Rick Dean
Registered
http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-fire14.html
Web site pulls posts calling fire spokeswoman 'hotty'
May 14, 2004
BY FRAN SPIELMAN City Hall Reporter
The operator of a controversial chat room for Chicago firefighters on Thursday removed sexist comments about one of the Fire Department's most senior females, even as he made matters worse by calling the lewd postings a compliment.
Director of media and public affairs Molly Sullivan was referred to as a "big-chested babe" and a "hotty" in anonymous postings denounced as o
fensive by both Sullivan and City Hall.
''Does any of you chiefs have any naked pix of her? I think she should go work at the strip club. Man, I'd be there every day," one posting sa
id.
br>
On Thursday, 22-year veteran fire engineer Richard Anderson removed the postings from the Web site he operat
es because ''I figured, maybe, it's offensive to women.''
But he inadvertently compounded the insult by saying Sullivan should have been flattered. ''Somebody thinks she's beautiful. Isn't that a compliment? She's got a nice-looking body. She's a hotty. That means someone thinks she's attractive. Don't you think so?''
Calling the sexist postings much ado about nothing, Anderson said, ''What, is there no news in town? Can't you get nothing on the mayor?''
Sullivan, a former Sun-Times reporter, said she was ''even more offended'' by Anderson's remarks than she was about
the Web site postings.
''That is not the way civilized, decent men express their appreciation for the beauty of a woman. If he thinks I'm flattered by this, then he's living in a c
ave in the
Stone Age,'' Sullivan said. ''There's no room for that type of belief system or talk in today's world. I would ask him if this were his wife or daughter or his mother or his sister, would he think the
y would be flattered by such crude, debasing language?"
Sullivan argued that Anderson's remarks were part of a sexist mentality among Chicago firefighters that newly appointed Fire Commissioner Cortez Trotter should address with urgency.
''The first problems we encountered were related to racial and ethnic insults. Now it's moving into attacks on women, which I believe are bordering on sexual harassment,'' Sullivan said, referring to a rash of racist transmissions over fire radio.
Chicago Fire Department spokesman Larry Langfo
rd replied that Trotter ''continues to work with the city Law Department to eradicate this type of behavior."
The city's Law Department has contacted Boards-2-Go, the company
that hosts the mes
sage board, to complain that the postings constitute a violation of the terms-of-service agreement and that the message board should be taken down.
Earlier this year, the city tried and failed to get the firefighters Web site shut down after the chat room posted r
acial slurs and instructed firefighters who use them on fire radio how to avoid detection.
Web site pulls posts calling fire spokeswoman 'hotty'
May 14, 2004
BY FRAN SPIELMAN City Hall Reporter
The operator of a controversial chat room for Chicago firefighters on Thursday removed sexist comments about one of the Fire Department's most senior females, even as he made matters worse by calling the lewd postings a compliment.
Director of media and public affairs Molly Sullivan was referred to as a "big-chested babe" and a "hotty" in anonymous postings denounced as o
fensive by both Sullivan and City Hall.
''Does any of you chiefs have any naked pix of her? I think she should go work at the strip club. Man, I'd be there every day," one posting sa
id.
br>
On Thursday, 22-year veteran fire engineer Richard Anderson removed the postings from the Web site he operat
es because ''I figured, maybe, it's offensive to women.''
But he inadvertently compounded the insult by saying Sullivan should have been flattered. ''Somebody thinks she's beautiful. Isn't that a compliment? She's got a nice-looking body. She's a hotty. That means someone thinks she's attractive. Don't you think so?''
Calling the sexist postings much ado about nothing, Anderson said, ''What, is there no news in town? Can't you get nothing on the mayor?''
Sullivan, a former Sun-Times reporter, said she was ''even more offended'' by Anderson's remarks than she was about
the Web site postings.
''That is not the way civilized, decent men express their appreciation for the beauty of a woman. If he thinks I'm flattered by this, then he's living in a c
ave in the
Stone Age,'' Sullivan said. ''There's no room for that type of belief system or talk in today's world. I would ask him if this were his wife or daughter or his mother or his sister, would he think the
y would be flattered by such crude, debasing language?"
Sullivan argued that Anderson's remarks were part of a sexist mentality among Chicago firefighters that newly appointed Fire Commissioner Cortez Trotter should address with urgency.
''The first problems we encountered were related to racial and ethnic insults. Now it's moving into attacks on women, which I believe are bordering on sexual harassment,'' Sullivan said, referring to a rash of racist transmissions over fire radio.
Chicago Fire Department spokesman Larry Langfo
rd replied that Trotter ''continues to work with the city Law Department to eradicate this type of behavior."
The city's Law Department has contacted Boards-2-Go, the company
that hosts the mes
sage board, to complain that the postings constitute a violation of the terms-of-service agreement and that the message board should be taken down.
Earlier this year, the city tried and failed to get the firefighters Web site shut down after the chat room posted r
acial slurs and instructed firefighters who use them on fire radio how to avoid detection.