3 ms·

I think the penis joke thing is actually on a par with the booth babe thing. By removing the various factors that have in the past led up to eventual sexism or

by mpyne 14y ago

I think the penis joke thing is actually on a par with the booth babe thing. By removing the various factors that have in the past led up to eventual sexism or sexual harrassment at a professional function you improve the odds that participants will be able to go through the conference experience without suffering from sexual harrassment. Like any filter it suffers from filtering out behavior which is possibly legitimate, but is eliminating sexual-themed jokes (however innocuous) really that bad if it actually helps with reducing sexual harrassment (or alternately, identifying those who are actually sexist)? That's the balance that has to be determined; is the acceptable behavior you would wrongly exclude by a rule more valuable than the wrong behavior you would permit without that rule? I can make penis jokes almost anywhere else, so if banning them at a conference would actually contribute to a more pleasant experience for everyone else attending then I just don't see that as harmful.

rayiner 14y ago
You can't make penis jokes at work, and now you can't make penis jokes at the place you finagle yourself into getting yourself sent to so you don't have to work. When you spend most of your waking hours working, that severely curtails your ability to make penis jokes (or really, any sort of joke). I have great sympathy for the feminist cause, I really do, but even in war there is diplomacy.
- mpyne 14y ago
  > When you spend most of your waking hours working, that severely curtails your ability to make penis jokes (or really, any sort of joke). Meh, you could still do so within a group of friends even at a conference I would think, as long as it's in between sessions or otherwise at a break in the action. But when you're sitting in an audience surrounded by strangers and attending to whatever professional topic brought you there, it's probably not as good of an idea. I come from a community that is rather famous for being "not very formal", but we have a very clear distinction between when it's appropriate to be jovial and when formality is called for, and when formality is called for we go way above and beyond. Not because of sexism, but the neutrality of tone is definitely a nice side effect.

by mpyne 14y ago

rayiner 14y ago

You can't make penis jokes at work, and now you can't make penis jokes at the place you finagle yourself into getting yourself sent to so you don't have to work. When you spend most of your waking hours working, that severely curtails your ability to make penis jokes (or really, any sort of joke). I have great sympathy for the feminist cause, I really do, but even in war there is diplomacy.

mpyne 14y ago
> When you spend most of your waking hours working, that severely curtails your ability to make penis jokes (or really, any sort of joke). Meh, you could still do so within a group of friends even at a conference I would think, as long as it's in between sessions or otherwise at a break in the action. But when you're sitting in an audience surrounded by strangers and attending to whatever professional topic brought you there, it's probably not as good of an idea. I come from a community that is rather famous for being "not very formal", but we have a very clear distinction between when it's appropriate to be jovial and when formality is called for, and when formality is called for we go way above and beyond. Not because of sexism, but the neutrality of tone is definitely a nice side effect.