Outrage after Microsoft hires scantily clad ‘schoolgirl’ dancers for after-party | Hacker News Reader

Outrage after Microsoft hires scantily clad ‘schoolgirl’ dancers for after-party

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11 pointsimpostervt22 comments

It seems like having dancers at after parties is a somewhat annual tradition for GDC. Here's [1] Nvidia doing it in 2013, and again [2] in 2015. Neither got any media attention that I can tell. Interesting how fast public opinion and involvement on stuff like this changes.

[1] https://twitter.com/daveoshry/status/317171771457552384

[2] https://archive.is/n3JPu

I'd like to see less accusations against the tech industry, and more exposés of what the sales teams are doing.

Because if you want a gender-hostile environment, it's almost certainly in the sales team.

Theres nothing hostile about having an after party at a dance venue. Every club has dancers on the platforms to set the vibe and get people to dance. The women are getting paid and wear revealing clothing to sweat less and to offer entertainment. SJWs are just putting a hit out on this but wheres all the outrage toward music concerts and dance clubs?

The outrage isn't at women dancing, it's at having a professional event that should be inclusive of everyone who's a developer in the industry and alienating anyone who's uncomfortable with mixing sexual content with their peers or supervisors.

Drinking isnt professional either. Its an after party. The whole point is to have fun. If a bunch of skimpy dancers ruin your fun you shouldnt have gone to the party.

There's nothing hostile about having an after party at a dance venue.

The hostility comes because people feel pressured to go somewhere they don't want to go.

Do you have evidence that anyone was "pressured" to go to this party?

Connection?

http://www.cnet.com/news/microsofts-new-surface-tv-ad-its-su...

AYFKM? This is right down there with "You should wear something more attractive to work."

Can someone fill me in? I didn't understand. There was an after party where there were dancers. What happened between that moment and the moment people started complaining?

No one cared, its a dance club, an optional after party. Any tier 1 dance club will employ dancers that usually dance on raised platforms to discern them from ordinary patrons. Only after some pics got leaked did feminists and white knights find a good burn narrative. And Microsoft doing damage control decided to apologize. A victory for trolls...

I wonder if booths at trade shows still have curvy women dressed like hookers. In the "old days" (80's?) they were a fixture.

I have evidence to the affirmative

Give us today our daily media outrage. Amen.

This is just SJW stuff par the usual. I was at the event. First of all, it was an optional after party hosted at a dance club - from what I understand, Microsoft paid for the full package that the club offered, which includes dancers. The club normally has dancers, most dance clubs do. Most dancers are female. Not only that, but dancing is tedious and thats why most dancers dont wear turtlenecks, they would sweat with covering attire on. I would go further and explain that women also like the female form, that the female form is more aesthetically pleasing and the difference between arousal of men by vision and women by emotion but I'm afraid the concept would be lost on idiots who think clubs should employ male dancers. This whole women equal men thing is just sad. For rights, of course. But we are not the same biologically and in terms of career preference. Dance is one of those.

I would assume a lot of this isn't about the gender/sex of the dancers, but rather they are taking a professional event and making it sexually charged. This is uncomfortable for a lot of people, and awkward when viewed from people who understand it makes it uncomfortable for some people.

I am not sure you can try to rationalize the costumes as being practical when it's showing midriff, they're wearing push up bras, and showing lots of cleavage. Those elements exist only to be sexy.

Its a dance club. No one had to attend the after party, it was optional. Right, dance clubs hire women to dance in sexy outfits. I dont see anything wrong.

Again, the issue isn't the dance club or what the women were wearing. The issue is that Microsoft chose that as their venue. "No one had to attend" isn't the point, the point is that Microsoft was alienating people that they have a professional responsibility to be inclusive of.

If this was some small startup and they chose this venue as their after party location, it would say bad things about the owners of that startup. No one would really care though, because it's a small startup, and their impact in the tech scene is pretty small. Some people might just choose not to work for them because of it.

Microsoft employees 120,000 people, 30% of which are female. Their decisions make a big impact on the culture of the tech industry. Acting professionally in 2016 means not discriminating, harassing, or alienating your employees. Choosing a venue with sexy dancers for a professional event does all three of those things. Microsoft realized that and apologized because of it.

This was not the Conference venue, but an associated event.

I have attended several software conferances over the years, and there has always been a associated bar event before or after. People there talk about beer, whiskey, wine, cheese (Debconf!), and dancing. The event is placed late during evening and last until several hours after midnight.

Nothing of that is professional. It is very alienating to people who don't like drinking, second hand smoking, loud music, or talking about beverages. I would personally be happy if software conferences took a professional responsibility and made such side events inclusive for everyone, but I doubt that is ever going to happen.

Microsoft paid for the full package that the club offered, which includes dancers. The club normally has dancers, most dance clubs do

I don't believe a club with podiums dancers is necessarily the best location for the after-party of a technical conference, regardless of the sex of the dancers or the party-goers. Not everybody likes being in a cramped, hot, dark, noisy room full of drunk people.

most dancers dont wear turtlenecks, they would sweat with covering attire on

They would sweat without covering attire, too. There are clothes other than school-girl fetish outfits or turtlenecks. People have been dancing for a long time and, implausibly enough, we know how to manufacture garments which cover skin but which can be sweated through.

But we are not the same biologically and in terms of career preference. Dance is one of those.

Are you saying that women are biologically predisposed to careers as podium dancers?

"Not everybody likes being in a cramped, hot, dark, noisy room full of drunk people."

Yeah, I don't care much for those things, either, so I don't go to dance clubs (which are almost defined by the things you said). I'm not really seeing the problem here.

Yes, that's what I'm saying. Most clubs choose female dancers because both men and women find the aesthetics of a woman more pleasing and less risque. It's a sexual thing. Podium dancers are sexualized.

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