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posted by Fnord666 on Wednesday July 05 2017, @06:43AM   Printer-friendly
from the into-the-light dept.

Their stories came out slowly, even hesitantly, at first. Then in a rush.

One female entrepreneur recounted how she had been propositioned by a Silicon Valley venture capitalist while seeking a job with him, which she did not land after rebuffing him. Another showed the increasingly suggestive messages she had received from a start-up investor. And one chief executive described how she had faced numerous sexist comments from an investor while raising money for her online community website.

What happened afterward was often just as disturbing, the women told The New York Times. Many times, the investor's firms and colleagues ignored or played down what had happened when the situations were brought to their attention. Saying anything, the women were warned, might lead to ostracism.

Now some of these female entrepreneurs have decided to take that risk. More than two dozen women in the technology start-up industry spoke to The Times in recent days about being sexually harassed. Ten of them named the investors involved, often providing corroborating messages and emails, and pointed to high-profile venture capitalists such as Chris Sacca of Lowercase Capital and Dave McClure of 500 Startups, who did not dispute the accounts.

The disclosures came after the tech news site The Information reported that female entrepreneurs had been preyed upon by a venture capitalist, Justin Caldbeck of Binary Capital. The new accounts underscore how sexual harassment in the tech start-up ecosystem goes beyond one firm and is pervasive and ingrained. Now their speaking out suggests a cultural shift in Silicon Valley, where such predatory behavior had often been murmured about but rarely exposed.

-- submitted from IRC


Original Submission

 
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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 05 2017, @08:38AM (25 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 05 2017, @08:38AM (#535104)

    An investment firm that is headquartered in Silicon Valley is an investment firm head quartered in Silicon Valley, not a tech company. None of the allegations in this article are in any way directed at tech companies or individuals inside of tech companies. They're literally all targeted at investors, lawyers, and other such types.

  • (Score: 0, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 05 2017, @08:50AM (24 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 05 2017, @08:50AM (#535106)

    None of the allegations in this article are in any way directed at tech companies or individuals inside of tech companies. They're literally all targeted at investors, lawyers, and other such types.

    You are aware, Oh deleterious AC, that what you say is wrong? That is, it is incorrect, not true, factually false, bogus? You should investigate a bit before you make such claims, because saying false things tends to make you look like a very stupid person.

    https://techcrunch.com/2017/07/03/employee-email-claims-500-startups-leadership-delayed-acknowledging-mcclures-harassment-as-new-allegations-surface/ [techcrunch.com]

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 05 2017, @09:13AM (23 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 05 2017, @09:13AM (#535113)

      I say, as you literally quoted, None of the allegations in this article are in any way directed at tech companies or individuals inside of tech companies... and you link to a new article. That alone is rather silly, but on top of it the new article also seems to provide 0 allegations of wrongdoing towards tech companies or individuals inside of tech companies. It's the same investment/lawyer types as usual.

      • (Score: 2, Troll) by aristarchus on Wednesday July 05 2017, @09:37AM (22 children)

        by aristarchus (2645) on Wednesday July 05 2017, @09:37AM (#535120) Journal

        Doubling down on the not-true things you have said not only makes you look even more incredibly stupid, but it seems to imply that you think that Soylentils are stupid as well. And it is so easily proven that it is the former.

        Half a dozen women working in the tech industry say they have faced unwanted and inappropriate advances from a well-connected Silicon Valley venture capitalist while discussing business.

        See that, right there? "Working in the tech industry". Do you understand that this contradicts explicitly what you have said?

        The allegations have come to light as the technology industry grapples with criticism over long-standing gender inequality and bias.

