Sexist Gaffe Costs Startup Event Sponsors

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Attention fellow tech nerds, if you are holding a sponsored tech event, you can't publicly announce that women serving alcohol is one of the event's perks. If you do, you will lose event sponsors.

Your language, as far as I understand it, is making the assumption that all coders are male, that all are straight, that women are sexual objects offered as a reward (HIGHLY inappropriate in a professional context), and that the women are there to serve them.
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I am a bit confused here because every tech event (since the beginning of time) has featured booth babes handing out pamphlets, serving food and alcohol, giving massages, etc. and that's okay, but if you say it's a "perk," you lose sponsors. :rolleyes:
 
don't be confused, sexual stereotypes are only politically correct as long as they are directed against men.
 
Not sure how that's sexist. Saying there's going to be women there as wait staff is hardly a sexist statement.
 
Really? Then what was his meaning by stating it? This should be good for a laugh.
 
sfsuphysics said:
Not sure how that's sexist. Saying there's going to be women there as wait staff is hardly a sexist statement.
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....saying it was a "perk" is what made everyone mad.

None of these companies have ever complained about the USE of women at these events...even by their own companies...you just can't say it is a "perk."

Interesting facts about the people complaining or pulled sponsorship:

Gayle McDowell (formerly of Apple, Google and Microsoft...the biggest employers of booth babes on the planet ;))

Cloudmine ( all dudes )

Apigee ( No female board members, one token female executive ) and the company's head of developer relations said:

I haven’t been to a single tech event in a single city where I couldn’t do a conference call in the women’s bathroom. Why? It’s quiet in there. The underrepresentation of women in the startup community is at a fucking monumental global scale. All tech communities I’ve encountered similarly struggle with issues like outsourcing, lack of racial diversity, lack of accessible education, prevalence of elitism and social media douchebags.
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Not saying it is right, I am simply pointing out the massive hypocrisy.
 
Everything's okay until someone complains about sexism (or some other Political Incorrectness). Sponsors are forced to take sides... and they want to get laid when they get home.
 
Hehe, the site's headlines for the day:
'Hot Blonde Shaves It All Off in Public"
"Article where a woman (since she hates the word female) reads a million things into the word 'female' being used in a description of the wait staff of the event.'

Bottom line, quote: "Your language, as far as I understand it, is making the assumption that all coders are male, that all are straight, that women are sexual objects offered as a reward (HIGHLY inappropriate in a professional context), and that the women are there to serve them."

ALL that from the word female? First, since she had to bring up the straight or not thing wouldn't that kind of blow a hole in her first assumption that it's saying all coders are male? Her second complaint completely invalidated her first complaint. Her third complaint - I wasn't aware it said the wait staff were going to be performing anything sexual as a reward (How her mind got 'sexual rewards' from 'Let our event staff get that for you' I don't know). Her final complaint - REALLY? She's upset that wait staff are being associated with the idea that they are just there to serve people? :rolleyes:

Imagine what it was like to work with her if she read that many complaints and issues into somebody simply mentioning their wait staff happened to be female.
 
Gotcha Steve, so Booth Babes are not sexist, even so much as promoting the event because of the booth babes, just don't call them a perk :D
 
I'm still waiting for some buff booth dudes. Wonder if people would get their underwear in a bunch over that, you know those poor men.
 
Someday I want to actually meet one of the blowhards that gets all irritated by things like this. They would be so much fun to spin up. If this lady heard half the stuff I hear every day she would probably have an aneurysm. There is so much going on in the world that should legitimately piss you off, and THIS is what you pick?
 
Women will continue to be the "lesser" sex so long as they continue to rely on their double-standards and hypocritical thinking.

And to quote a recent work:

“Never forget what you are, for surely the world will not. Make it your strength. Then it can never be your weakness. Armour yourself in it, and it will never be used to hurt you.”
― George R.R. Martin, A Game of Thrones
 
Another issue to consider is that from my personal observation working at a higher education institution for the past many years is that women in engineering and computer science would on average not qualify for booth babe positions. So there's that too.
 
women will complain about anything and everything if you give them the chance, if they didnt hire booth babes she would bitch about that too...
 
I don't know but I wouldn't want a sponsor that is so uptight that they get their knickers in a twist when someone says "hot chicks serving alcohol" is a good thing. Ever been to Hooters?
 
