[nickysielicki]

Have you heard of Amsterdam's red light district? It is a place where you can buy all sorts of narcotics, see prostitutes, and more!

I am assuming that is what they're referring to. That is their culture. How dare you be so politically incorrect, do you have no notion of cultural relativism?

[datafatmunger]

...one of our organizers is a brilliant female designer (boobs was her suggestion). I will also play my ex-pat card here and say this attitude is definitively british/american (it's honestly not necessary to be so prudish). What it takes to engage female collaborators is an openness to work together...and if you look at our nearly 2 year experience organizing Hackers & Designers you will find we are doing an above average job of doing this... ;-)

[nickysielicki]

I'm being facetious and claiming that it is the above commenter that is the uncultured one, because he doesn't not see that boobs are just a part of Amsterdam culture.

[danpalmer]

I'm assuming you're being sarcastic here, but for clarity, yes I understand the reason that it says "boobs", I don't however think it at all appropriate.

[mryan]

I have a feeling this was set up by immature expats who lack the life experience to understand why this is stupid and exclusionary.

Expats, because I doubt most Amsterdammers really care that much about the RLD.

Immature, because "lol boobs".

I'm trying to avoid getting on my moral high horse here but... Godverdomme, this is one of the reasons it is difficult to rectify the gender disparity in the tech industry. For every well-balanced person who really does not care about the gender of their colleagues, there seems to be an immature person who thinks boobs and booze is a good way to reach out to the tech community.

As an (expat) Amsterdammer, and someone who would love to see the end of the "boys club" or brogrammer culture, this is an embarrassment.

To the organisers: Grow up a bit guys. You're dissuading a lot of your potential audience by pitching an otherwise interesting idea in this fashion.

</rant>

[nickysielicki]

I honestly don't think it's a big deal. Don't be so prude!

[mryan]

It is not prudish to think this is immature. I like boobs and I like tech conferences. But not at the same time. There is no synergy there.

[nickysielicki]

Its not a boob themed hackathon. It's a one-off comment in a shitty funny website.

Yeah it's immature. Its not worth getting upset about though.

[danpalmer]

I think it's a huge deal. I'm not offended by sexual language at all, but it usually isn't appropriate for a professional context as it can feel hostile and exclusionary, and in an industry with as few women as there are in tech, it's absolutely essential that we don't do this.