the force.
Everyone wins.

Except perhaps the person who dies or the house that burns because she couldn't keep up. But lets face it, that's unlikely.

 

[Gatlank]

Except perhaps the person who dies or the house that burns because she couldn't keep up. But lets face it, that's unlikely.

Unlikely now. If more that cant pass the test come forward asking for special treatment then the risk will increase and they already let this one slide.

 

[SonOfVoorhees]

Im for woman being able to do any job they wish but they still need to pass the exams etc that one needs for that role. Especially for something like Fire Fighters when their job is very physical. This is the problem we have today, woman fight for equality and everyone goes over the top. All woman want is to be treated fairly and be given a fair shot at whatever job they wish to have. Now we have a situation where they are handing jobs without earning it. It also makes a mockery of female fire fighters who worked hard and passed the exam.

 

[DrownedAmmet]

Im for woman being able to do any job they wish but they still need to pass the exams etc that one needs for that role. Especially for something like Fire Fighters when their job is very physical. This is the problem we have today, woman fight for equality and everyone goes over the top. All woman want is to be treated fairly and be given a fair shot at whatever job they wish to have. Now we have a situation where they are handing jobs without earning it. It also makes a mockery of female fire fighters who worked hard and passed the exam.

Doubt it. I've watched a lot of cartoons and %99 percent of being a firefighter is rescuing kittens from trees. Kittens, not full blown cats mind you.
I'm not in the greatest shape myself and I can carry three, maybe four kittens down a ladder

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

Superbad idea, New York.

After reading an article, it looks like this is the second pass she's been given. Back in 2011, she begged for the age limit to be raised from 29 to 35. The city council passed a bill for it. She's now 35 and can't pass the tests.

 

[bartholen_v1legacy]

I've heard Copout to be a shitty movie, but it at least provided us with this wonderfully useful clip:


Fuck. This. Shit. If this is the way the world is heading, it's time to burn Tumblr to the ground and never let its echo chamber of mouth-frothing lunatics rise again. Seriously, this is fucking appalling. No amount of whining about sexism, white privilege or whatever is the buzzword of the day is, is going to fix the fact that we now can graduate people who are by definition unfit to do their job.

As if this wasn't enough, just moments ago I saw this article [http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/world-news/man-68-faces-rape-charges-after-posing-as-model-for-fifty-shades-of-grey-dates-31198049.html] about a 68-year old man who'd coaxed women into Fifty Shades of Grey -inspired sex while posing as a dashing model, with total consent from his partners. He is now faced with multiple charges of rape because oh no, the impossibly gorgeous model who promised to be the knight of your dreams didn't actually turn out to be that. The guy's a scumbag, definitely, but a rapist? Fuck off, if the women had kept the blindfold on all the time, I bet they would have been perfectly happy.

 

[Kevlar Eater]

As if this wasn't enough, just moments ago I saw this article [http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/world-news/man-68-faces-rape-charges-after-posing-as-model-for-fifty-shades-of-grey-dates-31198049.html] about a 68-year old man who'd coaxed women into Fifty Shades of Grey -inspired sex while posing as a dashing model, with total consent from his partners. He is now faced with multiple charges of rape because oh no, the impossibly gorgeous model who promised to be the knight of your dreams didn't actually turn out to be that. The guy's a scumbag, definitely, but a rapist? Fuck off, if the women had kept the blindfold on all the time, I bet they would have been perfectly happy.

It's only rape when the man is unattractive. Take 50 Shades-esque sex out of the equation and insert a drunken hoop-up in a nightclub (where *both* parties were shitfaced), and a very similar article can be written up in moments.

*topic* I see this setting a bad precedent for future and probably present female firefighters (say that three times fast) elsewhere besides New York. Must I worry if the firefighters of tomorrow will be capable of picking up my body should the need arise, or should I worry about lack of gender diversity in this physically demanding occupation?

 

[2HF]

As if this wasn't enough, just moments ago I saw this article [http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/world-news/man-68-faces-rape-charges-after-posing-as-model-for-fifty-shades-of-grey-dates-31198049.html] about a 68-year old man who'd coaxed women into Fifty Shades of Grey -inspired sex while posing as a dashing model, with total consent from his partners. He is now faced with multiple charges of rape because oh no, the impossibly gorgeous model who promised to be the knight of your dreams didn't actually turn out to be that. The guy's a scumbag, definitely, but a rapist? Fuck off, if the women had kept the blindfold on all the time, I bet they would have been perfectly happy.

