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An Apology From TechCrunch

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Re: An Apology From TechCrunch

#121

Post by rfnslyr »

jessedhillon wrote: post #116
rfnslyr wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not going to bother continuing a conversation with someone who gets as offended by tits as they do the word "nigger".

Such a noble stand! You're not stupid, you get the point no matter how obtuse you're pretending to be. You know that I'm not saying that "tits == N-word" and you know that such an equivalency is not central to or required for my example. You simply don't want to admit that the only explanation of your position is to say "well black people have a right to get offended by the N-word, but women aren't allowed to object…

The prank wasn't brought to light with the intention of offending women. It's a play on an activity with men, we look at boobs. Not everything involving sex is made with the objective of targeting someone, it's just a joke. If you fail to see it as such, that's your problem.

Re: An Apology From TechCrunch

#122

Post by rfnslyr »

jessedhillon wrote: post #120
rfnslyr wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The point is that, you, the reader, obviously understand that a word, concept or type of behavior can offend others and would therefore abstain from employing it. What this really means is that it's not you who should take responsibility for your emotions, it's everyone else that should watch out for you. What exactly did you get offended by? If you claim that prank was sexist in any way, you clearly lack the ability…

Totally agree dude. That's my stand when I drop racial slurs ("slurs" am I right?) It's not my job to know which words are going to upset another person's emotional state! I'm not a mind reader! My responsibility is only to say what I want. Seriously though -- it's absolutely-fucking-hilarious that you think I'm the one lacking situational awareness. The guys who got up and made boob jokes? Total awareness, perhaps e…

Get to the point and state exactly why you got offended.

Re: An Apology From TechCrunch

#123

Post by parennoob »

theorique wrote: post #105
Amadou wrote: post #63

I watched the two presentations via the valleywag page others have cited. The problem I see with TechCrunch's apology is that they are mixing up terminology. I don't think either presentation was sexist and especially not misogynstic - what they were was sexual. Modern society has a similar problem distinguishing between racist humor and racial humor. While there certainly can be overlap between -ist and -ual humor,…

You're right that it was "sexual". However, I'm not sure that the industry has enough average maturity to handle frank discussions of sexuality, especially in big, diverse groups. Given the demographics of the industry, I don't think it was an accident that it was "TitStare" rather than "DongStare" or "CockStare". I'm sure you could imagine that the nature of the app might make the women in the audience feel a bit od…

> Given the demographics of the industry, I don't think it was an accident that it was "TitStare" rather than "DongStare" or "CockStare".

Translation from roundaboutspeak -> English: Yes, it was an app marketed at men (though remember that there are lesbians and bisexual men and women as well that like tits) that sexually objectified women.

If sexual objectification was the sole reason that made women leave an industry, there should be no women working for Playboy or the porn industry.

Last I checked, there were plenty of women working willingly in both.

Re: An Apology From TechCrunch

#124

Post by jessedhillon »

metaphorm wrote: post #119
jessedhillon wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd love to hear what you think are the salient differences between getting up and presenting Titstare, and showing something fictitious like "N-watcher" Evidently your reaction if someone got up to present the latter would not be "LOL guys loosen up!" -- even though you are not someone at whom the humor/offense is targeted. Why the difference in attitude?

I bet you go from 0 to Hitler in under 6 seconds.

Central to your comment is that you are comparing my post to a Hitler/holocaust argument. Ironically then, you have invoked Godwin's Law.

Re: An Apology From TechCrunch

#125

Post by gojomo »

MetaCosm wrote: post #102
WestCoastJustin wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Distilled into management of expectations . When you go to an event like this, or say a TED talk or some type of technology conference (VMworld, PyCon, etc), I assume a G/PG rating, unless told otherwise. Sure they were jokes, just told in the wrong setting. Some people like to push the boundaries, and if you give them a soap box, they will speak. This should be news to no one, but when you show PG-13, or R content t…

Agreed. Would be nice if the people running a hackathon like this simply put a note "Keep it family friendly" (which, with a 9 year old presenting, seems reasonable). Context matters a ton, but don't assume people have a clue, spell it out. "Keep it G rated, this is a family friendly hackathon" ...

