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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

#401

Post by Geekette »

Stenzel wrote: post #351

This article has zero information, but a picture and name of the accused man. This modern kind of witch hunt is disgusting. It also seems to be that the bar for calling something sexual harassement is constantly lowered and results in a poisoned atmosphere where any playful transgression between genders is rendered impossible. It also contradicts my personal experience, where men and women alike enjoy to initiate tal…

"This article has zero information, but a picture and name of the accused man. This modern kind of witch hunt is disgusting. It also seems to be that the bar for calling something sexual harassement is constantly lowered and results in a poisoned atmosphere where any playful transgression between genders is rendered impossible."

The article clearly links to the original report, which outlines the accusations in great detail.

The bar for calling something sexual harassment is NOT constantly lowered but incidents are thankfully being highlighted more and more, which should make more would be perps think twice. The rules of engagement in professional settings are clear, especially in regards to a person in position of power vs subordinate and sexual attention has no place there. A meeting about fundraising for a company should center discussions on just that. The suggestion that anyone's discomfort at such harassment should be deprioritized to allow for "playful transgression between genders" is asinine.

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

#402

Post by microcolonel »

tacomonstrous wrote: post #380
Skeptique wrote: post #366

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The amusing thing is -- when men are too careful, that is also supposedly sexist. Consider VP Pence's stance on not having dinner with women, his extreme guard against any potential impropriety. The reaction? Here is one: "The vice president—and other powerful men—regularly avoid one-on-one meetings with women in the name of protecting their families. In the end, what suffers is women’s progress." https://www.theatla…

It can be a fine line, but a superior who refuses to meet one-on-one with you just because you're a woman is not doing their job well.

It has the same problems for any man in power, it's not a matter of "doing your job well". You basically have to record your office at all times to be safe from accusations of this sort.

Well, that is assuming you're innocent of anything that could be classed as improper, which is an ever growing class of activities.

I think that in this case, the accused is guilty of something, but it's not yet clear whether it was quite illegal. Hence a trial probably. His personal statements corroborate this.

I tend to record most conversations I have in a professional setting these days. I would record everything if I were managing people. It also helps as a general memory aid, and if anyone ever gets upset with me and decides to sling some mud, I'll have it all on file.

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

#403

Post by belorn »

r00fus wrote: post #327
biocomputation wrote: post #204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

It was just the other day that that I read in the local news about a woman that was arrested for sending breast pictures to an ex, sending death threats to his new girlfriend, and stalking him from his home to work.

Stalking seems to be some form of obsessive behavior, and I suspect that sending pictures is an early stage of such behavior. It also describe a cure for it, ie similar cures we have when obsessive behavior makes someone a criminal.

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

#404

Post by bjl »

qubex wrote: post #336
staticautomatic wrote: post #223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"The past 24 hours have been the darkest of my life." - This is all about me, not the women. I've had a rough time and I want your sympathy. "I have made many mistakes over the course of my career, some of which were brought to light this week." - I'm probably a pathological predator but prefer to view my illness and/or poor character as a set of "mistakes" because that's easier on me than admitting I'm a piece of sh…

That's a very cynical (though not necessarily inaccurate) paraphrasal of his text. I am wondering: what kind of statement could he make, according to you, that is not amenable to such doubts?

I don't think there's anything he can say unless he knows a spell that will take him back in time and un-harass those women.

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

#406

Post by qubex »

LeeHwang wrote: post #391
qubex wrote: post #338

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Italy we comment and compliment (or criticise) each other's attire regularly. It's widely known (for example) that I abhor exposed feet and will therefore call out and/or criticize sandals, flip-flops, or peep-toe shoes. Female workers do this to make workers, male workers do this to female workers. We successfully share same-sex toilets if the need arises. The regimented gender-divided situation the US seems to s…

Don't let these silicon valley stories fool you. Blame extremists and people who exploit gender relations for money. Most americans are decent people who do the exact type of behavior you mention, and its not a problem. Big money leads to terrible behavior due to power differences. Men AND Women willing to take advantage of less powerful people. I have a female friend who was sexually harrassed by a female VC, and ag…

I'm amused by the the apparent controversy of my original post (as measured by the fairly broad swings in net upvotes/downvotes). Apparently the apparent common sense I voiced therein doesn't gel with the silent majority quite as much as I'd be comfortable with.

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

#407

Post by qubex »

bjl wrote: post #404
qubex wrote: post #336

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a very cynical (though not necessarily inaccurate) paraphrasal of his text. I am wondering: what kind of statement could he make, according to you, that is not amenable to such doubts?

I don't think there's anything he can say unless he knows a spell that will take him back in time and un-harass those women.

So the rite of apology as enshrined in our society's mores is entirely irrelevant and inconsequential? (I wouldn't disagree either way, as I don't put much stock into words after events) but if you don't believe in apologies would you feel it appropriate for the alleged perpetrator just to remain silent?

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

#408

Post by gist »

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…

> 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.

Seriously? I mean then why do we need courts, judges and juries if it's that simple. Details matter and both sides of the story. [1]

And what do you mean by 'at the very least doing something that's inappropriate'?. By what and by whose standards?

[1] What if you were charged with the crime of assault (non sexual in this example) and nobody had seen what had happened prior to you throwing (what they thought) was the first punch without any knowledge of the provocation prior to that point (as only one quick example).

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

#409

Post by [deleted] »

Stenzel wrote: post #351

This article has zero information, but a picture and name of the accused man. This modern kind of witch hunt is disgusting. It also seems to be that the bar for calling something sexual harassement is constantly lowered and results in a poisoned atmosphere where any playful transgression between genders is rendered impossible. It also contradicts my personal experience, where men and women alike enjoy to initiate tal…

[deleted]

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

#410

Post by jbmorgado »

tacomonstrous wrote: post #380
Skeptique wrote: post #366

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The amusing thing is -- when men are too careful, that is also supposedly sexist. Consider VP Pence's stance on not having dinner with women, his extreme guard against any potential impropriety. The reaction? Here is one: "The vice president—and other powerful men—regularly avoid one-on-one meetings with women in the name of protecting their families. In the end, what suffers is women’s progress." https://www.theatla…

It can be a fine line, but a superior who refuses to meet one-on-one with you just because you're a woman is not doing their job well.

Not in a culture like the one we we are living, where a woman only needs to accuse a men - without any evidence - of sexual harassment and automatically ruin all his carer and possibly his family life.

Even if the case never gets to trial or even if it does and it can be proved the woman was simply lying, your life is already over. Just see what happened to Strauss Khan from IMF (not that I actually liked that guy TBH).

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