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I'm not one to pick fights or get into arguments but I will always stand up for what I believe and I will call you out on your bullshit, should I smell it. And that's exactly what I did when I was faced with some good old everyday sexism, from a big brand no less.
Let me start at the beginning. I was quite excited to see that Kings of Chaos would be heading to South Africa in December.
Then I saw the prices and, as one does in this day and age, had a bit of a moan on Twitter. I'll admit that my ire was misdirected as I didn't know at the time of tweeting that the promoters and not the company selling the tickets made the decisions about when tickets would go on sale.
I was grateful when Computicket provided me with the explanation and I told them I was just having a moan.
It should have ended there, but it didn't. They came back with a response that had me shocked, and then angry. They said: "bake us something then there's no need to moan :)[smiling emoticon]".
Then I told myself "you're probably overreacting, Aneeqah. They probably saw your blog and that's why they tweeted that".
But then I read it again and, even if they were subtly making mention of my blog, they don't do it in the most flattering of ways.
In fact, it came across as blatantly sexist. Telling me to go bake you something and then I won't have anything to complain about sounds like "be a quiet woman and go to your place in the kitchen to bake something for me".
I could think of far better responses to my tweet than the one I was given. For example: "We understand that the prices are high. Perhaps you could use your baking skills to raise money for your tickets."
I wouldn't be offended by that. You're acknowledging my blog and you're offering me a solution to a problem.
Anyway I didn't appreciate the sentiment in the tweet and politely told them that it could be construed as an example of everyday sexism.
Yes, I added a smiley at the end, but not because I was making a joke about sexism but because I was being polite and friendly.
The response to that was even more offensive. They told me "The weather must be bad in Cape Town".
How much more dismissive can a brand be? At least acknowledge that you were being sexist, whether you intended it or not. Don't dismiss your patrons by saying the weather in their area must be affecting their mood.
Computicket has since deleted the offending tweets and apologised to me.
OK. @Computicket has apologised and I've accepted but I hope they've learned from this that sexism is still something we're battling
— Aneeqah Emeran (@Aneeqah) August 20, 2014
I've accepted the apology but I do hope they can learn two things from this: how to be funny and light-hearted without being sexist or dismissive and how to apologise sincerely when they've done wrong.
They have also said that the tweet about baking was in reference to my blog, but I still believe they could have phrased it in a less offensive manner.
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