I’ve decided to take Sample Chapter 19 ‘Girlfriend Skiing’ offline!

A lot of people (mostly men it has to be said) thought it was hilarious but a few people (mostly female it also has to be said) thought it was sexist – it was meant to be funny and I apologise.

My actual Girlfriend (Debbie), on which it was based, laughed out loud when she proofread it – but that could just have been at my atrocious spelling. I’m mortified, that it came across as sexist, having made the point early on in the chapter that ‘Girlfriend Skiing’ can be done with both sexes. However ‘Significant-other-of-lesser-ability Skiing’ wouldn’t have been so catchy.

The problem with writing my memoir I discover, is that I will unavoidably get tagged with a lot of ‘ists’: narcissist, fascist, jingoist, ageist, fantasist, hedonist, anthropomorphist, alienist and now sexist – please feel free to add to the list in the comments section below.

The problem with trying to be humorous is that it’s so easy to step over the line between funny and offensive. Most jokes play on stereotypes and people laugh at them because they have a similarly long list of ‘ists’ themselves.

Unfortunately (fortunately?) I cannot remove Chapter 19 from the actual book at this stage. So maybe you can order it, read it, and let me know what you think?

I apologise now if it offends you too, but there will be no refunds!

Update: by popular demand Girlfriend Skiing is now back online.

Cheers

Chris