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Yahoo's 'Dirty Old Man' Shareholders Remind Marissa Mayer She's a Woman
- mathattack 13y agoAnd as a shareholder he's effectively on the committee that is her boss. Take two steps forward and one step back.
- tbrownaw 13y agoMeh. 2000 shares would be about... $50k or 1.8e-4%. Somehow I doubt that's enough to really matter.
- Uperte 13y agoOld guy tells Marissa she is attractive, feminist writes article about sexism. Nothing to see here, move on.
- PavlovsCat 13y agoSexism is waved away with euphemisms, which is exciting and stimulating. Also, if you're not a feminist by 2013, what are you? This stuff was a no-brainer the second it was came up with.
- alexjeffrey 13y agoyou may be confusing feminism with the equal rights for women movement. While there's a large crossover and the former certainly tries to pretend to be the latter, there's also an element of male-targeted sexism within the feminist community that would always prevent me from identifying with them. I'm not saying at all that feminism = sexism, but I wouldn't want to back a community that doesn't seem to address these issues.
- shanelja 13y agoI couldn't agree more. We should all be egalitarian: characterized by belief in equal political, economic, social, and civil rights for all people, rather than feminist: defending equal political, economic, and social rights for women.
- PavlovsCat 13y agoThe point is they so vastly don't have it, and it's so deeply ingrained, and Stockholm Syndrome runs so deep, that solidarity and kicking continued ass is really called for here. There is a reason John Lennon wrote a song called "woman is the nigger of the world". I haven't met a sane smart man who felt threatened by feminism. Not one. Scoffing at the excesses, sure. But not calling it out like some warning sign. Do you accuse a group working for the ethical treatment of prisoners of not wanting everyone to be treated ethically? No. You see, that's how much I pay attention.
- johngalt 13y ago"I haven't met a sane smart man who felt threatened by feminism." Talk to any male who has dealt with a female stalker. All the legal 'protections' put in place and advocated by feminist organizations don't apply to men. If anything they will be the tools used to further abuse. Sure no one is threatened by the dictionary definition. It's the polices advocated by feminist organizations.
- derpanerb 13y agoNo sane man is threatened by feminism? So when feminists pass bills that implement mandatory arrest policies for the male in any domestic violence calls.... a man would have to be insane to be threatened by that? Or when a feminist twists the definition of rape so that over 1 million male victims of rape are ignored every single year (which then allows them to come to some nice fancy conclusiosn like "95% of all rape victims are female")... I'm insane for being threatened by that too? And then we have NoW, the biggest feminist organization in the entire world... I must clearly be insane to be opposed to the fact that they constantly rally against any group or bill that tried to remove the bias from custody trials (in which mothers get custody 90+% of the time). And this is only scratching the surface... I suggest you stop being so ignorant of the many legitimate reasons why people have a problem with feminism.
- Crake 13y ago"Also, if you're not a feminist by 2013, what are you?" I'm an egalitarian, because I believe in equal rights for all people, not just one biological sex. Unless you're a cis female, feminism is very hostile to you. Since I am GLBT, I find egalitarianism much more appealing for this reason as well.
- PavlovsCat 13y agoI'm an egalitarian This makes you, among other things, a feminist. It also makes you, for example, an opponent of the case system in India, regardless some people deeply involved in that issue committing bad acts under its cloak (not saying there are those people, I have no idea, that's not the point). Unless you're a cis female, feminism is very hostile to you. I'll be the judge of that.
- Crake 13y agoThis makes you, among other things, a feminist. 1. You do not get to decide for me who and what I am or what I identify as. What the hell makes you think that you have the right and the might to tell me who I'm supposed to be? You can say that--according to your definition of it--Christianity is about being kind to others. Ok. Whatever. That doesn't make me a Christian. And you definitely don't get the right to call me one. (I'm an atheist.) 2. It's funny you mention India. Feminists lobbied heavily (and successfully) for only one biological sex to be legally able to be booked for rape. Spoilers: it wasn't women. I'll be the judge of that. Wow, ego. Do you also tell trans people to go kill themselves?
- johngalt 13y agoAdditionally, if you're anti-slavery you're by definition a Republican. If you don't identify as republican you're automatically pro-slavery. It's 2013, if you're not a republican by now what are you?
- billb2112 13y agoI disagree. There was another picture of Marissa Mayer to see.
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- mikegioia 13y agoI don't understand why asking for a favorite football team is a "gender based question". Women clearly watch football, and TBH, calling that a gender based question is more demeaning to women than the actual question.
