bucketsbuckets

Exactly. Discussions on these topics inherently require subjective value judgments on top of "more objective qualitative and quantitative sources", and I can't imagine trying to limit the comments to only the latter.

I agree that a better empirical-source-to-anecdote ratio is desirable, but let's be careful to draw a clear distinction between I'd like to see more of this and HN should impose a concrete "barrier to participating in discussions about gender".

Inappropriate comments can be downvoted, abuse can be flagged. Comment-policing is another matter, and we don't want that.

"Someone needed a quote for the paper so I told them all men were rapists."

http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1993-05-08/news/1993128032_...

Still going to insist these are straw feminists?

Anyway it is important to recognize that you can advocate for gender equal rights without labeling yourself "feminist"—or allowing feminists to force that baggage-laden label upon you against your own will.

> Most women in tech I know have multiple examples of stuff like the authors describe happening to them. Multiple guys in this thread confirm that yes, it happens and is observable.

To reiterate, what you've demonstrated is that there are N anecdotes of sexual harassment in the industry, for some N > 0. (Set aside M anecdotes of men and women who have not personally encountered such a thing.) You have not demonstrated that "it's statistically highly unlikely that you're not coming into contact with it."

Let's keep this discussion factual and avoid inflammatory hyperbole, please.

> If you're not seeing it, it's statistically highly unlikely that you're not coming into contact with it.

May I ask on what evidence you base this assertion? Note that this is a much stronger claim than just "harassment happens"; you're claiming that, more likely than not, it is also happening in my organization.