4 ms·
This is what I wrote earlier in reaction to this piece, then decided to not post for REASONS, but given how this is going, I am going to throw it out there now:
by Mz 9y ago
This is what I wrote earlier in reaction to this piece, then decided to not post for REASONS, but given how this is going, I am going to throw it out there now:
Oh, give me a break.
This piece posits that we need to punish male VCs who sexually harass female applicants.
First of all, this approach (of doing things like basically boycotting them) is so ridiculous and impractical that it amounts to saying "I want you to think I am a highly ethical person, but I don't actually want to do anything about the problem. I just want to say things that sound good so I will look good."
Second, it gives zero remedy to the women who were seeking funds from VCs.
A much, much better answer would be to find a solution that involves getting money into the hands of the female entrepreneurs who not only had to put up with this shit, but also (in most cases) did NOT get funding from these men who see them as nothing but sex objects.
Failing to find a means to get more funding into the hands of female entrepreneurs also de facto reinforces the current status quo. Advocating some kind of punishment for the men who assaulted them while doing nothing to remedy the material harm done to their career aspirations makes you part of the problem, not part of the solution.
I don't really care if any men get hung high here. What I really care about is how in the hell do women get more opportunities? And everyone is so focused on being angry and outraged and also outraged at the presumed lack of outrage that no one can be bothered to do anything about this critical piece of the puzzle. Yet, it is the single most important thing here and it is the one thing I never see anyone talk about at all.
Why is no one starting a fund to get monies into the hands of female entrepreneurs in the face of this problem? I am not seeing that piece happen.
Am I wrong? If I am wrong, please link me to the fund that someone has started to get money into the hands of women in the face of this.
- xxSparkleSxx 9y ago>I don't really care if any men get hung high here. What I really care about is how in the hell do women get more opportunities? Oh, give me a break. You lose all credibility when your solution to sexism is more sexism. Get off your fucking high horse. Why aren't you out meeting with investors to start a fund aimed at women entrepreuers? Oh because ou want the karma of talking the talk but don't want to get off your fucking ass and do anything.
- Mz 9y agoNo, actually, because I am homeless and completely broke today and seriously considering going and playing in traffic for reasons I am blogging about. Which boils down to sexism is part of why I can't fucking get my finances straightened out.
- Yuffster 9y agoPlease don't play in traffic. The medical bills can pile up fast.
- xxSparkleSxx 9y agoSorry, that sucks. But introducing more sexism because you faced sexism isn't the answer. Also, there are lots of things you can do to make the world a better place on your way out. Please don't waste your life getting run over.
- Mz 9y agoI'm not talking about adding more sexism to the system. I am talking about remedying the problem for these women in preference to going on a headhunt for "guilty men." I don't know why in the hell you think that is me advocating more sexism. That is me saying that even if you hang all the guilty men, that still does NOT open doors for women. In fact, it closes them. And there is a part of me that suspects that is the entire point of going on a headhunt for guilty men instead of trying to open doors for women: It preserves the goddamn status quo. I don't know how to say it more clearly than that. And the fact that people are twisting my words in this way just makes me think this is truly fucking hopeless and there is no goddamn point at all in trying to do anything in this shithole of a world. It will never change.
- urahara 9y agoUnfortunately, there exists a point of view that giving women more power = more sexism as it reduces the power of men, actually. I agree with you that action and opening the doors for women is far more important than punishing 'guilty men', but I'm not sure if it is possible to have the first without the second. Maybe more 'guilty men' punished = less 'guilty men' keeping funding from women = more women funded.
- fpig 9y agoMaybe I am biased because I am not in SV and my company funds itself, but you don't have a right to anyone's money / funding. That is an extremely entitled sentiment. People aren't starting a fund to fund women entrepreneurs because it is simply a less effective way to make money than funding whoever you feel will be the most profitable regardless of gender or any other such consideration. When I decide what to do with my money, I do whatever I think will be the most profitable, and there is nothing wrong with that. It is not my responsibility to pay to fix the bad things other people do. And you probably do the same with your money. Edit: I don't want people to misunderstand me, I do believe you have a right to other people's money in the sense that I agree with the government taxing us and helping those in need (like healthcare and education for everyone, etc). But I don't believe you have a right to someone throwing a ton of money at your startup. It just sounds ridiculously entitled.
- Mz 9y agoI'm just going to leave this here and then step away from the insanity here on HN: http://micheleincalifornia.blogspot.com/2017/07/the-crux-of-problem.html http://micheleincalifornia.blogspot.com/2017/07/the-crux-of-...
- swampthinker 9y agoI'm nowhere as involved as you are in HN, but I can't help but notice your obsession with karma and leaderboards. What gives?
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- always_good 9y agoI don't think anybody owes you a job or any other sort of quid pro quo for that comment you made "in tptacek's defense" 6.5 years ago, and it's not because you're a woman.
- fpig 9y agoYou "backed" someone who has a large amount of karma on HN and you expected this to result in some significant positive effect on your life? And you think if you were male, this would have been the case? You also feel people on HN are partly responsible for your financial problems? O_O I am sorry that you are homeless, I think nobody deserves that and that the government should fix this problem but I think you have an unrealistic view of how the world works and an unhealthy relationship with this web site.
- femwarrior 9y agoAre the sexual harassment cases related to women receiving less funding? Intuitively it might seem likely, but the recent stories have been about sexual harassment, not about likelihood of women receiving funding. It could simply be two unrelated issues - and even if they are related, VCs being sexually interested in a female founder might not decrease the likelihood of investment.
- jbmorgado 9y ago> "I don't really care if any men get hung high here." What kind of place are the moderators of HN running here where this kind of comment is allowed? It's absolutely ridiculous the double standards going on here.
- Mz 9y agoI think you are reading that to mean the exact opposite of what I intended. The entire point of all my comments here is that going on a witch hunt with the intent to hang men high (as suggested by the article we are discussing) is not productive. It is counterproductive.