encinotech

The problem isn't the discourse, but to categorize the people themselves - "people working on this must be really unethical". It's only that last part he is against.

It should go like this: Me: let's extend life Someone else: If people live a lot longer it will be disastrous for the environment Me: Ok lets talk about that...

But you can't do that if now you're already unethical, etc.

Thank you for trying to respond a bit more rationally.

I'll break this down further: Of course she could be uncomfortable. Lets agree she's actually reasonable in doing so.

However, you don't know what will make one person uncomfortable or not. Can you? You can guess, you can try your best, but ultimately you have no idea what someone will find offense. Can you? Is there an algorithm for it? No.

Ok so that means that sometimes people will be offended by things that weren't intended to offend. Now we're to the point where the offended person gets to React. How do they handle it? Do they think of all the angles?

What I disagree with is her reaction. You don't seem to disagree. This is what I am saying should be changed.

Aaron- maybe her talk would have helped hundreds of people. All those people lost out. Could she have asked the organizers in advance to change the image? It looked like they these went out privately for approval. Maybe I mis-read that?

Lets assume that they never asked for her approval and 5 minutes before she goes up, the slide goes up and BAM she is uncomfortable and feels sexualized. Again, its about her reaction.

Others in this thread commented they would roll with it, be resilient, etc. This is what we, as society, should reinforce in each other. And yes, we have to make judgments about where the line is. I don't agree with her judgement, I'll state that clearly.

Think about this: I think she only thought about herself and PROJECTED onto everyone else that they would stereotype her. What if I were in the audience and saw the image and also thought "oh wow that sucks for her, ok i'll be extra supportive of her and try my best to not sexualize her".

So, when you support her reaction, you are actually making a negative judgement about everyone else in the audience as well. I'm curious how you think about that?

Maybe i'm missing another perspective. Please let me know and i'm curious to introspect my own thoughts further.

I can't help but think if she just went along with it, everyone would respect her as a woman in tech to a much higher degree because she would have actually been a woman in tech doing real tech talks. Now shes a woman in tech not doing tech talks. It's kind of sad.

Maybe the guy is homosexual. Maybe his boyfriend will get pissed off now that the other homosexual men in the audience may react to him differently. Who knows

You even say that "a male being sexualized in a mostly male audience" is ok. HOW IS THAT OK? You literally can't make judgements about what is OK or not, because you can't empathize with each person in each scenario who "knows it better than you" and if someone gets upset because reasons

The point is even if everyone tries to act their best, you have no idea what will set her off, or the next person. And you are supporting a society where this behavior is OK. That is wrong.

This should be buried, and I would never invite her to speak again because she is drama.

This is a trend of hyper sensitivity that requires everyone to walk on eggshells and wear kid gloves because who knows what could trigger the emotional reaction. Really, think about this - what if a company tries to do something fun, like for halloween, and buys clip-on ties for the guys and clip-on hair ties for the girls, but then someone flips out saying "I'm a guy why do i have to be stereotyped into having a tie, this is so sexist! (and the girls can do the reverse - I want a tie!). It's all just nonsense from people who don't have any emotional maturity, really.

Were the conference organizers trying to do the wrong thing? Doesn't sound like it at all. They probably thought "wonder woman is cool, this lady is cool, this image will be cool" and it was actually an act to celebrate her.

Instead she flips out. Great, real mature. Then she posts conversations she had with them and demonizes them. real mature.

And about her point of being sexualized - what if a guy had his face photoshopped onto he-man and that guy complained about being sexualized because now his face is on a shirtless strong dude. These arguments only go one way for people like this.

There is a line, of course, and sexual harassment is real. But this isn't anywhere near the line, its not even in the same field. We need to send a message back to her that she is the one being drama and needs to grow up and be a 'real adult' like she says she is.