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

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

#321

Post by jacquesm »

Alex3917 wrote: post #210
munchbunny wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The sad part to me is that this is just the part of the iceberg that is visible above the surface. I've heard stories from several female founders/VC's (not naming names or specific details to protect anonymity) who have experienced repeated unwelcome advances even after it was made clear they had a significant other. That's not as egregious as groping (one of the accusations in this article), but that's still sexual…

> that's still sexual harassment by the letter of the law and slimy as hell every other way. IANAL, but legally it's not sexual harassment because they don't work at the same company. Something is only sexual harassment in two cases: 1) a supervisor offers something to a subordinate in exchange for sexual favors 2) a company is found to have created a hostile work environment. In both cases it's the company that's li…

> because there isn't any real power imbalance between entrepreneurs and VCs

?? Sorry?

There is a huge power imbalance between entrepreneurs and VCs.

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

#322

Post by solidsnack9000 »

munchbunny wrote: post #102
jmcgough wrote: post #32

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…

The sad part to me is that this is just the part of the iceberg that is visible above the surface. I've heard stories from several female founders/VC's (not naming names or specific details to protect anonymity) who have experienced repeated unwelcome advances even after it was made clear they had a significant other. That's not as egregious as groping (one of the accusations in this article), but that's still sexual…

> Another common theme I noticed is when the man in question stays in the gray area where individual incidents aren't clearly over the line and might not qualify legally as sexual harassment, but in context and in aggregate it's clear why a woman would feel very uncomfortable. How do you confront something like that when they can just question your perception of reality?

This is where professionalism and propriety come in. One's behavior should simply be well outside the gray area and straying into it should, itself, be grounds for confrontation.

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

#323

Post by mcbits »

Alex3917 wrote: post #292
munchbunny wrote: post #244

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are right that it's not illegal because it's not within the scope of a company. What I meant is that the EEOC decided to draw a line, and aside from the "in the context of a company" requirement, the behavior in the stories I've heard definitely crosses that line rather than just being an uncomfortable and sketchy situation. I would argue however, that because VC's are holding the money and entrepreneurs are tryi…

> I would argue however, that because VC's are holding the money and entrepreneurs are trying to raise, it might not be as bad as a boss/employee power dynamic, but the power is certainly held by the VC in the situation. - The vast majority of highly successful companies don't raise venture. VCs need equity, entrepreneurs don't need money. - The vast majority of companies that raise VC don't succeed. - The vast major…

One person has $100 million that they'd like to turn into $1 billion. Another person has a plan that is likely to fail, but it's new territory with great potential. If no deal happens, one person still has $100 million while the other still has their unexecuted plan and hopefully a job or something.

The power imbalance is pretty obvious in that kind of scenario. It's less of an imbalance if the entrepreneur is also wealthy and just raising money to share risk or build alliances.

Point is, if you have multiple millions of dollars, "do nothing" is always on the table, which isn't so for many founders.

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

#324

Post by biafra »

_RPM wrote: post #303
URSpider94 wrote: post #290

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the USA, "sexual harassment" is generally defined as behavior or words of a sexual nature that make a person feel uncomfortable. Examples could range from an extreme of physical assault or offering a quid-pro-quo to keep ones job or get a promotion, all the way to telling lewd jokes or stories within earshot of a third party, or making comments or compliments about someone's dress or appearance (even telling a co-…

As a straight male, my manager comments on my clothes if I wear something nicer than usual, say a button up. It made very uncomfortable. I don't like when people comment on my appearance at work.

Did you tell them? Did you ask them to stop? Did they ignored your wish?

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

#325

Post by solidsnack9000 »

_m8fo wrote: post #2

In these situations how are things actually proved? Is it just a "he said, she said" situation? In any case, it's a bold move to go on record, though I'm curious what difference it actually makes. EDIT: Ah, it seems going on record is necessary to actually bring charges to someone.

> EDIT: Ah, it seems going on record is necessary to actually bring charges to someone.

This is an interesting comment and sheds some light on what is happening here.

There is no need to be publicly named in a news article to bring charges in a court of law; but in a court of law there is a clear and regular process for evaluating charges; and one does actually submit to the possibility of retaliation in a limited form: false accusations carry punishments of their own.