The women consented to sex with the gorgeous model. Not with the 68 year old man. He had no consent. He raped them. There is no grey area here.

 

[Emanuele Ciriachi]

At least those people burning to death will know there's a bit more equality in the world.

Quite the opposite: the test was already egalitarian, setting standards that needed to be met regardless of gender; what happened here is that just for the sake of "diversity" (never was a word more twisted) they are forgoing ACTUAL equality.

All this political correctness offends me a great deal.

 

[sageoftruth]

I thought this seemed too ridiculous to be true. It mostly is true, but apparently the test requirements have been lowered not just for her but also for all future applicants. Of course, I don't know how I feel about lowering the standards for the test. Apparently they had previously required you to pass the physical test, but now it comes down to what your average is between the physical and the academic tests. Because she excelled academically, she passed in the new system. It still sounds a bit questionable, given how physically demanding firefighting is.

 

[aegix drakan_v1legacy]

No. Just freakin' no.

If you cannot handle the physical demands of your life-threatening and life-saving job, you cannot be allowed to DO that job.

She did super well on the knowledge part, so I'm cool with her running support for firefighters (running communications, etc). But just like I, a wiry thin unhealthy nerd guy, am not physically capable of running into a burning building with 50 pounds of equipment and shouldn't get the job, she shouldn't either.

If you can't handle the physical aspect and risk dying or not being able to save someone, you should not get the job. I'm sorry, but that's how it is. I'm all for equality, but if you can't physically do the job, you don't get the job.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

Man, everyone sure is being sexist about this. Obviously, the physical requirements are just another symptom of the patriarchy and like the patriarchy they must be dismantled. You can only have true equality is when some people are more equal than others. If a woman or minority can't meet the qualifications of something a straight white male can then obviously we must lower to standards for them to make them more equal, Equality 101.

Who are you arguing with? Who is everyone? The reaction I'm reading to this is overwhelming confusion and scorn.

I remember this exact issue coming up about 20+ years ago, this question of "should a woman be a firefighter if she cannot meet the rigorous physical requirements for the job". I can't imagine what school of argument would be used to support "yes". I'm all for breaking glass ceilings, but this is a life and death job. Her life is at risk, her co-workers lives are at risk, the people they are tasked to serve...their lives are at risk.

Silly.

 

[Stu35]

That said, all the women that are on the force passed the physical exam.

And now every single one of them is going to be taken that bit less seriously by some of their peers.

A lot of hard earned respect goes down the shitter when people not up to scratch are let in - unfortunately Women are not judged on an individual basis but against their Gender, so people who were against Women in the Fire Department get a little bit of ammunition to support their claims.

You see the same thing in the Armed Forces - here in Britain women are literally held to a lower physical standard than men which makes it that much harder for those who are up to the standards to gain the respect they've earned.

 

[thewatergamer]

*sigh* Exactly what I was afraid of, I can't wait for the explanation when she or someone she is trying to help dies horribly because of her lack of strength

 

[Denamic]

The physical requirements are there for a fucking reason. People's lives are at stake; firefighters HAVE to be physically fit.

 

[THM]

The women consented to sex with the gorgeous model. Not with the 68 year old man. He had no consent. He raped them. There is no grey area here.

Just to confirm - you're being serious, right? Yes, it's fraudulent, but c'mon - if they'd been thinking clearly, they would've realised how unlikely the scenario actually was in the first place, and how unlikely it was really going to be a 'gorgeous model' pleasuring them. The man should be censured for tricking them, but the women should've exercised greater forethought. It's not like there aren't enough jokes about the differences between what a man thinks a woman on a sex chat line (for example) looks like, and what she actually looks like, for women to realise that this kind of discrepancy might apply to them, too.

OT - There are no words for this. And the sad thing is, even deaths that happen because of this won't improve the situation, because echo chambers. Ugh. :/

Then again, you never know what the backlash will accomplish.

 

[Bix96]

Well you know something is EXTREMELY wrong when everyone on this forum is in agreement... that has like never happened before.

EVER!

 

[Gordon_4_v1legacy]

The only honorable way out of this for her personally is to resign in protest or refuse the position, because otherwise this is just going to be a fucking noose around her neck, her team's necks, and any poor sod they are charged with rescuing.

This is a terrible idea.