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RSA: Ban On Booth Babes Has Been No Big Deal (networkworld.com)
netbuzz quotes a report from Network World: In March 2015, RSA Conference organizers made news by contractually insisting that vendors pitch their security wares without the help of "booth babes," a first such ban for the technology industry. Next week's event will be third under the new rules. With the use of "booth babes" long a source of contention -- and some would say embarrassment -- implementation of the ban has gone smoothly, according to RSA. "Overall I would say this has been received well by our exhibitors," says Sandra Toms, vice president and curator of the conference. "Several have thanked us for having a policy." If you compare the policy's contract language in 2015 with the language now used by Toms, you'll notice how much it has evolved and how it has been accepted by various stake-holders. Here's an excerpt from the "short Q&A" between Paul McNamara, news editor for Network World, and Toms: Has there been any need to enforce the code or have all exhibitors complied? "Enforce" always makes it sound like armed guards have come into play and dragged someone off the show floor. We share these guidelines with our exhibitors and we're clear that this is a policy that is expected to be acknowledged and complied with. We take our attendee experience seriously and expect our exhibitors to do the same. If we receive a complaint about a particular exhibitor, we will send someone over to the booth and examine the situation. If the attire matches our dress code, then they can proceed and we can explain to the attendee why that form of dress is allowed. If they are clearly in violation, we will ask them to change. This policy is equally applied to both men and women -- from Sumo wrestlers to scantily clad models.
RSA is security and cryptography focused. This rule makes especial sense given that many people are apparently willing to give up sex if it means they won't get hacked http://www.dailydot.com/layer8/password-security-survey/.
...babes! (the Russian Space Agency, not quite so much)
Oh look you can count.
Just have booth babes of both genders. Equal Opportunity Oogling.
Table-ized A.I.
Just when I thought we were finally making progress on including more women in IT.
That's the breast... I mean best they can do?
#DeleteFacebook
aliteration is always admired
"a first such ban for the technology industry"
PAX has had such a ban since at least 2012. Unless video and computer games no longer count as technology!?
looks like more jobs for men, and less for women
"No babes for you"
For the script kiddies its a Seinfeld reference
**Life is too short to be serious**
So, at the more hardcore geek conference (Supercomputing comes to mind), there has never really been an issue with booth babes for a simple reason: geeks are scared to talk to them. Every now and then a company will hire one, only to see a nice exclusion zone form around their booth. Sure, sales guys from other booths will stop by, but none of the intended audience will risk talking with an attractive female.
/s
In other words because a few perpetually offended loudmouths won't shut their faces everyone else's fun has to be ruined.
nm
Forgot that assonance vowels *within( words.
I guess they are going to have to come out of the basements and actually meet Real Life people...
Things have been getting out of hand anyway... Back when I was a teenager, just seeing a bikini at the pool was a scandal, now you cannot walk though a mall and not get accosted by some larger than life poster of some woman in her unmentionables.... Where I understand the appeal of this stuff to some, I wonder how effective it really is in selling stuff? I generally don't find such displays attractive my self, it's more of a "eww, have some self respect and put some clothes on" from me, double in real life where I shake my head and think "it's sure sad her dad didn't explain anything to her about men" (Or "that's gorse Sir!" if it's obviously not a female). My point being, this kind of display puts me off what ever product they might be selling.
Now all you youngsters can get off my lawn if you please....
I hope the RSA all go back to their ugly wives and lie in bed dreaming of Booth Babes and the fun times we had when men and women didn't try and fake being the same but enjoyed our differences.
No big deal. Unless you happen to be a booth babe that no longer has work.
In this modern world there are plenty of guys willing to hang around half naked and show off their assets whilst handing out brochures.
That could address the balance.
What ever happened to the equality thing ?
A ban on booth babes would mean that the people in the booth are there because they have knowledge and information to offer rather than for their attractiveness. The summary makes it sound like the booth babes just wear more clothes, but they are still booth babes. Their primary purpose is to look nice and then refer people to those with actual knowledge. It's a sales tactic that seems to work but the push back against booth babes is that people want to be valued for their humanity rather than their sexuality. Of course this is somewhat of a case of being careful what you wish for. As somebody who has been said to "look like he knows what he's talking about" I can say that I wouldn't mind being valued as a sexual object but that's somewhat of a digression.
And you can count....on me, waiting for you in the parking lot!
If there's a booth babe wearing little compared to man wearing a suit and tie a few feet away... what temperature do you set the thermostat to? This resembles a problem found on most dance floors including high school proms...
What next segregated booths?
Fichu with a brand on it to cover shoulders?
A policy on berthas and bolero styles? On that lappet or more guidance on the use of a modesty piece?
Everyone gets the same color of Zhongshan suit?
Or just go full bee keep suit?
Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
What?? No photos?
I gotta say to my younger geeks: "I'm so sorry dude, you missed out".