- mtoddh 13y agoI thought this was ironic too. This assumption that only a man would be interested in football, is like a woman going to buy a car and only being shown the vanity mirror, because clearly only a man would interested in the rest of car.
- rayiner 13y agoImagine you're the CEO of a tech startup, in a meeting with some Wall Street people. You look like Mark Zuckerberg, they're the "captain of the crew team" type Wall Street likes to hire. They ask you: so, what sport did you play in college? Sometimes questions like that are an attempt at signaling exclusion. The purpose is to remind you that you're different from the group. It's really irrelevant to the quality of the question whether you were actually the school's star track athlete, or instead spent all your time hacking on your computer. It's even irrelevant whether the stereotype is actually true (I don't know if people at tech startups are less likely to have played sports in college than people at investment banks). All that needs to exist is a clear stereotype and for both sides to be aware of the appeal to that stereotype.
- rayiner 13y agoIt depends on the context. Questions like that can be used to remind people that they don't have the same background as the other people in the group. For example, a group full of rich people might as someone from a low-income background: "where do you summer?" If you don't think that kind of signaling takes place in the board room, I suggest you read this article: http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-12-13/the-ironman-triathlete-executives-ultimate-status-feat http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-12-13/the-ironman-.... That said, I don't think that particular question is sexist. Football (particularly in the midwest where Mayer hails from), is pretty broadly popular across gender lines to the point where it's not uncommon enough for women to like football that it would be effective in exclusion signaling.
- shanelja 13y agoThis entire article is an exercise in idiocy, full of loaded comments. This is what actually happens: Man tells woman she is attractive ... Another woman interprets this as sexism It might be an inappropriate time to say it, but this is rudeness, not sexism. How often is it that you are talking to someone, anyone, they comment on how attractive you are and you are sorely offended? Never? Because I know from my personal experiences (as a highly privileged cis male of course) that I love being complimented. If we are to interpret every single unrequested compliment as sexism that feminists will soon find that they are unable to find a boyfriend. If you want an example of sexism, then here is one, from the very fingers of the feminist news reporter herself: "that she looks like a woman but acts like a man." Why should any woman need to act like a man? In this day and age do we still believe in these traditional gender roles, that only a man can be effective in a leadership position? And then some victim blaming: "Mayer didn't [...] [goad] the "dirty old man" with some low-cut top or skimpy outfit [...] But, of course, you weren't even wondering that, were you?" No, as a matter of fact, I wasn't. That comment was an unnecessary attempt to read the mind of the reader. At no point did I assume that this respected member of her community would be sat in her shareholders meeting wearing a bikini or a v-neck down to her stomach. Propaganda, the lot of it.
- PavlovsCat 13y agoIt might be an inappropriate time to say it, but this is rudeness, not sexism. How often is it that you are talking to someone, anyone, they comment on how attractive you are and you are sorely offended? While pointing out they have power/money, while the other party has the looks? That happens a lot, and only ever [edit: usually, 99% like] one way. Even older rich women who hit on me do it more like a young girl would than this dude would. So, no. If you want idiocy or propaganda, try your own post.
- tbrownaw 13y agoIt sounded like his comments followed the format of <why I'm (allowed to be) here> <interesting tidbits about me> <what I wanted to talk about>. The 2000 shares is the first part (which doesn't count as having power/money given how many shares yahoo has); the inappropriate comments are the second part; whatever he goes on to say after (there is something, but I didn't pay attention) is the third part. I would think that format is typical for public (or semi-public) meetings where anyone who wants to is allowed to present to the group.
- cpdean 13y agoThis story was nearly a year old the day it was posted. I want to hear about if the dirty old men have shut the hell up or not since then.
- prawks 13y agoA very poorly written article. Unfortunate because until now I have enjoyed a lot of The Atlantic's content. Dude, not even the President of the United States can get away with that kind of thing. Not to mention it was written to be as link-baity and "controversial" as possible, while making sexist remarks clearly without knowing it.
- yoster 13y agoI don't see anything wrong with that as even our POTUS has openly told the opposite sex this. Some of these statements are definitely irrelevant, but I find that it should have been said using different wording. He could have mentioned something relevant, and then addressed that she is attractive on this day, or everyday. He should have definitely left the dirty old man part out.
- cpdean 13y ago"Like any good woman in power [...] she looks like a woman but acts like a man." Rebecca Greenfield was _so close_ to praising Mayer on her career without completely debasing all female leaders in the world.
- DanBC 13y agoI read that as "Marissa Mayer has been forced to prove, by answering questions about sports, that she is manly enough to run a company. And this is a problem other female leaders have to go through". I agree that this article is lousy and poorly written.