PodMen: Your 7 minute guide to #ClaimPodParity

Welcome to another edition of #PodMen, where I help you navigate being a man in a man’s world as experienced by other genders. (AKA the first podcasting column just for men… or is it an article? Feel free to let me know)

This week, I discovered that some men think that the #ClaimPodParity campaign is about calling men out for sexism. Usually, when one person misunderstands something, there are more out there who don’t get it despite being intelligent AND receiving an actual memo.

Yeah, #ClaimPodParity organizers and sponsors sent out memos.

Er, emails. Notices. Social posts. Held events. And maybe even a press release. I happen to know one PodMan definitely received many of these. I’ll affectionately refer to him as Butters because he holds considerable power over the industry for the moment. (Butters is my cat who plays an innocent, fluffy marshmallow but on the down-low is a colossal jerk to all the other cats)

I’m sharing this in case you find yourself, dearest PodMen, in a situation where you’re mentioned online with the hashtag #ClaimPodParity and are left feeling hurt and bewildered. Because this is exactly what Butters experienced.

When it’s not about you…

Butters said my use of the #ClaimPodParity hashtag, in response to a response of his (dumb) rhetorical question, was an accusation of sexism by me against him. (I said two words that essentially meant WTH???)

It surprised me because Butters rarely looks in my direction. Generally, he ignores me. You know, like a fluffy marshmallow cat.

I assumed that Butters was giving third-party info via sarcasm albeit in a sloppy way. Because I liked Butters. I also assumed he was familiar with the campaign for which the hashtag is used. And I thought Butters was the genuinely empathetic ally he purported to be. I was incorrect. And I should know better than to assume. (you know the saying)