        Again, evidently "The Information", which seems to be a tech journal, thinks that these are people in tech companies and in the tech industry, so why are you calling them liars, you stupid AC!! Huh? You exhaust the patience of Soylentils.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 05 2017, @10:52AM

          by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 05 2017, @10:52AM (#535132)

          I'm not sure if you're being ironic. Poe's law makings interpreting meaning pretty hard now a days! I'm going to assume you're being serious. Disregard and +1 if your comment was humor that I'm missing. Assuming you're being serious, you're now engaging in circular logic. The whole conversation was in the inappropriate and unjustified usage of phrase tech industry. You're now circularly arguing that they're in the tech industry because the article says they're in the tech industry. This is not an argument. It's circular logic. Green is blue. What why would you say that? Because green is blue.

        • (Score: 2) by bradley13 on Wednesday July 05 2017, @11:23AM (1 child)

          by bradley13 (3053) on Wednesday July 05 2017, @11:23AM (#535136) Homepage Journal

          Aristarchus Read my first comment. TFA is flat-out wrong, or worse, deliberately lying.

          The three women in the cover photo - not tech. Look up their company, Wethos [angel.co]: "Wethos allows nonprofits to create and post their creative freelance needs.". Now, that company will have to have a website, but just about every company in the world has that. Beyond that, calling Wethos "tech" is stretching the definition beyond all recognition. Near as I can tell, the company is located in New York, not Silicon Valley.

          So...what part of the article is actually about tech? Or even Silicon Valley? Why is it so important to them to hang the "tech" label onto these women?

          --
          Everyone is somebody else's weirdo.
          • (Score: 2) by aristarchus on Wednesday July 05 2017, @07:09PM

            by aristarchus (2645) on Wednesday July 05 2017, @07:09PM (#535356) Journal

            The three women in the cover photo - not tech.

            Oh, I see the problem, you cannot read and you only looked at the photo?

            From the FA in question:

            More than two dozen women in the technology start-up industry spoke to The Times in recent days about being sexually harassed.

            (emphasis added)

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 05 2017, @11:33AM (4 children)

          by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 05 2017, @11:33AM (#535137)

          Oh, thou pompous and disingenuous ass, please go away. Far away. Please?

          Trolling couched in flowery verbosity and irrelevant links is still trolling.

          Away, foul troll, and the broken wind thou bring.

          • (Score: 2) by aristarchus on Wednesday July 05 2017, @04:54PM (3 children)

            by aristarchus (2645) on Wednesday July 05 2017, @04:54PM (#535267) Journal

            Away, fowl troll, and the broken wing thou bring.

            FTFY! Are you chicken, AC! Are you a pathetic misogynist tech ubermensch? Do you work out?

            No, this is a serious problem, and some here seem to be incapable of perceiving it. It is like when the dog shits on the carpet, you have to rub their nose in it until they get the idea it is not ok. Not trolling at all, my dear mellifluous AC.

            • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 05 2017, @06:03PM (2 children)

              by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 05 2017, @06:03PM (#535309)

              So.. We need to smack you with a rolled up news paper and rub your nose in your own waste?

              Cause YOU ARE THE ONE WHO CANT GET WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING.

              We understand what your saying, but it doesn't make any sense champ.

              Calm down, reread the thread and apologize.

              • (Score: 2) by aristarchus on Wednesday July 05 2017, @06:27PM (1 child)

                by aristarchus (2645) on Wednesday July 05 2017, @06:27PM (#535325) Journal

                We understand what your saying, but it doesn't make any sense champ.

                Evidently not! Because I understand what you're saying, but you seem to be an Anonymous misogynist who does not grok contractions.

                Calm down, reread the thread and apologize.

                Tu quoque, amicus meus!

                The problem with being in the MRA, Red Pillar, "women are mean to me" camp is that it is just so far away from understanding what it is like to be the other gender that real communication is impossible. Usually it is not until a man has a wife (as a friend and equal) that he even gets some idea, but especially when he has one or more daughters, and suddenly his entire point of view shifts. That is, unless he is an asshole AC with a reading comprehension problem who cannot do contractions.

                Yoor Velcomen, AC.

                • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 06 2017, @02:46PM

                  by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 06 2017, @02:46PM (#535737)

                  WTF are contractions? I mean I know of several definitions for that word but your use of it in the post above does not provide the proper context for any of them.

        • (Score: 2, Insightful) by khallow on Wednesday July 05 2017, @01:09PM (8 children)

          by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday July 05 2017, @01:09PM (#535158) Journal

          so why are you calling them liars

          Can't you at least come up with a troll that isn't so stupid? I think what I find most obnoxious here is the sheer juvenile and amateur nature of the posts. Here, you combine a painful leading question (no one has accused "The Information" of lying) with a ridiculous argument from authority fallacy (we must accept "The Information" definition of "tech company" because they "seem to be a tech journal"). Is your life really so empty that you can only find entertainment by trolling people with empty insults and arguments so bad, they wouldn't hold up in a high school debate club? Don't you have some computer game to play or bar to get drunk at?

          • (Score: 2) by aristarchus on Wednesday July 05 2017, @06:16PM (7 children)

            by aristarchus (2645) on Wednesday July 05 2017, @06:16PM (#535316) Journal

            How many times did you actually fail informal logic, khallow? bradley says that what the FA says is not true. Does he mean that they do not know what they are talking about, or, as usual, as the craven misogynist he is, is he trying to change the subject from the fact of sexual harassment being rife in tech companies to the precise definition of "tech"? Actually, this does resemble a typical khallow move, and the obvious rebuttal is that bradleyXIII is mendcious, is in fact accusing "The Information" of lying, and probably has personal issues that motivate him to undertake this entire line of dissemblance.

            I hope you feel more adult now, khallow, now that you really understand what is going on. Sexism is a culture, and it is the denying that your "industry" is affected by it is to defend sexism. I am rather disgusted by bradley13, but then I think, maybe he is not "the 13th Bradley", but instead "Bradley who is 13". At that age, well, understandable behavior, if nonetheless still unacceptable.

            • (Score: 2, Insightful) by kurenai.tsubasa on Wednesday July 05 2017, @08:35PM (3 children)

              by kurenai.tsubasa (5227) on Wednesday July 05 2017, @08:35PM (#535399) Journal

              Sexism is a culture

              Undeniably.

              and it is the denying that your "industry" is affected by it is to defend sexism.

              No.

              Here's the problem. We're not talking about technical professionals, e.g. server admins, programmers, etc. You absolutely are confusing the issue by continuing to attempt to draw attention back to the technical professions. We're talking about investment bankers and managers. Those are different professions.

              You are being mendacious by creating confusion about the profession that has the culture of sexism. Your mendacity enables those people to continue abusing women.

              If management and HR are unresponsive when we call out sexual harassment that we see, all we can do is leave. How does that solve the problem? The sexual harassers remain, more warm bodies take our places. You are attempting to hold people who are powerless accountable for the actions of those with power. Do you not see the problem?

              Let me point out another problem in TFA.

              The tech industry has long suffered a gender imbalance, with companies such as Google and Facebook acknowledging how few women were in their ranks. Some female engineers have started to speak out on the issue, including a former Uber engineer who detailed a pattern of sexual harassment at the company, setting off internal investigations that spurred the resignation in June of Uber’s chief executive, Travis Kalanick.

              Note how this passage creates the same confusion you are attempting to create. This passage directly confuses the lack of womyn-born-womyn in technical careers with the sexual harassment perpetrated by these investment bankers and managers. Why are there no womyn-born-womyn in tech? Well, the media has done a pretty good job convincing them that they'll just be sexually harassed by those misogynerds! So they go into banking and management, where they are then sexually harassed!

              Both you and the media are being stunningly disingenuous about this issue. It would almost seem as though you want more women to be victimized and driven out by sexual harassment. Are you in management by chance? Are you an investment banker on the side, perhaps a hobby you've taken up in your 2,400 years on this planet? Do you like sexually harassing women, and is it convenient for you every time technical professionals take the blame for your sleazy behavior around women? What else could motivate you to be complicit in this confusion? Just asking after all….