So, there's like this theme in my life and the lives of everyone I know where a lot of the guys like tech toys and learning how to use them and many obsess about learning to use them while the wiimens go buy more shoes, garden, or bitch about when some dood says women serving alcohol is a perk at a tech event. I'm not saying all guys are tech experts in all women are green thumbs or ditz's, I'm just saying my two best friends are a fluid dynamics engineer and a web designer, my grandfather designed circuitry for nuclear missles, my older brother OC'd his phone by hacking the bios, my Dad is a code monkey, I am HERE, and out of all of this, all of that environment which lead those people to be who they are none of the 'female' children or siblings can fix their own computer. So, until such a time that women are on the draft(if ever?), or even till when the tech expurt you know is just as likely to be a women, wiimens serving alcohol at tech events can be correctly worded as, A Perk.
 
datenshi_bry said:
I'll just leave this here.
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For those that don't want to read the link: Its a story about a chick who loves coding (male dominated field) who is bitching about being told to "lighten up" about all the passively sexist remarks being told to her over the years.

WOMEN, stop bitching. Learn to take a joke, learn to dish em out yourself.

Everyone of these "articles" comes down to women bitching about their situation. Suck it the fuck up. Seriously. Do you know how much shit men give each other ? Do you really ? Racist jokes, sexist jokes, obesity jokes, religious jokes, tall jokes, short jokes, jokes about how you look like Corky from life goes on, you name it; we make them about each other. We do it because it's funny. Just like trolls on the internet, you making a big deal about it only makes it funnier for us. Women bitching about not being treated fairly IS what makes us do it more. You being made fun of IS acceptance, it IS equality. The moment a woman makes the distinction that they are "above" being made fun of, is the moment that we start truly discriminating against you. It is at that point that you make life just a little bit less enjoyable, and you have now made it our mission in life to make your life just a little bit worse in every legal way possible. That is the reality of sexism in the workplace / modern society.

Thicken your skin, get over it, and just like this stupid article above harps on, "lighten up".

And make me a god damn sammich.
 
It's just like Rod Blagojevich and the corruption charges he received for selling Obama's Senate seat: it's only a crime if you say it out loud. There's a reason why rules like this are called unspoken rules.
 
Andrew Dice Clay said it best "If I was a woman I would suck dick till I had a mansion"

Anyone can use there talents how they want until they cry discrimination ...... Its no different than racism or tree huggers......
 
A bunch of geeks getting to see a girl? God forbid.
These poor guys probably work at a sausage factory, getting to see a pretty girl should be considered a charity event. Maybe they can see if Make A Wish will step in for the lost sponsor.
 
lilbabycat said:
For those that don't want to read the link: Its a story about a chick who loves coding (male dominated field) who is bitching about being told to "lighten up" about all the passively sexist remarks being told to her over the years.

WOMEN, stop bitching. Learn to take a joke, learn to dish em out yourself.

Everyone of these "articles" comes down to women bitching about their situation. Suck it the fuck up. Seriously. Do you know how much shit men give each other ? Do you really ? Racist jokes, sexist jokes, obesity jokes, religious jokes, tall jokes, short jokes, jokes about how you look like Corky from life goes on, you name it; we make them about each other. We do it because it's funny. Just like trolls on the internet, you making a big deal about it only makes it funnier for us. Women bitching about not being treated fairly IS what makes us do it more. You being made fun of IS acceptance, it IS equality. The moment a woman makes the distinction that they are "above" being made fun of, is the moment that we start truly discriminating against you. It is at that point that you make life just a little bit less enjoyable, and you have now made it our mission in life to make your life just a little bit worse in every legal way possible. That is the reality of sexism in the workplace / modern society.

Thicken your skin, get over it, and just like this stupid article above harps on, "lighten up".

And make me a god damn sammich.
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Hahah, you win. :D
 
sfsuphysics said:
Not sure how that's sexist. Saying there's going to be women there as wait staff is hardly a sexist statement.
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You know, I think I just read that services is the one place women earn more than me ($1.02:$1.00). So it is as much a "perk" as saying you hire only the best, no? :D
 
Stone Cold said:
Everything's okay until someone complains about sexism (or some other Political Incorrectness). Sponsors are forced to take sides... and they want to get laid when they get home.
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Exactly this!

It shouldn't be surprising to anyone. At the end of the day, the companies only care about protecting their own image, its not about whats right or wrong.
 
You just need to hold these events here in vegas where that's status quo and no one minds. A friend of mine is a banquet sever at these conventions a a lot more than serving drinks is furnished.
 
sfsuphysics said:
Not sure how that's sexist. Saying there's going to be women there as wait staff is hardly a sexist statement.
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You either didn't read the whole article or have the boys-will-be-boys spirit so engrained that it passes your understanding.

I know the games and devs world is mostly male-dominated, but it's a totally different thing for their customers and partners, especially if they are seeking sponsors. I hope these juvenile nerds will behave like responsible adults and respect the diverse world we live in. As Gayle McDowell (who worked in several diverse companies) answered, it is equally insulting to gay people, and their later excuse was just as lame.

