 Dear
Geoffrey,
I was very disappointed to read in your latest FlyingTypers
a reference to the IATA Economist, Julie Perovic, as a "money honey".
Flying Typers has made a point of showcasing the variety and
range of women working in air cargo at all levels, for which it deserves
credit. It is a shame that you couldn't extend the same courtesy to Ms.
Perovic who, as an experienced and skilled economist, should be judged
on the quality of her analysis and on no other factor.
Yours truly,
Lise-Marie Turpin
Vice President
Air Canada Cargo
 Dear
Lise-Marie,
We truly regret that our
use of "money honey" has offended you—that was certainly
not our intention, and we are mortified to think we may have caused offense.
While the term “Money Honey” has been
used in a derogatory sense before—most famously in the Bay City
Rollers song by the same name—to indicate a woman only interested
in money; i.e., a gold digger, the term has enjoyed an about-face in recent
years due to the reclamation and reinvention by Maria Bartiromo (pictured
here).
In the late 90s, Bartiromo became the first woman
to broadcast from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. It’s
undeniable that her financial contemporaries nicknamed her “Money
Honey” in a sexist attempt to undermine her efforts, but Bartiromo
took the slight and did something bold and revolutionary with it—she
owned it, reclaiming it for her own and turning it into a positive.
In 2007, the “Money Honey” and “Econo
Babe” (as she was also dubbed) essentially gave her critics the
bird when she used “Money Honey” as a brand name to market
children’s toys that teach children financial responsibility. Like
many of her female contemporaries throughout time, Bartiromo took something
that was meant to hold her down and used it to elevate herself and change
the world around her for the better.
Again, we sincerely apologize to you and Ms. Perovic
if the term offended you in any way, and we also send our sincerest apologies
to all of our FlyingTypers readers and those in the cargo community who
felt slighted, hurt, or upset by the term. We used it in the spirit of
venerating, not denigrating, an incredibly successful woman in her field.
Every good wish,
Geoffrey |
