Comments on: On finding women speakers for New Game

By: Sheri Rubin

Sheri Rubin — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 17:51:47 +0000

Things heard at a recent game development conference I attended spoken by male colleagues to female colleagues:
1. Nice A$$
2. Nice Cleavage
3. My d*** is bigger than your husband’s d***
….

I’d go on and on but I think you get the point.

By: Rachel Blum

Rachel Blum — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 02:46:21 +0000

Since Lea asked about an example what is considered sexual harassment: How about going out for drinks after a conference, accepting an invitation for a drink from another gamedev, only to then have to explain to the guy that that’s not an excuse for having his hands all over me? Does that count?

(And no, that wasn’t Darius’ conference. He had a fantastic – and well-behaved! – crowd there. Both the conference itself and the party was tremendous fun. I’ll definitely be back next year!)

By: On Finding Women Speakers for New Game « WIGI Newsletter—Fall 2011 Edition

On Finding Women Speakers for New Game « WIGI Newsletter—Fall 2011 Edition — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 16:11:45 +0000

[...] originally posted by DARIUS KAZEMI on AUGUST 25, 2011 [...]

By: Lea Verou

Lea Verou — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 23:14:33 +0000

Thanks for the link, very interesting!

By: Lea Verou

Lea Verou — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 23:13:59 +0000

@Sheri: That’s a good point. And this is where a policy could actually help: Instead of forbidding them, it could allow them under the condition that they are gender balanced. :)
That would effectively reduce them too (most companies wouldn’t be able to afford it) without forbidding anything. :)

By: Lea Verou

Lea Verou — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 22:59:44 +0000

I never said that sexist behavior exists in the US. I was asking about tech conferences in particular. Of course I have experienced sexist incidents myself as well. I’ve also been in the side where I was arguing with other women that a certain practice or behavior is sexist. Several times. However, none of these were ever in technical conferences, so I was just asking about those.

By: Lea Verou

Lea Verou — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 22:56:07 +0000

I wasn’t asking for examples so that I believe him or accept the idea of an anti-harassment policy. I was asking for examples to see what these women consider as harassment. Simple as that.
I think you’re projecting bad experiences you’ve had with sexist people on me, and it’s unfair.

By: Lea Verou

Lea Verou — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 22:53:18 +0000

I think you misunderstood. I wasn’t talking about sexist remarks, groping(!) or any other sexist actions directed towards a specific individual or a group. I completely agree with those being forbidden (heck, I hate them as much as you do), although I’m still not sure if we need a policy for it, as it’s already covered by laws in most countries. But I wouldn’t object to one, for sure. It enforces equal treatment.

The only thing I find kind of weird is being bothered just because a person in a sexualized outfit is present. That’s the only thing I’ve been discussing/questioning.

By: Courtney Stanton

Courtney Stanton — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 22:52:55 +0000

Yeah, rather than exploit the bodies of all genders (which, while a form of equality, feels rather lacking in respect), I think getting vendors at professional events to dress and treat their employees like actual professionals would be a more positive step.

I know plenty of people who have jobs where their bodies are on display as part of work (strippers, burlesque performers, go-go dancers, that kind of thing). That’s a far cry from demo-ing a new controller or promoting a game’s exciting new graphics or what have you.

By: Sheri Rubin

Sheri Rubin — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 22:50:33 +0000

The problem is that with the current gender divide in the industry there will almost never be booth babes of both genders. The best we get is occasionally at things like E3 or Comi-con they’ll be cosplayers/booth people in costumes of male characters but that’s still rare too.

At professional conferences the organizers realize that for the most part it’s still majority of men and so they cater to that by giving us “booth babes”.