Sexism In The Tech Industry Takes Center Stage • Hacker News Board

Re: Sexism In The Tech Industry Takes Center Stage

#71

Post by sp332 » Thu, Sep 12, 2013, 4:24 PM UTC

eli wrote: post #29

0xdeadbeefbabe wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I heard the story too, and I was most offended that the reporter said that I would be offended by what we were about to hear. Also, what do they know about locker room attitudes? My locker room attitude is to get out of the locker room and into the gym, pool, etc. Calling it sexism seems sexist to me, since I'm a guy who wouldn't normally do that kind of thing.

You're offended that other people were offended? I think everyone (even you) knows what they meant by "lockerroom attitude" even if you disapprove of the word choice.

No, being told that the story would offend him was offensive. That's a very condescending view!

Re: Sexism In The Tech Industry Takes Center Stage

#72

Post by saraid216 » Thu, Sep 12, 2013, 4:24 PM UTC

nubb wrote: post #39

Best comment on the article from Bob Costas... For years people (and yes, mostly guys) who were involved in the tech industry and engineering in general were shunned and dismissed by culture at large to be losers and sexual non-entities and therefore lacking in social currency. As a result of this mass dismissal and social rejection, and since most women aren't raised or brought up to deal with rejection and social s…

> The reason why you get push-back from males from the industry when it comes to involving more women in tech isn't because they have some "jock, locker room, and frat" mentality that women are somehow mentally inferior to males and aren't capable of understanding tech.

> Its because they don't think women in general have the fortitude nor the willingness to not shower for days and be content with not going outside while living off cold pizza.

So what you're saying is that the tech industry is sexist because you need fortitude, not intelligence? Or you're saying that the tech industry prizes fortitude over intelligence?

I guess it's good to know where we stand.

Re: Sexism In The Tech Industry Takes Center Stage

#73

Post by untog » Thu, Sep 12, 2013, 4:25 PM UTC

minimaxir wrote: post #33

parfe wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The moderators and many people in the room found the presentations funny. It wasn't until later when they tried explaining their behaviour to their mothers that they even began to understand the problems with what occurred.

It should be noted that the two moderators issued a "what the hell were you thinking?" statement and apology immediately after the hack was presented.

It wasn't immediate, otherwise both Titstare and Circle Shake wouldn't have been able to present.

And it was clear- they reacted after they saw the reaction on Twitter. Not after they saw the presentations themselves. If you had those opinions all along how could you stand on a stage and say "up next, Titstare" without even blinking?

Re: Sexism In The Tech Industry Takes Center Stage

#74

Post by dobbsbob » Thu, Sep 12, 2013, 4:25 PM UTC

Where I live a very out, flaming gay dev once presented an app as a joke to detect what he called gaydar and was pointing it at uncomfortable suit guys and saying stuff like "you're a faggot dude, math doesn't lie". I thought it was a hilarious small moment of anarchy in an otherwise very dull conference full of banking apps.

A Jewish programmer also had a lol app to determine holocaust survival and the outcomes ranged from 'Nazi comfort boy' to 'gassed immediately' after analyzing your picture. This was a tradeshow/conference for payment solutions. Lots of uncomfortable silence. Later found out the presenter was a comedian some casino had hired. If he had done that at a US tradeshow all of twitter would've exploded in faux outrage

I don't get the Business Insider troll tweets though. I think he forgot Twitter isn't 4chan

Re: Sexism In The Tech Industry Takes Center Stage

#75

Post by saraid216 » Thu, Sep 12, 2013, 4:25 PM UTC

parfe wrote: post #52

babs474 wrote: post #22

Interesting that HN keeps killing threads on this topic: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6360328 A stubborn refusal to confront the problem is what helps these attitudes fester.

HN has a very thin veneer of professionalism and intelligence only kept in place by the severely limited range of topics we can comment on. If you read any political, social, gender or non-STEM science based comments (prior to the story being killed) you get the same disgusting mix of sexism, racism, and general ignorance you'd find on reddit. Luckily for HN's image the flag feature quickly hides such ugliness.

Except Snowden is a hero, so we're cool with any and all threads speculating on his current activities.

Re: Sexism In The Tech Industry Takes Center Stage

#76

Post by eli » Thu, Sep 12, 2013, 4:25 PM UTC

option_greek wrote: post #54

Would it still be sexist if the event was branded as R rated or adults only ?

Yes.

Re: Sexism In The Tech Industry Takes Center Stage

#77

Post by minimaxir » Thu, Sep 12, 2013, 4:26 PM UTC

ryderm wrote: post #63

minimaxir wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It should be noted that the two moderators issued a "what the hell were you thinking?" statement and apology immediately after the hack was presented.

And the second guy still presented after the first got that reaction? Wow.

Blogs have been mixing the order of events around. the correct order is:

Circle Shake -> Titstare -> Pre-scheduled break -> Apology

Re: Sexism In The Tech Industry Takes Center Stage

#78

Post by army » Thu, Sep 12, 2013, 4:26 PM UTC

eli wrote: post #47

efa wrote: post #42

These guys are idiots and there is definitely sexism in the IT industry. But every time I see these stories saying there is sexism in IT I think compared to what? Finance (Wall Street!)? Marketing? Law? Government? Military? Manufacturing? Construction? I guess the disturbing part is what makes these guys think they can be this open about it. Wall Street has rampant sexism but I'm thinking they are smart enough not t…

The tech industry has a real problem. What happens in other industries doesn't change that.

Agreed. I think we really need to look at where we're losing women, especially in the transition from high school to college.

Re: Sexism In The Tech Industry Takes Center Stage

#79

Post by todesschaf » Thu, Sep 12, 2013, 4:27 PM UTC

dexen wrote: post #19

Let our inner knee-jerk selves remember the ``Why defend freedom of icky speech?'' [1]. [1] http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2008/12/why-defend-freedom-of-...

Let us, then, bring a quote from that article:

"[...] the remedy to someone saying or writing or showing something that offends you is not to read it, or to speak out against it." (ephasis original)

I have yet to see much (if any) advocacy for making disgusting, sexist, immature apps illegal (which would then make this a freedom of speech issue). I have, however, seen plenty of advocacy for keeping this crap out of our community. Which is, incidentally, exactly what the article you linked advocates (see the quote above).

We're all (supposed to be) adults, and we (should) know better than that.

(edit to indicate emphasis is not mine)

Re: Sexism In The Tech Industry Takes Center Stage

#80

Post by eli » Thu, Sep 12, 2013, 4:27 PM UTC

MattyRad wrote: post #41

The only thing I found offensive about this story was the environment in which the app was presented, which was definitely inappropriate. If the app was presented by Daniel Tosh on his TV show, we'd probably all have a chuckle and move on.

But you see why that's a really significant difference, right? One is a professional gathering for people who work in a certian field and the other is a basic cable comedy show.