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Comment from "Best of the Web:"

What a Martyr

Lt. Brenda Berkman is a member of the New York City Fire Department. She was not among the 343 firemen who died on Sept. 11, but she wants the world to know she's a victim anyway. "What was most hurtful," she tells the Associated Press, "was to be so invisible at the funerals and memorial services. "The officials giving the eulogies would talk about 'firemen,' the 'brothers,' the 'men.' After 20 years, it was tough to take."

The FDNY is more than 99.75% male, and 100% of the 343 firemen who died were male. AP informs us that Berkman "had to sue her way into the fire department," Maybe she should bring a right-to-die suit. The FDNY is more than 99.75% male, and 100% of the 343 firemen who died were male. AP informs us that Berkman "had to sue her way into the fire department," Maybe she should bring a right-to-die suit.

Brenda Berkman has a valid point. While viewing the television news coverage of this horrible tragedy, I found myself asking the same question. The video footage showed hundreds of brave and courageous firemen rescue workers responding to this colossal emergency, but not even one female amongst them. There is no logical reason for the number of female firefighters responding to the world trade center not to be reflective of their overall percentage in the fire department. For this to be just coincidence is statistically improbable. They couldn't have all called in sick that day or all gotten lost on the way there. So either there are no women firefighters or they were not allowed and ordered not to respond, just like they are prevented from serving their country in combat, and prevented from ever playing baseball and football. The kind of comments posted clearly indicates that you have no respect for all women, and by putting women down it makes you feel better about yourselves. You think that Lt. Berkman sued the fire department to give her a job she wasn't qualified for, but if that were the case she would have no grounds to sue by. When women have to file suit to have a job, its because they are qualified but they are being denied by people and organizations who are prejudice. There is no such thing as women are this or women are that. You pretend that any woman on the fire department was held to lower standards and could never be physically qualified and doesn't belong there. That's absolutely not true. You think its some kind of joke that women want to have the opportunity to make it or break it and meet the same requirements as the men. Well its not a joke and its not whining either. Women don't want lower standards, and believe it or not, there are a few women who are physically qualified. Even if most women couldn't meet the requirements, the few who can should be allowed to. The way you people view women and judge them, not by their own merits as individuals, but as a group of incompetent, weak, cowardly and inferior losers is insulting and humiliating to those women who don't fit that loser definition. The reason there were only women around the perimeter handing out bandaids and water is the women were denied access to that area, but you keep telling yourself they're cowards who didn't want or have the courage to help the rescue effort, they are all weak and not capable of meeting the same physical requirements, no one wants a woman to rescue them because they are not going to be able to lift anyone and all they do is whine about wanting freebies and hand outs and lower standards. How can you think that Lt. Berkman is an example of why every woman should not be allowed to be hired as a firefighter. Actually its quite the opposite. Brenda Berkman is courageous and one of the few women who has the physical strength and qualifications to be a firefighter. Its really sad that so many of you could think that all women are the same and fit that loser definition. That's like saying all brown eyed people are the same. Only a coward would preach supremacy while making up lies to deem all women as lesser.

I am a female firefighter. I can assure you, I would be happy about no ones death, regardless of what it would do for women in my position.

The problem is that all women who want to do this job have to fight twice as hard as a man to actually make it a career, because women just plain aren’t expected to take that path.

I assure you, I was stronger, more agile, and in better shape than many of the men on my fire department. I was also weaker than some, but truth be told, I was in the middle of the pack overall.

Still, throughout my training I and the only other woman in my class were overlooked to do practical tasks... and we had one of the more open-minded instructors around!

Following my training, I felt less prepared because I was overlooked. Still, I didn’t complain, I just spent my own time working on the areas that I felt I needed to work on. Eventually I made it to the point where I felt like I knew at the very least what was expected of me and what I would need, if not a little more.

Still, going on calls, I got overlooked to do jobs that I’d easily be capable of.

For some people, this is discouraging enough to leave the professional altogether. Not to put a different viewpoint out there, after all I can tell you guys are having a great time flaming the feminist... but I think what the article was getting at is the fact that the lengths to which women have to go in order to begin to have a shot in this profession (and not even a fair one, at that) are ridiculous. Therefore, despite the fact that many of us are physically, mentally, and emotionally capable of handling the job, only a small percentage of us manage to succeed in it, not because we can’t do it, but because the “brothers” don’t want us to.

Ask any female firefighter that has been pushed around, ignored, overlooked, and treated like s*** just because she wanted to do a job that wasn’t within the social norm for her to do.

Being a firefighter isn’t a choice. It is something many of us were called to do. To deny us the chance because of a lack of testosterone is bull.