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An Open Letter To All Startup Founders

noconformity.co

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Re: An Open Letter To All Startup Founders

#91

Post by Mz »

alecdibble wrote: post #84
Mz wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oy. I haven't found that anyone of either gender acts particularly "mature" when you have them emotionally by the short hairs. I am female and in my forties. I am currently unemployed but previously worked for Bigco for five years. In spite of having only an entry level job in a pink collar ghetto, trying to figure out how to sidestep trouble with men at work took way the hell too much of my time and energy. I found…

I'm sorry to hear about that. I can completely empathize with how it must have felt to dread going to work everyday. Unfortunately, as this thread has shown, some people don't understand and rather rationalize.

I generally did not "dread" going to work. I am very good at some things. Avoiding this type of trouble is one of those things. So while I felt it was unjustly burdensome, no, there was not typically a feeling of dread.

I live with a dread disease. I have raised very challenging children. I was sexually abused as a child. In short, I have done much harder things. But having been a homemaker for a long time, I was surprised and annoyed to run into this crap at work so much. I was there to get a paycheck, not pick up men.

Re: An Open Letter To All Startup Founders

#92

Post by kathrynhough »

cristianocd wrote: post #89
kathrynhough wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nope, I'm happily married, we live 2,000 miles away from the incident, and I won't disclose the name of the company involved. I have no ties to anyone involved. I have no interest in hurting anyone from any company by bringing this up. I just wanted to start a discussion.

Your article was so emotional and biased, just thought it looked like your view on this was to "strict" for the startup world. Everything is more spontaneous and loose. I think they would respect anyone in their group who didn't think it was nice to go to that place, as I think you should respect their choice. You just went 100% for it and I thought it was a bad choice. I work with 2 guys and a girl and all of them a…

I've worked for a startup for two years, btw.

Re: An Open Letter To All Startup Founders

#93

Post by onceagainagain »

temphn wrote: post #56
rdl wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think she's arguing that even if 100% of the current employee participants are happy going to a hooters restaurant, posting a photo of it will deter future female hires. In reality, it won't deter only female hires. I have nothing against going to places like this (or strip clubs: subsidized steak, at least in Oregon) socially, but a fair number of people wouldn't want to go socially, and I absolutely wouldn't want…

What if 100% of current employees posted a photo of themselves at a gay pride parade, next to scantily clad gay men? It's on their private time. But something tells me that Kathryn Hough wouldn't dream of attacking them.

Pride Parade != Hooters-style Restaurant. Sorry. We're out there to be proud. Not sell beer and wings. Little different context, champ.

Re: An Open Letter To All Startup Founders

#94

Post by planetguy »

onceagainagain wrote: post #93
temphn wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What if 100% of current employees posted a photo of themselves at a gay pride parade, next to scantily clad gay men? It's on their private time. But something tells me that Kathryn Hough wouldn't dream of attacking them.

Pride Parade != Hooters-style Restaurant. Sorry. We're out there to be proud . Not sell beer and wings. Little different context, champ.

Pride, gluttony. Both deadly sins.

Re: An Open Letter To All Startup Founders

#96

Post by temphn »

tptacek wrote: post #68
temphn wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you think this state of affairs is a desirable one? If you accuse someone of being a communist or a socialist, you are laughed out of the room; if you accuse someone of being a sexist or racist, the onus is on them to disprove it (and this is frankly impossible). The insane contortions of the American legal system are good reason to base a company outside of the US.

I'd love to watch more companies get slaughtered by effectively delivered gender discrimination complaints. Post them all to HN and spark 482-comment threads about the injustice of it all! I will laugh, and laugh, and laugh. I've seen the system be abused by people with totally bogus complaints. Somehow, I just can't work up any outrage about it. Something about how "men like women and women like men and that's just…

No, planning on starting a company in Asia so that you don't have to accept spurious discrimination complaints that cost you 1-2 years of headcount as a fact of nature.

   Something about how "men like women and women like men 
   and that's just the way it is" just does something to my 
   internal moral compass.
We shouldn't care if the Christian Coalition's "moral compass" is disturbed by the idea of men with men. And shouldn't care whether your "moral compass" is disturbed by the thought of men with women.

Re: An Open Letter To All Startup Founders

#97

Post by NLips »

tptacek wrote: post #75
NLips wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where is the inequality? Vulnerability? The vulnerability has been caused by something else, which is the inappropriate behaviour. Minority? Irrelevant - (at least) one sex will always be in the minority if there are an odd number of employees. Feeling bad? Unrelated to sex. Regardless, the behaviour mentioned is neither severe nor pervasive (if standalone) and not intrinsically sexual. EDIT: From some above comments…

Who are you arguing with? Me, or HR and the company counsel? The UK has extremely similar workplace gender equality issues to the US according to the World Economic Forum Gender Gap Index; we're basically neck and neck.

I was addressing your experiences with HR and legal departments.

The Gender Gap Index does not measure harassment - "The Index benchmarks national gender gaps on economic, political, education- and health-based criteria" (from the 2011 report) - so I do not see the relevance to a discussion on sexual harassment.

Re: An Open Letter To All Startup Founders

#98

Post by cristianocd »

kathrynhough wrote: post #92
cristianocd wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your article was so emotional and biased, just thought it looked like your view on this was to "strict" for the startup world. Everything is more spontaneous and loose. I think they would respect anyone in their group who didn't think it was nice to go to that place, as I think you should respect their choice. You just went 100% for it and I thought it was a bad choice. I work with 2 guys and a girl and all of them a…

I've worked for a startup for two years, btw.

Nice. I've worked for a couple too. Now I'm a 9-year-company CEO (16 months), startup co-founder (1 year) and consultant for a startup (4 months).

Good look on your startup, I understand your goal to be respectful, but don't be too strict... after all, you hate rules.

Re: An Open Letter To All Startup Founders

#99

Post by cristianocd »

kathrynhough wrote: post #92
cristianocd wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your article was so emotional and biased, just thought it looked like your view on this was to "strict" for the startup world. Everything is more spontaneous and loose. I think they would respect anyone in their group who didn't think it was nice to go to that place, as I think you should respect their choice. You just went 100% for it and I thought it was a bad choice. I work with 2 guys and a girl and all of them a…

I've worked for a startup for two years, btw.

The link to your facebook profile is wrong at NOCONFORMITY blog. An "m" is missing.

Re: An Open Letter To All Startup Founders

#100

Post by kathrynhough »

cristianocd wrote: post #99
kathrynhough wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've worked for a startup for two years, btw.

The link to your facebook profile is wrong at NOCONFORMITY blog. An "m" is missing.

Haha that is awesome. That is def. not me. I think my husband made a mistake when updating the blog a few days ago. Fixed now! Good eye. Thanks!
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