              • (Score: 2) by aristarchus on Wednesday July 05 2017, @11:25PM

                by aristarchus (2645) on Wednesday July 05 2017, @11:25PM (#535457) Journal

                Here's the problem. We're not talking about technical professionals, e.g. server admins, programmers, etc. You absolutely are confusing the issue by continuing to attempt to draw attention back to the technical professions. We're talking about investment bankers and managers. Those are different professions.

                Different professions, but not a different industry. Why do you defend bradley13's attempted equivocation?

                You are being mendacious by creating confusion about the profession that has the culture of sexism. Your mendacity enables those people to continue abusing women.

                I enjoy your rants, kurenai, but you really need to look up "mendacious". I am not defending sexism anywhere, especially that experienced by yourself. I am just saying that trying to say this is not about tech companies does do exactly that.

              • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 06 2017, @02:40PM (1 child)

                by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 06 2017, @02:40PM (#535735)

                He's not mendacious. He's just a pedantic idiot.

            • (Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday July 06 2017, @01:18AM (2 children)

              by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Thursday July 06 2017, @01:18AM (#535490) Journal

              How many times did you actually fail informal logic, khallow?

              And once again, a complete waste of time. How many wives have you beaten? And will you ever stop?

              bradley says that what the FA says is not true. Does he mean that they do not know what they are talking about, or, as usual, as the craven misogynist he is, is he trying to change the subject from the fact of sexual harassment being rife in tech companies to the precise definition of "tech"?

              Holy logic, Batman! Maybe you should have inquired first before saying something stupid?

              I hope you feel more adult now, khallow, now that you really understand what is going on.

              I get that you're trolling. I just would like you to do something else instead rather than shitting on articles that otherwise have interesting commentary.

              • (Score: 2) by aristarchus on Thursday July 06 2017, @04:13AM (1 child)

                by aristarchus (2645) on Thursday July 06 2017, @04:13AM (#535541) Journal

                Perhaps you missed this gem:

                Aristarchus Read my first comment. TFA is flat-out wrong, or worse, deliberately lying.

                https://soylentnews.org/comments.pl?noupdate=1&sid=20392&page=1&cid=535136#commentwrap [soylentnews.org]

                That is our Anti-social Patriachial Warrior, or APW, bradley of the slightly more than a dozen, as he is known around the docks.

                khallow, once again, you are in over your head. Your tribalism is leading you down a path to destruction. It is eating your mind, destroying your ability to reason, and asking you out because you might be a good addition to our coding team! (Wink, wink, say no more, say no more!)

                • (Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday July 06 2017, @12:33PM

                  by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Thursday July 06 2017, @12:33PM (#535686) Journal

                  Perhaps you missed this gem:

                  Aristarchus Read my first comment. TFA is flat-out wrong, or worse, deliberately lying.

                  No, but apparently you did. There are two choices there not one. "Flat-out wrong" is given as the first choice which you completely ignored. The AC you replied to hadn't "called them liars". Neither did bradley13 in your quote.

                  Further, let us note that you made the claim before bradley13's post. It was then and now unfounded.

                  khallow, once again, you are in over your head. Your tribalism is leading you down a path to destruction. It is eating your mind, destroying your ability to reason, and asking you out because you might be a good addition to our coding team! (Wink, wink, say no more, say no more!)

                  You're wasting my time once again. Your post is just noise. It reminds me of the sophists who would show up occasionally in Plato's treatises as ignorant buffoons. Too bad we don't have a Socrates to more effectively deal with the noise you bring.

                  Once again, we see you bringing the same problems you've brought for the past few years. You might have a valid point in that mess somewhere, but it's so concealed in a ridiculous pile of fallacies that it's not worth the bother to care. You clearly aren't stupid as a person. Why can't you just reason rather than being a dick?

