<story><title>Julie Ann Horvath Describes Sexism and Intimidation Behind Her GitHub Exit</title><url>http://techcrunch.com/2014/03/15/julie-ann-horvath-describes-sexism-and-intimidation-behind-her-github-exit/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>harshreality</author><text>The article quotes JAH&amp;#x27;s email as saying, &lt;i&gt;&amp;quot;Two women, one of whom I work with and adore, and a friend of hers were hula hooping to some music. I didn’t have a problem with this. What I did have a problem with is the line of men sitting on one bench facing the hoopers and gawking at them. It looked like something out of a strip club. When I brought this up to male coworkers, they didn’t see a problem with it. But for me it felt unsafe and to be honest, really embarrassing. That was the moment I decided to finally leave GitHub.&amp;quot;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;Certain people are extremely sensitive to what they perceive as improper or demeaning interaction, even when it doesn&amp;#x27;t directly involve them.  JAH wasn&amp;#x27;t willing to let those women deal with it themselves, and doesn&amp;#x27;t mention even talking to them about it to see if &lt;i&gt;they&lt;/i&gt; felt objectified.  Instead, she talked to male coworkers, not specifically HR or a founder, about the wisdom of allowing women to hula hoop in the office? What&amp;#x27;s &lt;i&gt;that&lt;/i&gt; going to accomplish?&lt;p&gt;I understand her view that sexual undercurrents in an office makes things uncomfortable for some women, and I understand her wanting that toned down.  But other women (including some feminists) have no problem with much stronger displays of sexuality, and feel it&amp;#x27;s an affront to women to suppress that.  Both sides can&amp;#x27;t win.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>facepalm</author><text>I think it&amp;#x27;s really a huge stretch to go from oogling of hula hoopers to &amp;quot;feeling unsafe&amp;quot;. What, after watching some women do hoola hoop men suddenly turn into rapists? That&amp;#x27;s 100% in her head and sounds slightly crazy to me, to be honest. Not even going to strip clubs turns men into rapists on a regular basis...&lt;p&gt;I think that accusation is completely unwarranted (from the sounds of it).</text></comment>
<story><title>Julie Ann Horvath Describes Sexism and Intimidation Behind Her GitHub Exit</title><url>http://techcrunch.com/2014/03/15/julie-ann-horvath-describes-sexism-and-intimidation-behind-her-github-exit/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>harshreality</author><text>The article quotes JAH&amp;#x27;s email as saying, &lt;i&gt;&amp;quot;Two women, one of whom I work with and adore, and a friend of hers were hula hooping to some music. I didn’t have a problem with this. What I did have a problem with is the line of men sitting on one bench facing the hoopers and gawking at them. It looked like something out of a strip club. When I brought this up to male coworkers, they didn’t see a problem with it. But for me it felt unsafe and to be honest, really embarrassing. That was the moment I decided to finally leave GitHub.&amp;quot;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;Certain people are extremely sensitive to what they perceive as improper or demeaning interaction, even when it doesn&amp;#x27;t directly involve them.  JAH wasn&amp;#x27;t willing to let those women deal with it themselves, and doesn&amp;#x27;t mention even talking to them about it to see if &lt;i&gt;they&lt;/i&gt; felt objectified.  Instead, she talked to male coworkers, not specifically HR or a founder, about the wisdom of allowing women to hula hoop in the office? What&amp;#x27;s &lt;i&gt;that&lt;/i&gt; going to accomplish?&lt;p&gt;I understand her view that sexual undercurrents in an office makes things uncomfortable for some women, and I understand her wanting that toned down.  But other women (including some feminists) have no problem with much stronger displays of sexuality, and feel it&amp;#x27;s an affront to women to suppress that.  Both sides can&amp;#x27;t win.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>unreal37</author><text>If someone were to hula-hoop to music in my office, male or female, I am pretty sure there would be a lot of people looking on. Not sure where the line of &amp;quot;looking on&amp;quot; and &amp;quot;gawking&amp;quot; is in that situation.</text></comment>