There are many reasons you don't see women speaking at tech conferences. Some is because they're passed over as non-members of the boys club. Some is because they don't want to attend and be part of the environment. I've had far worse things happen to be at tech shows - there's one I avoid altogether after being sexually assaulted in a hotel room - but like you said, there's a reason women don't feel comfortable talking about. i don't want to be the "token" harassment case. I don't want to become known for that above anything else I may do. So do I speak up or do I shut up.
That's just as large of an issue as how do I get that creep from putting his hand on knee. Arguably, it's bigger.
Well, let's get real. How many men think that? I've never seen that in ANY company I have ever worked for. Heck, I haven't even see this kind of thing in the university.
It's like taking the example of a rapist (which this guy sort of is) and extrapolating it to some general trend about everyone.
The big disadvantage about being a "hyper-minority" -- that is, a minority to the extent that you stick out almost like a celebrity would, is that you attract a lot of attention. A group of people might be largely composed of good people. However, someone who is a member of a "hyper-minority" is going to attract a far-disproportionate amount of attention from the most unsavory 0.5% of the group.
> It's like taking the example of a rapist (which this guy sort of is) and extrapolating it to some general trend about everyone.
I don't think that's a fair or constructive way to put the issue. Most men aren't rapists. However, a very small number are, and they can do a disproportionate amount of damage. This was even truer in days past, when society was more permissive about certain kinds of behaviors, and less scrupulous about avoiding unwanted approaches.
It's not a matter of spreading the guilt through the group. It is a matter of encouraging responsibility, however.
Obviously most, if not all men are rapists. Or potential rapists. Luckily, they are also obsolete!
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/spiegel-interview-...
That's Marilyn French's view, as famously quoted from "The Women's Room":
http://www.amazon.com/Womens-Room-Marilyn-French/dp/03453536...
It's also true that to a hammer, everything looks like a nail.
> Luckily, they are also obsolete!
Maybe. I personally will suspend judgment until I see women open their own businesses and banks and refuse to do business with men any more.
Well, technically:
"At one point in the book the character Val says "all men are rapists". This quote has often been incorrectly attributed to Marilyn French herself. " https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marilyn_French
There's plenty of crazy around the subject, though: http://www.avoiceformen.com/mens-rights/false-rape-culture/l...
> Maybe. I personally will suspend judgment until I see women open their own businesses and banks and refuse to do business with men any more.
That will never happen, as the bubble will pop soon. http://www.singularity2050.com/2010/01/the-misandry-bubble.h...
Thanks.
Even sexists.
I think the more prevalent problem is the underlying sexism, the institutional bias, the reluctance to speak up, the fear of being judged "the token" -- the fact that a man can think it's appropriate to put his hand on a woman's knee unsolicited is just a blatant, ugly manifestation of the underlying sexism.
I know this post had a little more nuance, but it's hard to come away from it without the impression of: "Women aren't on speaker panels because they're afraid of getting molested". Maybe that's the case (and if so, we as a society have serious issues)...but there's at least an equal problem of women just not being considered or being searched for. And as that problem persists, then women continue to become such a minority at these conferences that the aforementioned creep feels perfectly comfortable with invading a woman's personal space.