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You throw women around like it is some umbrella term for every women out there. You are wrong, not all women fall under your umbrella term. Who says some group

You throw women around like it is some umbrella term for every women out there. You are wrong, not all women fall under your umbrella term. Who says some group of women are disallowed in using their bodies for a competitive advantage? What about a women who enjoys having sex with individuals? What if those individuals happen to be VC's? What if by sleeping with those VC's she is allowed capital to fund her startup? She was just enjoying herself, and happened to be doing business at the same time. What right do you have as an individual to impose your viewpoint of calling her a sex object because she is using her body to her advantage? I don't understand this logic. You ridicule women by saying they are sex objects even though they might inherently enjoy the act of sex itself and realize the advantage it brings them in a business environment. And don't be naive, spend some time in San Jose at any Vietnamese Coffee Shop or Vietnamese Bar and talk to the girls working there. They make $200+ an hour or more for using their bodies, and on YC you have individuals and teams grinding away for pennies on the dollar for the man hours spent to get a startup off the ground. Talk to any of those girls working at those coffee shops and the vast majority of them will tell you that they have made a calculated decision to use their bodies for their advantage. Not all of the girls, some girls fall on hard times and have to make due with one of their assets. It's not a fortunate circumstance to be in, but so is being homeless. And guess what? Some of them invest that money into higher education, and end up with advanced degrees. Due to leveraging their bodies. So again, generalizations don't work when talking about gender. So please, get rid of your narrow mentality on how women think and work. You're living in a world of ideals, a nice bubble to be in but not an accurate representation of reality.

rquantz 11y ago
This is among the stranger things I've ever read on HN. Or anywhere. I'm not sure if it's a problem with your reading comprehension skills, or my communication skills. I suspect it's the former, but I'm biased. I don't want to get into this too deeply at this point, since you're probably the only one who's going to read this, but here goes: What about a women who enjoys having sex with individuals? What if those individuals happen to be VC's? What if by sleeping with those VC's she is allowed capital to fund her startup? She was just enjoying herself, and happened to be doing business at the same time. I'm sure this does happen, and I'm not saying it's not allowed, or it makes that woman a "sex object." But when VCs go around soliciting sex from women who are asking them for money, it creates a climate where women feel coerced into having sex. Again, I'm not trying to stop women who want to have sex from doing so, but most women do not like being coerced into sex. You ridicule women by saying they are sex objects even though they might inherently enjoy the act of sex itself Research and anecdotal evidence have shown that women desire sex just as much as men. Desiring and having sex does not make a woman a sex object. For many centuries, women were not allowed to be anything other than something for men to have sex with. That is the cultural climate I am referring to when I say that women are reduced to sex objects. I'm not ridiculing anyone. I'm talking about something women today generally want to avoid. Talk to any of those girls working at those coffee shops and the vast majority of them will tell you that they have made a calculated decision to use their bodies for their advantage. Are you a patron of one of these establishments? If so then I would not count on them having an honest conversation with you about whether or not they really want to be there. That said, let's assume what you say is true. It's fine that women can choose to "use their bodies for their advantage." What is not fine is for women to have no other option than to use their bodies to get what they want. I encourage you to re-read my post that you responded to, and see if you can understand it better.
- hiddenpewpew 11y ago
  There is a truth that I'm trying to reach for those who achieve success in Silicon Valley and those that do not. You can't paint this broad brushstroke to encapsulate the total environment here for both women and men. You forget about those who fall through the cracks, and those who never had a chance at success here. The technology bubble has created this disparity, and you can see it through the black market that rises around the excess of this bubble. I spend a lot of time trying to understand this black market, since it provides more truth than understanding the boom and bust of market economies. The general sentiment on YC is that of idealism, but if you don't see the narrow alleyways and dark pits in which people live in then you can't fully comprehend the extent to what people will do to survive or thrive. Travel around East Oakland, East San Jose, and you can see that there are people who will do anything for any advantage out of their given situation. For some women, it is using their bodies to get out. And you see it in the competitive environment of tech. This is the art of competition, bringing the cost of everything down - one of those costs is that of the human body.
  - rquantz 11y ago
    I'm trying to figure out what you think I believe, and the nearest I can come is that you seem to think I'm judging women for behavior that I find distasteful because I just can't comprehend what life is like in the "dark pits in which people live." Let me be clear: I am not decrying the behavior of women. I am criticizing VCs who expect sex from women who are trying to get funded. I recognize that some women resort to various kinds of sex work because they are financially desperate, while others do it because it is work they enjoy and it is lucrative (also to be clear, some women do it because they are forced into it by traffickers or others. This is not ok). I believe that prostitution should be legal, because its prohibition is bad for sex workers and makes their work less safe. I believe that consenting adults should be able to do what they choose in the bedroom. However, soliciting sex from women who are seeking funding has no place in the ethical practice of venture capital, for the reasons I outlined in previous comments (it is coercive and creates a bad environment for female entrepreneurs). Additionally, accepting sex from someone seeking funding also has no place in the ethical practice of venture capital, because it is likely to cloud judgement and produce bad investments. This is not idealism, it is a rational response to the fact that women had few other options than to "use their bodies" for millennia. People will do what they do, but if a VC tries to get a women to have sex with him in order to get funding, and instead of "using her body" she sues the shit out of him, he got what he deserved.

