I am a woman and I found them funny, but that is my 2 cents :)
Re:An Apology From TechCrunch
by david_shaw on Sunday September 08, 2013 @07:35PM
(#6350996)
Sure, and I'm positive that you weren't alone.
I'm not saying that they shouldn't make joke apps, but TechCrunch should not have let them take the stage.
I'm not sure it's clear what we should discount "joke" apps as not being serious business. After all, they built a place where users upload offensive photos and allow folks to vote and share ... just like 9Gag, Reddit, and countless other legitimate, funded, businesses.
As far as it getting publicized that's on Tech Crunch. We can all blame the perpetrators but I still fail to see how this is a tech thing. News stations get phony phone calls everyday and some of them get through. To some people they are funny, while others are offended. This whole TC mishap is turning out to be a cheap attempt at making the tech industry seem misogynistic. I'll reiterate, it happens in every industry.
Male sexual desire is healthy. Heterosexual men like tits - deal with it. There's nothing "objectifying" or "misogynistic" about it. Jesus, what's wrong with you people? Is a man allowed to even look at a woman or is even that considered misogyny? I like women and no amount of buzzwords will make me ashamed of it!
As opposed to being done accidentally?
These presentations were, of course, intended to be jokes. In fact, I'm sure they were designed to be harmless, unoffensive jokes.
Who cares?
Children and adults who were rightfully offended were all in the audience. TechCrunch showcasing an app designed to turn objectifying women into a social network is absolutely absurd.
I'm not a woman, but I also don't think that these types of "jokes" are acceptable at any sort of conference. If you want to joke around with your friends, fine. Hell, if you want to make an app called TitStare on your own time and publish it, great--but for an all-ages industry conference to publicize it? That's wrong.
I believe that the tech industry as a whole is doing great work towards being less misogynistic and being more diverse. Stunts like this at well-known events are huge road blocks towards that goal.