Firm removes ‘sexist’ content
A Christchurch accountancy firm has removed a newsletter from its website and taken down its Facebook page after people complained about the ‘‘sexist’’ and ‘‘offensive’’ content.
Perriam & Partners’ February newsletter, which is published on its website and sent to clients, contained ‘‘humorous’’ stories making fun of women refusing to have sex with their husbands. Another post mocked beneficiaries.
A story in the newsletter was entitled: ‘‘Man uses excel spreadsheet to record wife’s reasons for turning down sex.’’
‘‘The excuses varied from feeling ‘sweaty and gross’, to ‘watching the show (Friends re-run), and ‘I’m too tired’. Sound familiar?’’
‘‘Merely being male would seem to be a problem, There are too many in parliament, we have too many male judges, doctors, airline pilots and boardroom representations, just to name a few. Yet, we’re the ones that fought in major wars and many, many other battles. The animal kingdom is still governed predominantly by the male.’’
Further down, was a small item showing a picture of a sign ‘‘written over a tradies ute I spotted over the holiday break!’’
The sign read: ‘‘Attention: Do not steal my tools, I need them to pay your benefit.’’
The newsletter was shared on social media, which prompted several people to write to the firm to complain about it or to leave a bad review on its Facebook page.
Auckland resident Victoria, who didn’t want her surname used, says she was ‘‘flabbergasted’’ when she saw the newsletter.
‘‘I checked the company website and saw the newsletter was still up. I was horrified and wanted to do something about it – if nothing else let the company know it wasn’t OK by me and I won’t be seeking their business services as a result. They apologised to me and told me that they had taken it down.’’
The firm apologised to the people who wrote to complain and said it would take the newsletter down: ‘‘We apologise for any offence caused, this was certainly not our intention and we regret that we have done so. Please be assured, we have taken your feedback on board for future publications. We have removed this publication from our website in response to your concern,’’ one response read.
Perriam & Partners director Warren Perriam says four non-clients obtained a copy of the company’s latest newsletter and objected to it via a message to the company’s Facebook page.
‘‘We apologised to each of them personally and that we regretted any offence that was caused and offered to remove the publication from our website which we immediately did.’’
The firm removed its Facebook page because one of the complainants had linked the newsletter to her complaint so it was the only way to fully remove it, Perriam said. No offence was intended and ‘‘if any was taken then I do unreservedly apologise’’.
But Auckland Sexual Abuse HELP executive director and clinical psychologist Kathryn McPhillips says the newsletter is ‘‘appalling’’.
McPhillips says it’s good that the firm has apologised and removed the newsletter but it also needed a culture change. ‘‘It’s sad that those kinds of beliefs are not only held by some people in our society but they publish it. It’s appalling.’’