I would like to see the opinion of someone who actually brought their young child to the event... or even, ideally, from a child in attendance.

When parents bring a child to an event that's traditionally ~99% adults, I'm not sure that what they want is for the event to down-shift to be more 'family friendly'. They may be trying to show their child more of the authentic grown-up world.

I think that's what my parents were after when they brought me to R-Rated movies at the age of 9. (Or perhaps, they were just too cheap to hire a babysitter.)

Re: An Apology From TechCrunch

#126

Post by foobarbazqux »

parennoob wrote: post #123
theorique wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're right that it was "sexual". However, I'm not sure that the industry has enough average maturity to handle frank discussions of sexuality, especially in big, diverse groups. Given the demographics of the industry, I don't think it was an accident that it was "TitStare" rather than "DongStare" or "CockStare". I'm sure you could imagine that the nature of the app might make the women in the audience feel a bit od…

> Given the demographics of the industry, I don't think it was an accident that it was "TitStare" rather than "DongStare" or "CockStare". Translation from roundaboutspeak -> English: Yes, it was an app marketed at men (though remember that there are lesbians and bisexual men and women as well that like tits) that sexually objectified women. If sexual objectification was the sole reason that made women leave an indust…

In general, sex workers choose their profession out of desperation.

Re: An Apology From TechCrunch

#127

Post by parennoob »

foobarbazqux wrote: post #126
parennoob wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Given the demographics of the industry, I don't think it was an accident that it was "TitStare" rather than "DongStare" or "CockStare". Translation from roundaboutspeak -> English: Yes, it was an app marketed at men (though remember that there are lesbians and bisexual men and women as well that like tits) that sexually objectified women. If sexual objectification was the sole reason that made women leave an indust…

In general, sex workers choose their profession out of desperation.

Playboy? Hollywood? Advertising?

Re: An Apology From TechCrunch

#128

Post by jessedhillon »

rfnslyr wrote: post #121
jessedhillon wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Such a noble stand! You're not stupid, you get the point no matter how obtuse you're pretending to be. You know that I'm not saying that "tits == N-word" and you know that such an equivalency is not central to or required for my example. You simply don't want to admit that the only explanation of your position is to say "well black people have a right to get offended by the N-word, but women aren't allowed to object…

The prank wasn't brought to light with the intention of offending women. It's a play on an activity with men, we look at boobs. Not everything involving sex is made with the objective of targeting someone, it's just a joke. If you fail to see it as such, that's your problem.

Right on. I have some white friends who, when there aren't any black people around, call each other the n-word. They're not targeting any particular black person, so obviously the behavior is completely acceptable. It's a joke, you know, a play on actual racist behavior.

If you fail to see it as such, that's your problem.

The good thing about this position is that you lack such self-awareness that you would never know the extent to which your limited perceptual abilities cripple you. The bad thing is that you likely do understand the objections here, and are therefore a keyboard jockey. Accordingly, you would never have the courage to make such a ludicrous stand in a public, mixed audience, thereby giving others a fair, advance bozo alert.

Re: An Apology From TechCrunch

#129

Post by metaphorm »

jessedhillon wrote: post #124
metaphorm wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I bet you go from 0 to Hitler in under 6 seconds.

Central to your comment is that you are comparing my post to a Hitler/holocaust argument. Ironically then, you have invoked Godwin's Law.

no, I'm saying you are the sort of person who thoroughly enjoys self-righteousness and making baseless accusations about (your perception of) the beliefs of others.

Re: An Apology From TechCrunch

#130

Post by [deleted] »

rfnslyr wrote: post #122
jessedhillon wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Totally agree dude. That's my stand when I drop racial slurs ("slurs" am I right?) It's not my job to know which words are going to upset another person's emotional state! I'm not a mind reader! My responsibility is only to say what I want. Seriously though -- it's absolutely-fucking-hilarious that you think I'm the one lacking situational awareness. The guys who got up and made boob jokes? Total awareness, perhaps e…

Get to the point and state exactly why you got offended.

[deleted]
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