Originally Posted By avromark <a href="http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/reuters/canada_canada_firefighters_col" target="_blank">http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/reu ters/canada_canada_firefighters_col</a> VANCOUVER, British Columbia (Reuters) - A Canadian city under pressure for alleged sexual harassment within its fire department has ordered firefighters to wear only boxer-style underwear. Richmond, British Columbia will spend C$16,000 ($14,200) to buy six pairs of underwear for each firefighter in a bid to make firehalls in the suburb of Vancouver more gender neutral, a newspaper reported on Tuesday. "We supply firefighters with various pieces of gear such as gloves, now it's underwear," city official Ted Townsend told the Vancouver Sun, saying it was part of the "integration of the sexes in the workplace." A recent investigation of the department described its workplace culture as "characterized by juvenile and hostile behavior" toward female firefighters by their male colleagues. Firefighters strip off most of their clothes in order to don protective gear when responding to fire alarms, although Townsend said the city is considering buying gear that can be put on over regular uniforms.
Originally Posted By TALL Disney Guy Whatever happened to the good ol' days when only men were firemen and women were the rescued damsels in distress? ;-)
Originally Posted By knightnfrees I suppose is's a safety issue for firemen never to be 'brief' when on the job.
Originally Posted By TALL Disney Guy Hey, they should be grateful they wear underwear at all! ;-P <---would never let someone tell him he "has to" wear boxers on his job
Originally Posted By knightnfrees I once wore a Bassett Hound when putting out a campfire, but never a Boxer. Hmm. I wonder if that would be better? Oh, wait. Did I say Bassett Hound? Maybe it was Angela Bassett. Who knows?
Originally Posted By gadzuux Is this because someone has decided that boxers are less 'sexy'? And does this decree include the women firefighters? >> A recent investigation of the department described its workplace culture as "characterized by juvenile and hostile behavior" toward female firefighters by their male colleagues. << This sounds like a behavior problem, not a wardrobe problem. I'm not sure how switching to boxers from briefs (or nothing) is going to help. And for the record, I don't care for boxers, and briefs actually seem more modest with pants because they hold everything snug. Boxers can be okay with dress slacks, but with jeans they tend to ride up the thighs until they're the same approximate shape as briefs.
Originally Posted By DlandDug In the theater, boxers are taboo for any male who has to make quick changes. Boxers are more inclined to come off with the pants, so briefs are specified by the almost exclusively female costume crews. (And backstage there's usually no time for any hanky panky. They reserve that for the cast party!)
Originally Posted By jdub I guess the elephant's trunks can be useful for putting out fires. The Jungle Cruise elephants shoot water through their trunks like that, yah?
Originally Posted By Kennesaw Tom This thread is destined for the playpen. I can see it now!! I need to stop laughing. OK, time for me to get back to work.
Originally Posted By wahooskipper At least they aren't sharing underwear ala costumed characters from Disney years ago.
Originally Posted By TomSawyer I knew a girl in high school who is now a firefighter. She was a good friend, but I don't think she'd have any issue wearing boxers. If I knew then what I knew now, I wouldn't have tried to date her. At least now I know it wasn't just me that she wasn't attracted to, but a good 50% of the population.
