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Comment by freddealmeida | Hacker News Reader

I'm not sure why there is such a push against this in the states. Its very simplistic marketing, yes, and it does shift behavior (ignoring the women or overbearing attention to them) but them it seems all sectors use sex and sexuality to build attention.

I don't think the authors attempt to embarrass companies will work. Because it worked. You showed up at the booth. And any marketer will tell you that even a bad interaction is worthwhile. Attention is at the heart of this strategy.

If you want to reduce booth babes, avoid the booths completely. Treat them like kids with ADHD. Berating them wont work. Ignore them and they fall in line. (of course, that is a simplification)

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It's often been considered a problem in the states because there is a lack of women in the tech field. The high presence of booth babes at tech related events is rather disturbing for those few women in the field. I'd honestly be more okay with it if they actually tried to hire attractive in general, and not just attractive women.

Though, at the guts of it, if you have to sell your product with attractive people then you may not have much of a product to sell.

Because it's crass. Because of that asshole at the Skyrim demo who screamed out "rape her" as soon as a female character appeared on the screen, and that this kind of advertising, if you can call it that, appeals to exactly that demographic.

Other cultures can handle sexuality better. Americans, male and female, toggle between acting like a a pack of feral dogs and a congregation of calvinists whenever the subject comes up.

Other cultures can handle sexuality better.

Which ones? And how do they do that?

In my personal experience, the Scandinavian cultures do it better by simply not making a big deal out of it.

When you teach all your children from a young age that nudity is naughty and sexuality doesn't exist, you shouldn't be surprised when they grow up ill equipped to handle such things maturely.

I am from Scandinavia and that's not really true. We like naked females as much as everybody else and will do as many stupid things to get them. What we don't have is a bunch of extremely religious people with power so the contrast makes it seem more easy going.

Fair enough. Still a huge improvement though if you ask me ;)

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