Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

6 Women Accuse Tech VC Justin Caldbeck of Sexual Assault and Harassment

observer.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 484 posts

Re: 6 Women Accuse Tech VC Justin Caldbeck of Sexual Assault and Harassment

#31

Post by dragonwriter »

Alex3917 wrote: post #25
lmkg wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Texts would be an example of "sexual harassment." Some types of sexual assault can be proven by medical examination, if the exam happens soon after, although many actions that qualify as sexual assault will either not show up on an exam, or can be proven to be "sexual" but not "assault." However, in cases like this where there is an ongoing relationship before and after the incident, the text messages will often refe…

> Texts would be an example of "sexual harassment." Sexual harassment law only applies to the workplace.

Sexual harassment exists and is a thing people can be publicly accused of even where it is not legally prohibited.

An action need not be legally actionable to be newsworthy, or to be important for people who might want to know of their risk of being subjected to similar action.

Re: 6 Women Accuse Tech VC Justin Caldbeck of Sexual Assault and Harassment

#32

Post by jmcgough »

Really glad to see people like this getting called out. Dealing with sexual harassment/assault from someone in power is the last thing you want as a female founder - you have a million other things you need to do to keep your startup afloat, and you don't want to rock the boat if it affects your likelihood of being funded. Feels like the valley is slowly but surely changing.

And yes, I recognize that this hasn't been "proven", but really what's the chance than there's a shadowy cabal of women who start companies in order to target individual VCs. These women have little to gain from this and everything to lose. Occams razor is that he's at the very least doing something that's inappropriate.

Re: 6 Women Accuse Tech VC Justin Caldbeck of Sexual Assault and Harassment

#34

Post by urda »

davidu wrote: post #22

This is disgusting, pathetic, and predatory. It also has a long-term chilling effect on women in technology and entrepreneurship. I am surprised by the lack of outrage over this behavior.

> I am surprised by the lack of outrage over this behavior.

How about we wait for due process first before we start tearing into it? There's a reason why "innocent until proven guilty" is an important part of our society and comments like these undermine that.

Re: 6 Women Accuse Tech VC Justin Caldbeck of Sexual Assault and Harassment

#35

Post by vkou »

sillysaurus3 wrote: post #26
vkou wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When it involves serial harassers, the ability to get many she-saids becomes easy, too. Do you really think that founders are lining up to put their personal and professional reputation on the line, to smear this guy, as part of a vast female conspiracy? They have fucking text messages to back their story up. Are those easy to fabricate too, when it comes to rich and powerful people?

No, I don't. But do you think it's reasonable to crucify him before any investigation happens? My comment was a bit too female-focused. It wasn't about she-said's or a female conspiracy, but rather the ease of getting people to smear someone that has enemies. It's hard not to notice that the claim of sexual harassment is as equally damaging now as being called a communist was in the 50's. It's obviously quite differe…

> It's hard not to notice that the claim of sexual harassment is as equally damaging now as being called a communist was in the 50's. It's obviously quite different, but the damage is identical. And when it comes to something so powerful, we should at least respect due process.

It's not, and it's not.

Communist witch-hunts were conducted by secret, back-channel, anonymous snitches, and were all about guilt by association. Accusations of sexual harassment put the accuser incredibly out in the open.

They were also largely used as a weapon against the weak and unconnected - people without the resources, or even awareness necessary to fight back against secret blacklists.

Not to mention that there is a colossal distinction between blackballing people for being communists, and blackballing them for being sexual harassers.

And besides, if history's any indication, the latter don't have problem making a living. There's always someone willing to take a chance.

Re: 6 Women Accuse Tech VC Justin Caldbeck of Sexual Assault and Harassment

#36

Post by [deleted] »

vkou wrote: post #30
cuckcuckspruce wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's exactly why we have due process - to evaluate evidence in an impartial and equitable way. GP's point was more about due process than anything else, so could you extend the assumption of good faith to their comment and engage with that point?

I'm not a court of law, I'm not locking him up in a prison, and I don't need proof of guilt beyond an unreasonable doubt to take these allegations seriously.

[deleted]

Re: 6 Women Accuse Tech VC Justin Caldbeck of Sexual Assault and Harassment

#37

Post by snvzz »

gorbachev wrote: post #18

"While significant context is missing from the incidents reported by The Information, I deeply regret ever causing anyone to feel uncomfortable." I wonder what kind of significant context was missing? They asked for it? /sarcasm

Apologising. A classic mistake. What's possibly just a display of good will is going to get abused as admission of guilt.

Re: 6 Women Accuse Tech VC Justin Caldbeck of Sexual Assault and Harassment

#38

Post by [deleted] »

vkou wrote: post #30
cuckcuckspruce wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's exactly why we have due process - to evaluate evidence in an impartial and equitable way. GP's point was more about due process than anything else, so could you extend the assumption of good faith to their comment and engage with that point?

I'm not a court of law, I'm not locking him up in a prison, and I don't need proof of guilt beyond an unreasonable doubt to take these allegations seriously.

[deleted]

Re: 6 Women Accuse Tech VC Justin Caldbeck of Sexual Assault and Harassment

#39

Post by sp332 »

urda wrote: post #34
davidu wrote: post #22

This is disgusting, pathetic, and predatory. It also has a long-term chilling effect on women in technology and entrepreneurship. I am surprised by the lack of outrage over this behavior.

> I am surprised by the lack of outrage over this behavior. How about we wait for due process first before we start tearing into it? There's a reason why "innocent until proven guilty" is an important part of our society and comments like these undermine that.

Due process is for criminal charges and sentencing. It doesn't apply anywhere else. [Edit: OK and other state stuff. Point stands.] Even if you sue someone, you only need a "preponderance of evidence" and not to prove beyond reasonable doubt. Outside of a courtroom, you can literally make up anything you want. For example, if you're a founder and you hear a rumor of a VC being a serial harasser, you might decide to skip that company. You don't have to justify yourself to anyone.

Re: 6 Women Accuse Tech VC Justin Caldbeck of Sexual Assault and Harassment

#40

Post by dragonwriter »

sillysaurus3 wrote: post #26
vkou wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When it involves serial harassers, the ability to get many she-saids becomes easy, too. Do you really think that founders are lining up to put their personal and professional reputation on the line, to smear this guy, as part of a vast female conspiracy? They have fucking text messages to back their story up. Are those easy to fabricate too, when it comes to rich and powerful people?

No, I don't. But do you think it's reasonable to crucify him before any investigation happens? My comment was a bit too female-focused. It wasn't about she-said's or a female conspiracy, but rather the ease of getting people to smear someone that has enemies. It's hard not to notice that the claim of sexual harassment is as equally damaging now as being called a communist was in the 50's. It's obviously quite differe…

> But do you think it's reasonable to crucify him before any investigation happens?

No, and if you see anyone hauling an actual, physical tree around to nail him to, you can tell them I said that.

But commenting based on one's perception of the facts based on the published allegations and responses is not, even remotely, analogous to crucifixion.

Post reply on HN