[toolz]

Is this behavior worse than just being around a bunch of guys in general? I'm not condoning the behavior, but we're all animals and sex is a thing - it gets the best of many of us and we end up acting like baboons. I'm curious if the tech industry is actually worse, because I would expect us to behave better considering we actually give it a voice and properly label it as negative behavior.

[kajecounterhack]

  I would expect us to behave better considering we actually 
  give it a voice and properly label it as negative behavior.

If only this were true. Apparently the greater (male-dominated) culture surrounding technology doesn't dissuade this behavior enough.

  I'm not condoning the behavior, but we're all animals and 
  sex is a thing - it gets the best of many of us and we end 
  up acting like baboons

Despite your disclaimer this still echoes the "boys will be boys" sentiment, one used to justify harm / mistreatment of women by dismissing their actions as part of male nature. This is a lie and needs to change; individuals are responsible for their words, actions, and any harm they cause.

[CedarMadness]

I don't think toolz was trying to say "boys will be boys", I think toolz was saying we should try to fix society, rather than pretend this is only a problem in tech

[kajecounterhack]

  I think toolz was saying we should try to fix society, 
  rather than pretend this is only a problem in tech

Who's pretending the problem is only in tech? Attacking the problem in our industry is part of fixing society as a whole (it's a subproblem).

[toolz]

how could you possibly have interpreted that as 'boys will be boys'? I never mentioned a gender, in fact I was pretty explicit about including everyone. My statement applies to all genders.

edit: this is a good example of unintentional sexism - when talking about negative sexual behavior, people assume it's a guy. This needs to stop just as much as any other negative behavior. If we setup expectations for guys to behave badly, don't be surprised when they do.

[idlewords]

We're all animals but we (mostly) refrain from shitting on the foor. We clearly have the brainpower to abstract away our animal selves at a tech conference, so there's no excuse for letting sex 'get the best of us' unless we allow it to happen.

[jordanpg]

"we're all animals and sex is a thing - it gets the best of many of us and we end up acting like baboons"

We're primates with a large cerebral cortex. We can think about morality and altruism, and how not to hurt each other, in spite of what our animal minds might be signaling.

Stop making excuses for you or your group's inability to exercise self-control. By hinting that the situation -- making another human uncomfortable -- is somehow natural, you are implicitly condoning the behavior.

[steckerbrett]

Yes. In my place of work that sort of behavior towards anybody would see you instantly excluded from every social circle, not by regulation just because we have some moral core and empathy. If people are being made uncomfortable by others for any reason, that's a problem.

[dsuth]

I don't believe the tech industry is necessarily worse than other male-dominated industries, but that's not really an excuse not to try and do better, is it? I like to think that geeks are slightly more enlightened than our business, law, and finance brethren, who all have a bad rap when it comes to sexism.

There will always be sexual differences, and that's fine and healthy, but we should be aiming to treat women as people first in a professional setting.