Justin has already quit. In some sense, charges were brought in the court of public opinion -- and for these to have any weight, there must be some element of credibility attached to them. Journalists are not cops and just quoting "unnamed sources" is not enough to substantiate the idea that someone should lose their job, in part because unnamed sources accept no scrutiny and no risk. Attaching one's name to something like this is the only way to lend any weight to it, in the absence of any judicial process.

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

#326

Post by btilly »

rhizome wrote: post #278
btilly wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't appear to know the history as well as you think you do. The comparison is fair. 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. It was both. A lot of accusations were made in front of the House Un-American Activities Committee, on public record, and those ac…

> Can you provide stories of accused communists starving to death due to the blacklist? They were more likely to commit suicide for lack of work. See: Philip Loeb and Bartley Crum, for two.

And https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2017/05/02/title-ix-case... presents evidence of people accused but not convicted of sexual assault of committing suicide in response.

The analogy remains accurate.

Should you doubt the analogy, I strongly recommend reading http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/03/14/when-kids-are-a... to see how the modern "sexual assault equivalent of the communist blacklist catches children in its net, and what the impact is. Do you think that this is rare? Read https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/ojjdp/227763.pdf for evidence that 1/4 of registered sex offenders were themselves juveniles at the time of the offense.

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

#327

Post by r00fus »

biocomputation wrote: post #204
erikpukinskis wrote: post #195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> repeated unwelcome advances even after it was made clear they had a significant other Repeated unwelcome advances are not OK even if the person is single.

I am the very close relative of two women in tech. One of my relatives was on the receiving end of repeated, unwanted advances over the last several months, none of which were reported to HR because she didn't want to destroy her career at the company. Last weekend she received an unsolicited, nearly naked photo from the same male co-worker. Needless to say, he is no longer at the company. This is sad on two counts.…

Does sending dick-pics or beefcake shots actually work? Especially if you keep getting rejection?

What prompts this kind of mentality?

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

#328

Post by dang »

nickrivadeneira wrote: post #233
dang wrote: post #211

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Whether you mean to or not you're trolling this thread hard. Please stop now.

Just out of curiosity, what about his comment is trolling other than it being a contrarian opinion in this forum?

That's a legit question (especially out of curiosity) but one that takes a surprising amount of energy to answer precisely. I might be able to do that tomorrow, but in the meantime here are some answers in the same vein. It's all the same principle, but the details vary.

https://hn.algolia.com/?sort=byDate&prefix&page=0&dateRange=...

Edit: I wrote some more downthread at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14627388, if anyone wants more to read about how we approach this.

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

#329

Post by ekianjo »

vm wrote: post #178
tptacek wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Caldbeck appears to have contradicted the firm's claim, harming their own credibility.

Compare this to Sequoia Capital's swift and decisive public response when one of their partners was accused to personal impropriety. https://twitter.com/sequoia/status/708549364428316672

BUt isnt that kind of direct action a problem unless there is any actual proof? Imagine that you are innocent and someone is out to get you with false claims, you can lose your job in no time and your reputation can be in shambles before you can do anything about it.

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

#330

Post by brian-armstrong »

knodi123 wrote: post #315
munchbunny wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The sad part to me is that this is just the part of the iceberg that is visible above the surface. I've heard stories from several female founders/VC's (not naming names or specific details to protect anonymity) who have experienced repeated unwelcome advances even after it was made clear they had a significant other. That's not as egregious as groping (one of the accusations in this article), but that's still sexual…

> Another common theme I noticed is when the man in question stays in the gray area where individual incidents aren't clearly over the line and might not qualify legally as sexual harassment, but in context and in aggregate it's clear why a woman would feel very uncomfortable. This seems like a slippery slope. I can imagine malicious but careful predators who constantly test boundaries in a conscious effort to achiev…

The parent post is likely talking about unwanted advances and sexual references, not "awkwardness." If having a crush on someone causes you to make uncomfortable sexual inneundos at them or suggest they should sleep with you, the the problem is your self control, not a question of grey areas.
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