Such companies will never get my business, and I will never recommend them to anyone, GoDaddy can suck my transgender vagina for its retrograde babes ads.
 
Actually, fuck it. This is the point where I stop coming to this site. There's only so much I can handle of right wing, uneducated assholes and [H] usually fills that quota for the day, but now it's going overboard. lilbabycat's terrible post is pretty indicative of the majority of the posters in the News section and it's not worth the attention when there's so many better hardware/tech news sites out there now.

Enjoy your circle jerk pit.
 
@Jaerb4 Well I found [H] has improved a bit in that regard, there used to be much more macho stuff, about guns, cars, etc.
You've got to dissociate the commenters from the article posters too. You're bound to find dumb asses like lilbabycat who think it's only women that bitch about such things, or that because men in his environment make such jokes between themselves, that women shouldn't bitch (what a choice of words!) and that this environment is OK. This is no joke, especially in the professional world. This guy has no idea what is the modern workplace and society he talks about, or he is unfortunate to work in such a backwards place.

Still, [H] is just a blog, so I tend to be lenient and I certainly wouldn't want it to be PC all the time, I hate this PC stuff. We can behave like decent human beings without being PC.
 
Meh. Was expecting much more harsher myopic misogyny esp. from the old guard.

lilbabycat said:
WOMEN, stop bitching. Learn to take a joke, learn to dish em out yourself.
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Even the best response conveniently ignores that the author's more serious problems aren't in the form of jokes (eg. note taker, personal assistant).

Instead, we got a lame internet tough guy circle jerk. No one even pointed out that the original flyer was also dissing pizza, the staple food of neckbeards.
 
Women are their own worst enemies at this stage of the game in the work force. Sure, there are some men that want to keep them out of the work place but, at this stage in western society, women are fighting themselves more than men.

There are a whole lot of women that have no problem using "sex sells" to make themselves money or advance their position. There are also another bunch that want to be "equal" only in so far as it means equal pay in the work place while not having to lift heavy boxes, pick up the tab, or do anything else along those lines that men do on a regular basis, even in a normal office environment. There's a woman down the hall that deals with all the office supplies as part of her job. That means, yes, occasionally lugging around some boxes of copier paper. I sit and watch her do it. Other women in the office scoff and declare me not much of a "gentleman" for not helping. The woman doing the job has no problem lifting the boxes. She's certainly not struggling. She doesn't complain because she's just doing her job. The other women, though, are insisting that some man should step in and help her ... reinforcing the supposed "male" stereotype of women.

Reality is ... the "weak" stereotype of women is as much pushed by other women as it is men. They like having men do the heavy lifting, hold doors, and so forth. Makes them feel special. They like the attention. Men can't fix that. Women have to do it themselves.

Now look at the booth babes. They're not forced to do it. If they have the body for it then it is relatively easy money. They can use that money to fund an education or do something else in their lives. But, they reinforce the stereotype every time they take the money. Yes, many many decades ago that was pretty much the few jobs women could do. That is no longer the case. Now they do it because they don't have any problem making money flaunting what they have for men that will drool.

So, yes, there are women out there that are strong enough emotionally and mentally to work in a job with other men and go toe-to-toe with them every day cracking jokes and taking/giving abuse. I work with four of them of them and, at times, they're more crude than the men. I also work with a few other women that are the exact opposite and think men should do all the heavy lifting, open doors, and buy them drinks. Women have to spend more time working on their own sex's attitudes than they do men's attitudes.

Men are crude and rude to each other so if women want to work in that environment then they have to expect it. If they can't handle it that isn't a sign that men need to change it is a sign that if women truly want to be "equal" then they have to get used to it or find a job where that isn't the case. Some women have figured that out and they're bloody refreshing to work with. Others are too busy blaming everything on men.
 
Chimel said:
@Jaerb4 Well I found [H] has improved a bit in that regard, there used to be much more macho stuff, about guns, cars, etc.
You've got to dissociate the commenters from the article posters too. You're bound to find dumb asses like lilbabycat who think it's only women that bitch about such things, or that because men in his environment make such jokes between themselves, that women shouldn't bitch (what a choice of words!) and that this environment is OK. This is no joke, especially in the professional world. This guy has no idea what is the modern workplace and society he talks about, or he is unfortunate to work in such a backwards place.

Still, [H] is just a blog, so I tend to be lenient and I certainly wouldn't want it to be PC all the time, I hate this PC stuff. We can behave like decent human beings without being PC.
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Isn't associating car and gun stuff with machismo sexist? Lol the double standards and hipocrisy.
 
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