rquantz 11y ago

This is among the stranger things I've ever read on HN. Or anywhere. I'm not sure if it's a problem with your reading comprehension skills, or my communication skills. I suspect it's the former, but I'm biased. I don't want to get into this too deeply at this point, since you're probably the only one who's going to read this, but here goes: What about a women who enjoys having sex with individuals? What if those individuals happen to be VC's? What if by sleeping with those VC's she is allowed capital to fund her startup? She was just enjoying herself, and happened to be doing business at the same time. I'm sure this does happen, and I'm not saying it's not allowed, or it makes that woman a "sex object." But when VCs go around soliciting sex from women who are asking them for money, it creates a climate where women feel coerced into having sex. Again, I'm not trying to stop women who want to have sex from doing so, but most women do not like being coerced into sex. You ridicule women by saying they are sex objects even though they might inherently enjoy the act of sex itself Research and anecdotal evidence have shown that women desire sex just as much as men. Desiring and having sex does not make a woman a sex object. For many centuries, women were not allowed to be anything other than something for men to have sex with. That is the cultural climate I am referring to when I say that women are reduced to sex objects. I'm not ridiculing anyone. I'm talking about something women today generally want to avoid. Talk to any of those girls working at those coffee shops and the vast majority of them will tell you that they have made a calculated decision to use their bodies for their advantage. Are you a patron of one of these establishments? If so then I would not count on them having an honest conversation with you about whether or not they really want to be there. That said, let's assume what you say is true. It's fine that women can choose to "use their bodies for their advantage." What is not fine is for women to have no other option than to use their bodies to get what they want. I encourage you to re-read my post that you responded to, and see if you can understand it better.

hiddenpewpew 11y ago
There is a truth that I'm trying to reach for those who achieve success in Silicon Valley and those that do not. You can't paint this broad brushstroke to encapsulate the total environment here for both women and men. You forget about those who fall through the cracks, and those who never had a chance at success here. The technology bubble has created this disparity, and you can see it through the black market that rises around the excess of this bubble. I spend a lot of time trying to understand this black market, since it provides more truth than understanding the boom and bust of market economies. The general sentiment on YC is that of idealism, but if you don't see the narrow alleyways and dark pits in which people live in then you can't fully comprehend the extent to what people will do to survive or thrive. Travel around East Oakland, East San Jose, and you can see that there are people who will do anything for any advantage out of their given situation. For some women, it is using their bodies to get out. And you see it in the competitive environment of tech. This is the art of competition, bringing the cost of everything down - one of those costs is that of the human body.
- rquantz 11y ago
  I'm trying to figure out what you think I believe, and the nearest I can come is that you seem to think I'm judging women for behavior that I find distasteful because I just can't comprehend what life is like in the "dark pits in which people live." Let me be clear: I am not decrying the behavior of women. I am criticizing VCs who expect sex from women who are trying to get funded. I recognize that some women resort to various kinds of sex work because they are financially desperate, while others do it because it is work they enjoy and it is lucrative (also to be clear, some women do it because they are forced into it by traffickers or others. This is not ok). I believe that prostitution should be legal, because its prohibition is bad for sex workers and makes their work less safe. I believe that consenting adults should be able to do what they choose in the bedroom. However, soliciting sex from women who are seeking funding has no place in the ethical practice of venture capital, for the reasons I outlined in previous comments (it is coercive and creates a bad environment for female entrepreneurs). Additionally, accepting sex from someone seeking funding also has no place in the ethical practice of venture capital, because it is likely to cloud judgement and produce bad investments. This is not idealism, it is a rational response to the fact that women had few other options than to "use their bodies" for millennia. People will do what they do, but if a VC tries to get a women to have sex with him in order to get funding, and instead of "using her body" she sues the shit out of him, he got what he deserved.