Under other circumstances, a book like Brotopia would not have held my interest for too long. The thesis is thin and the author belabors it to death. In the first few pages we get the point - there is an original sin in how Silicon Valley was founded by a certain type of white male who then only hired men just like them. That gene pool propagated to the exclusion of every other kind of human being. Beyond that the book is about evidence to support the position. The author's high-pitched gossipy tone only serves to hurt her credibility But I have a daughter that will join the work force in a few years and some of the horror stories even if they are remotely true feel very important for both her and I to read and discuss.
“He said, ‘I’m offensive, I bet I can offend you,’” Holmes remembered. Because she was “trying to be one of the bros,” she decided to play along. “He gets close to my face and says, ‘You’re so fucking dumb, and you don’t know shit. The only thing you’re good for is being taken out to the back parking lot and being raped.’” Yep, she told him, that sure was offensive. “It was only the two of us. I was thinking that ‘oh, this is what the industry is like. This is bad. I didn’t sign up for this, but I guess I better get used to it,’” Holmes said. “Things were pretty atrocious, and I could have filed a lawsuit . . . But at the age of twenty-three, I didn’t want to be the whistle-blower; I didn’t want to be defined by this.”
What exactly should a twenty three year old woman do under the circumstances? Holmes is right to think that being a whistle-blower would make this incident define her. It would become the excuse to treat her like she was the problem - the un-hireable, un-promotable damaged goods. Her career would be over even before it started. She would be told that she not a cultural fit - and that she is not leadership material.
Then there was was this description of the workplace that was straight out of my own engineering college experience in India- events that left me having nightmares even a decade after graduating from there
One woman reported, “I was walking with some male colleagues around the office at lunch, and when we found ourselves in a remote area of the building with a sketchy old door, one of them said, jokingly, ‘Quick! Grab her legs, let’s rape her!’” Many women had also had the uncomfortable experience of seeing male co-workers watch porn while at work and hearing them rate women in the office based on sexual attractiveness.
“He said, ‘I’m offensive, I bet I can offend you,’” Holmes remembered. Because she was “trying to be one of the bros,” she decided to play along. “He gets close to my face and says, ‘You’re so fucking dumb, and you don’t know shit. The only thing you’re good for is being taken out to the back parking lot and being raped.’” Yep, she told him, that sure was offensive. “It was only the two of us. I was thinking that ‘oh, this is what the industry is like. This is bad. I didn’t sign up for this, but I guess I better get used to it,’” Holmes said. “Things were pretty atrocious, and I could have filed a lawsuit . . . But at the age of twenty-three, I didn’t want to be the whistle-blower; I didn’t want to be defined by this.”
What exactly should a twenty three year old woman do under the circumstances? Holmes is right to think that being a whistle-blower would make this incident define her. It would become the excuse to treat her like she was the problem - the un-hireable, un-promotable damaged goods. Her career would be over even before it started. She would be told that she not a cultural fit - and that she is not leadership material.
Then there was was this description of the workplace that was straight out of my own engineering college experience in India- events that left me having nightmares even a decade after graduating from there
One woman reported, “I was walking with some male colleagues around the office at lunch, and when we found ourselves in a remote area of the building with a sketchy old door, one of them said, jokingly, ‘Quick! Grab her legs, let’s rape her!’” Many women had also had the uncomfortable experience of seeing male co-workers watch porn while at work and hearing them rate women in the office based on sexual attractiveness.
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