throwwwaya2

Good point, edited my first sentence.

I would love to write "It’s Different for Boys", not as a rebuttal, but to explain how two-sided this problem is from a man's perspective.

That sexual harassment and the weirdly dysfunctional sexual culture of business is perpetuated on men as well as women.

I arrived on the scene in the Bay Area start-up culture ~5 years ago from a very different industry / cultural perspective.

I was in LOVE with the idea of the Bay Area tech-start-up culture - it's incredibly magnetic.

Within a month I'd closed a major deal with a new client - they'd just raised tens-of-millions in venture money from prominent VCs, the CEO was very visible in the SF bay start-up culture, etc.

I was living the dream - everything in their office was just as I imagined, the people were all hip and fresh and liberal-earthy-but-wise-and-techie just as I'd hoped.

Then the work day ended and I was invited out to drinks to celebrate our deal with the "boys" from the office.

Drinks led to more drinks, led to a strip club, led to the CEO literally going home with a hooker (and he was dating another prominent valley founder at the time no less).

And nobody batted an eye.

Like the author I don't quite know how to wind this up other than to say this is a two way street.

And the more time I spend with rich and powerful SV men, the more I see a "women as toys" culture perpetuated.

Yes, we're all human susceptible to our very human flaws and needs, but it's insane how completely acceptable sexualized behavior is behind the scenes.