[Udo]

I agree with in you principle, but the way this is being handled is simply not designed to alleviate any of the problems. It's sad that the only socially acceptable way of shutting up obnoxiously giggling douchebags during a presentation is by invoking the sex card.

It's true that I have never been to an American tech event and I cede that I can't really know how endemic threatening male group behavior has become in these settings. However, the example at hand does not strike me as such an instance. It may well be the straw that broke the camel's back in the author's case, but on its own this affair just leaves everyone involved in a very bad light.

My instinct is to look at the more basic failures that make situations like these possible, and I listed a few that struck me off the top of my head.