        • (Score: 2, Informative) by kurenai.tsubasa on Wednesday July 05 2017, @04:05PM (4 children)

          by kurenai.tsubasa (5227) on Wednesday July 05 2017, @04:05PM (#535239) Journal

          You are being Completely. Fucking. Disingenuous. From TFA:

          More than two dozen women in the technology start-up industry spoke to The Times in recent days about being sexually harassed. Ten of them named the investors involved, often providing corroborating messages and emails, and pointed to high-profile venture capitalists such as Chris Sacca of Lowercase Capital and Dave McClure of 500 Startups.

          Most recently, the revelations about Mr. Caldbeck of Binary Capital have triggered an outcry. The investor has been accused of sexually harassing entrepreneurs while he worked at three different venture firms in the past seven years, often in meetings in which the women were presenting their companies to him.

          I think you're just too chickenshit to challenge gaslighting asshole managers themselves, the individuals who are wronging these women.

          When somebody is being sexually harassed, you report it to the boss of the individual perpetrating the sexual harassment. That is what you do with sexual harassment. In my experience, that is what needs to be done in order to see justice. If the gaslighting asshole manager continues his unacceptable behavior, he will be fired in any company with competent management. Consistently in these cases that are used as examples of how all assigned males in technical careers are engaging in sexual harassment in order to prevent womyn-born-womyn from learning technical skills, it is management, HR, CxOs, all completely non-technical staff, who are complicit in enabling the culture of sexual harassment in these places.

          What you do not do is seek to blame an entire gender for the actions of one or two individuals. If you're too dense to understand why, here is why. If you blame an entire gender for the actions of individuals, those individuals will never be brought to justice. You are missing the target badly!

          It's clear that what this article and ones like it seek to do is to paint an entire gender caste (gender assigned at birth regardless of lived gender, body parts, or current legal gender) in an entire profession, and not the profession of either the perpetrator or victim, as a stereotype.

          The entire article is talking about “entrepreneurs” being sexually harassed by other “entrepreneurs.” You are warping the fact that these are companies whose primary product is tech to imply that it is assigned males in a technical profession who are using the weapon of sexual harassment against women.

          That is wrong, and you know it.

          • (Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Wednesday July 05 2017, @10:55PM (3 children)

            by Azuma Hazuki (5086) on Wednesday July 05 2017, @10:55PM (#535445) Journal

            So will you stop blaming all cisgender women for your problems now, Kurenai? :D :D :D :D

            --
            I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
            • (Score: 1) by kurenai.tsubasa on Thursday July 06 2017, @01:19PM (2 children)

              by kurenai.tsubasa (5227) on Thursday July 06 2017, @01:19PM (#535702) Journal

              I'm glad you asked! The answer is: I will around the time feminism stops holding all assigned males collectively and severally accountable for the actions of some asshole investment bankers! :D :D :D :D

              • (Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Thursday July 06 2017, @05:39PM (1 child)

                by Azuma Hazuki (5086) on Thursday July 06 2017, @05:39PM (#535792) Journal

                Well, this feminist doesn't, so there's a nice hole in your stuffed shirt there. This one's also on board with reducing the harm the patriarchy does to our boys and men, everything from circumcision to the toxic sanity-eroding bullshit they get told about never asking for help or showing emotion.

                But do go on with your blanket hatred of the lot of us. Obviously we're all man-hating TERFs with battle axes mounted over our fireplaces, lined with trophies of severed scrotums and foreskins. 9_9

                --
                I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
                • (Score: 1) by kurenai.tsubasa on Thursday July 06 2017, @07:05PM

                  by kurenai.tsubasa (5227) on Thursday July 06 2017, @07:05PM (#535832) Journal

                  I think it goes like this: if the lifeguard at a pool yells “No running on the deck!” and you're not running, s/he's not talking to you! :)