A demand too far?

Ask! Its not hard. You can ask people what they like to do, what their weekend plans are etc

janipat I meant that a 5 minute discussion of whatever isn't sexist, as there are few subjects that are exclusively of interest to one sex only. Where discussions are excluding others (of any sex or other group) then they should stop, but IMO this is a matter of manners.

Unless, of course, it is being done deliberately, as in the examples I gave, as has Notanan2.

For goodness sake! So they say I'm going to watch a football match....no can't discuss that. Oh I'm going to watch GBBO, no interest to me, next. You will not find a subject of interest to the whole office, and as people must not chat other than to include the whole office it's going to be very short conversations or very quiet.

As another poster said, play to the audience. The whole audience. Not one or two at the exclusion of everyone else.

That last post to notanan2

Some people learn this in kindergarden, some dont so it needs to be "managed"

So the speech police are at it again.
Bring common sense back into this world and free speech.
Totally ridiculous.

Doodledog

You would surely have to be hugely sensitive to feel excluded because your co workers were discussing Eastenders, and you don’t watch it.

If I felt excluded ever time the conversation turned to Line of Duty, which I have never seen, I’d be an emotional wreck!

I still wish someone would tell me these subjects of conversations that will include everybody. Surely (well in the workplaces I've been) people have a conversation about something of mutual interest, and then someone who had no interest in that raises a new subject and a new combination of people take part. But I can't honestly remember many occasions where everybody joined in with the one conversation, often there'd be 2 or 3 going on at once. Just like at any social gathering I've been to where people drift from group to group, joining new conversations.

Janipat

I agree, we drift in and out of conversations all day, don’t like one, start another one.

Sarah65 I wouldn't feel excluded by that at all. I would find someone else to talk to.

I was simply making a point that it is not sexist to talk about sport (or anything else) as there are very few single-sex topics. Do you disagree with that?

I also said that short conversations are fair game, but who would think it ok to talk for an hour about a topic that exceeded one person? Off the top of my head, something like when you and I went for our holiday together, or our mutual interest in Chinese poetry, when the other person at the table was unable to take part. Is that so controversial?

Daft!

Doodledog of course the examples you've just given would be totally unacceptable, and just plain ignorant behaviour. But that wasn't what this thread started about was it? That's about not talking in the office about subjects which don't include everyone each time. That concept is, in my opinion, unworkable.

No I agree, of course it’s not sexist to talk about sport, one of our ladies joins in the rugby conversations very enthusiastically.

I can see if there were three of us, and you and I spent an hour talking about Chinese poetry, that would be very rude, it would also be very one sided, because I don’t know anything about it.

I can’t think of any truly single sex topics. Maybe menstruation? Menopause? Not many anyway.

Good grief! It feels like being cross examined on here today.

I've seen courtroom dramas where people have had less scrutiny of their every remark .

That was to janipat.

What about al the female sports commentators - Gaby Roslin and the rest?

Big Brother at its best!

Doodledog I have no intention of cross examining anyone. Sorry you feel like that, I've felt somewhat "attacked" myself. From not having learned how to behave in kindergarden onwards.

I'm not interested in sport at all, most of it bores me stiff. Maybe with the exception of the Olympics, when Mo Farah does that thing he does where he's lying last and then overtakes all the others, that I find exciting and some of the other track events. My husband plays golf, loves talking about that, we've been together over 35 years and I've still no idea what he's talking about. He and our sons follow West Ham, one in particular will phone as sure as night follows day after a match to speak to his dad so they can analyze the whole boring 90 minutes or however long a match lasts. No idea why they care so much, if they lose it isn't tragic no one dies! I just zone out. My husband also has a reasonable interest in rugby and tennis, again don't give a whatever!

Talk away, perhaps make sure womens' toilets remain just that, so those like me can escape occasionally from such interminable boring topics. I defend their right to talk about it though. In the words of Pink Floyd "Hey Head of Chartered Management Institute, leave them men alone"

Meghan and Harry. (sorry, couldn't resist.)

It doesn’t surprise me in this ridiculously politically correct world.

This afternoon we’ve talked about trains, the uselessness of tradesmen who don’t bother to turn up, the men have had a jolly old time talking about how badly they’re treated by their wives, ha ha ha!

We’ve touched on last nights Silent Witness, UPVC versus wooden front doors, temporary traffic lights everywhere, Nothing controversial today.

Having been brought up by a rugby-loving father and 'educated' by a cricketing DS, I've always been quite prepared to join in any discussion of these games. I'd have thought that tennis would be non-exclusive as I have known many other women who have been just as keen to talk about it as I have. Many of us have been known to play tennis too. I have half an eye on the TV at the moment, watching the Australian Open.