Suspended for a week because of Sid the Sexist.

While I've never been known for perfect gender politics, I generally haven't engaged in much in the way of extreme sexism which is what I felt I was being accused of when I was taken into a meeting to discuss my careless conduct with regard to a poetry pamphlet that I'd left on the desktop that I'd been using. A colleague had found it and read through it and described it as offensive. I didn't really think that because the wording I'd used was potentially rude, personal or sexual that there would be a problem, forgot the item - or didn't throw it away - and then found someone had been through it, and then made a complaint. It does beg the question that one shouldn't read through colleagues personal possessions and find something objectionable, complain and expect there to be some form of disciplinary action as a result. Anyway, here's the poem....needs a bit of work as they say....

Oral Delight
Dainty beauty,
Unspoilt unkempt,
Not to tease,
Deal without relent,
Wish to keep,
To take what's meant,
You mean more than anyone could follow,
As your lips eat into tomorrow,
And I guess you may choose to swallow,
Leave me left with what I can borrow.
As you stand I feel you rise,
And know we both feel satisfied,
Was it Sid who kindly said,
Look out sugar here it comes,
Get your gums around my plums.

Apparently, the lines about choosing to swallow and 'gums around plums' caused one person offence - I wonder if there was anything really that offensive about this or there was someone with an axe to grind.

Anyway, offended though I was and glad to be suspended for a week and not have any work to do, I have given in my resignation and generally I'm quite glad about it. It did remind me of the obscenity case that Lenny Bruce fought in the States - he was prosecuted for use of the word 'cocksucker'. A judge asked him if the regarded the word to be appropriate and he stated that most of the people he'd described as cocksuckers did actually appear to be cocksuckers to him. I think this is largely adequate as a defence, but then again I was nearly sacked. Still all that worldly experience, it's left me feeling more of a kinship with Salman Rushdie and Lenny Bruce than I could ever have imagined.