This isn’t what you’d expect to as you exchange pleasantries with someone trying to get publicity for their client.

But I was more shocked that it was a woman saying it. Am I wrong for expecting better?

The other side of that coin is what would the reaction have been if I had sent that as a reply about a female client they were representing? Apocalyptic, I would imagine, and rightly so.

There is no place for discrimination of any kind and surely we have reached the point where we all realise that men and women are equal and should be treated as such.

Attitudes have come a long way over the past 20 years and for the better, but there is still some way to go.

People recognise that it is not acceptable to make offensive or suggestive remarks and dismiss it as ‘banter’, or to treat someone differently because of their age, gender, race or beliefs.

When it does happen, the results are often explosive, long-lasting and usually on YouTube for all to see.

I don’t know the person who sent the email, I don’t know their personality or their personal circumstances. Perhaps they are in an open relationship with an understanding other half and won’t face the backlash Matt Hancock is facing for walking away from his marriage. It doesn’t matter. Their private life is just that.

Whatever the situation, it is completely inappropriate to make and share remarks like that – ‘joking’ or not – especially in a professional capacity.

The client in this case might dismiss it as banter or even take it as a compliment – men probably would. Again, I might be wrong for thinking this stereotype.

But if it was a female client, the attitude is that her looks will get her further than her ability and she is being thought of in a sexual nature. This is the sort of attitude that led to the creation of the #metoo movement.

Maybe it is because attitudes have changed that this episode stands out so much.

I remember one appalling incident about 20 years ago, when I used to write album reviews for a regional newspaper group.

One band enjoyed global success with a one-hit-wonder and was giving away competition prizes as they rode the crest of their one and only wave.

I knew the record company exec from other artists we had covered and we got on well. As is always the way, the details of the competition were turning into a nightmare and in the end, she forwarded me several emails between herself and the band and its management about what had been agreed.

Apart from a couple of lines about signed album copies and merchandise, what came from the lead singer was pure filth. He was married with a family and the exec wasn’t a star-struck groupie. None of what he shared is repeatable, but it was chauvinistic, degrading and offensive. Very offensive. I was disgusted, angry and told her she should complain.

“Who to?” came the response. “It’s what they’re like, it’s part of the job.”

If that email was sent today, it’s safe to say heads would roll and people would be rightly shamed and unemployable.

As disgusting as it was, it didn’t really surprise me. I just felt awful that someone had to put up with this kind of degrading behaviour. That was the time we lived in and if people objected to it, what could they really do? They’d be labelled ‘liberal lefties’ or ‘do-gooders’ and ignored.

Things have moved on and attitudes have changed, especially in recent times, but it is still there under the surface.

In the case of my more recent PR correspondence, I half-jokingly replied that she should be careful not to reply to her husband by mistake.

Maybe I should have taken a tougher line and called out her behaviour.

What would you have done?

 #pr #hr #discrimination #harassment #equality #metoo