It's the kind of image that has been prevalent in the gaming industry for eons. I wonder how disparate the percentages of female hackers (if you can define hacker sufficiently) versus women in gaming are. Certainly in gaming we're pretty much used to it by now - and it is slowly changing.
Plus, as another poster says, 'when in Taiwan'; their culture's totally different. If there is a gender imbalance specifically in Taiwanese or Asian computing (and most of the female CS students I met were from China or Japan), addressing it needs to take the culture into consideration - the miniskirted lapdancers are a symptom, not the disease.
True, but even when you have a disease, you start by treating the symptoms to ease the discomfort. I can only imagine how uncomfortable women at these conferences (what few there are) must be.
I am a woman, in case that wasn't clear. I'm fine with the level of stuff that goes on and is acceptable in my culture. And I worked in gaming, covering booth-babe laden expos, for several years.
Guys don't need to get outraged for us. We can do that ourselves.
Well, my wife is also in technology (a developer, not games) and isn't fine with it. I'm glad you're OK with it, but there's nothing wrong with those that aren't.
As a man, I'm not fine with the perception these ridiculous stunts create -- that men in technology are so socially retarded that we need organizers to hire strippers and booth babes for us.
You wouldn't see this behavior at another professional conference -- you'd see it from a subset of the attendees AFTER the conference, where it's appropriate.
> Well, my wife is also in technology (a developer, not games) and isn't fine with it. I'm glad you're OK with it, but there's nothing wrong with those that aren't.
Nothing wrong, you can organize your own conferences in whatever way you like.
But if you act morally outraged at what others do in the conferences they organize, don't expect much sympathy.
Nothing wrong, you can organize your own conferences in whatever way you like.
... and you can lose out on the participation of a valuable subset of contributors. This isn't a moral issue, it's a question of maturity, decorum, and being inclusive.
But if you act morally outraged at what others do in the conferences they organize, don't expect much sympathy.
Likewise, if you're a socially ignorant asshat, don't expect people to like you.
This is true, and I'm not making a value judgement on this particular event at all. I'm just saying that a comment like that is projecting the poster's own morals, thoughts, and culture onto a whole separate group of people who probably don't even think like that at all.
Many American women would not be offended either, there are plenty of open minded people in all countries with better things to do than acting offended and outraged at every opportunity.
Plus, as another poster says, 'when in Taiwan'; their culture's totally different. If there is a gender imbalance specifically in Taiwanese or Asian computing (and most of the female CS students I met were from China or Japan), addressing it needs to take the culture into consideration - the miniskirted lapdancers are a symptom, not the disease.