// went to more mainstream conferences in the 90s, booth babes still awesome but as I had a daughter kinda awkward
/// hit a couple CES and CTIA conferences in the 00's, booth babes same age as my daughter. awkward.
//// haven't been to a conference in 10 years, don't miss them, the travel hassles, the booth babes, the reports to upper management.
Then again, times change, my daughter is past the booth babe age but I would have hated for her to do that.
/ went to telemetry conferences in the 80s, the booth babes were awesome (I was in my 20s)
Load up your spank-bank from the internet like the rest of us! Yeesh, what'd we invent the internet for, anyway?
That website "thetruthwins" does not look very trustworthy, this very subject was on slashdot just yesterday http://m.slashdot.org/story/322263
I don't often comment to or about how my co-workers look or don't look. I will break this rule now.
I work with some ladies that are simply DROP DEAD GORGEOUS. Off hand, there are easily two dozen. Of course, all of my co-workers are beautiful people, just not with movie star looks.
And all of them, every last one, is as at least as smart as I am and I think smarter. I'm no slouch but I know a quality mind when I meet one, and everyone, man, woman, or wookie, are top flight minds. Not to say there aren't a few I prefer not to be around because I think they are jerks, but they are SMART jerks.
So if you see ol buss error with a babe in the booth, keep in mind that babe is likely a lot smarter than you are.
Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves.
After all, they are now out of a job and probably have do some worse job instead. A great win indeed.
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
Doubling the number of booth babes at tech conferences?
I am usually not someone who agrees with the autistic screeching of the Social Justice Warriors, but I make an exception here.
Technology conferences should be about technology, not naked chicks. Let them wiggle their behind on a sex expo or car show if they want.
A real geek will be at the conference for the content, not the presentation anyway. The only ones who could be lured by babes are probably the salesmen and other non-IT people
A "saleswoman" coming-on to some Japanese attendees in a hospitality suite.
Hnnnngggg!
No. Why? They are used to being exploited for an agenda, it's not like you have to ask them.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Make American boobs great again!
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
So FOLLOW THE LINKS THEY PROVIDE AND VERIFY! On a hunch, I'm guessing you find CNN and MSNBC to be "trustworthy" and believe every headline they provide. Or perhaps you find "Fox" and "Breitbart" trustworthy and believe their headlines. Either way, you are a moron.
Lol! Good movie.
Anything that contributes to population reduction is gold in my books.
Before people start sounding the 3rd world growth and not 1st world, I won't be happy until both these numbers are moving in reverse: http://www.census.gov/popclock...
And the only thing achieved was removing some jobs for women in the IT.
45 5F E1 04 22 CA 29 C4 93 3F 95 05 2B 79 2A B2
If you would get fired for wearing certain attire at your job, a woman would similarly get fired for wearing similar attire. Companies would be sued out of existence if they did not have measurably similar standards for their dress code. Your claim is a complete fabrication.
There are plenty of women who want to model and make a very good living doing just that. In fact women make on average over 10 times more than men for modeling work. Face it: You wish to deny women the right to work in a job of their choosing and force them into STEM jobs. You are a misogynist who does not believe in a woman's liberty. Shame on you!
-The wise argue that there are few absolutes, the fool argues that there are no probabilities.
So they go from being exploited and paid to now being exploited and unpaid? An even greater win...
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
Let them appeal to the Tumblr/Twitter crowd, I'm sure they all license RSA crypto.
PGP forever!
Our nation has people with many different lifestyles. I dislike the notion that we must always show deference to the more conservative types. I see nothing wrong with having string bikini models passing out literature or answering quotations about a product. Nudity or near nudity should not upset anyone including young children. I doubt that many people have not had a toddler walk by a TV when a very graphic scene was on the screen. the young ones show very little interest and don't appear to even notice such things going on. If they did and asked a difficult question one could simply say that some people like that sort of thing and that should be enough to cover the situation. The prudes simply have too much to say. For example when birth control pills became available many people fought like crazy to make them illegal. And even from their view point birth control stopped tens of millions of abortions. It really makes one wonder what the heck the prudes really want in life.
Nobody said that it has to improve anyone's life, only that we have to feel good about ourselves.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
If population reduction is that big if an issue for you, why are you here typing on the Internet? Which ideology are you really espousing, bigotry or a demand for depopulation?
-The wise argue that there are few absolutes, the fool argues that there are no probabilities.
If you ever want to enforce your code you need to start talking about killing people, sterilising them, or telling people in shitholes not to develop. Problem is you have no right. So kill yourself, it's not like we are here for any particular purpose anyway. What difference does it make, at this point?
Maybe ten years ago, I'd go to a tech conference and browse the vendor booths. And, typically, there'd be a man, dressed in a suit, surrounded by people asking questions, and a woman, in a dress, standing absolutely alone. So I'd go up to her to ask my question, and she would merely smile and direct me to the man. She was just a model hired to be eye-candy.
Nowadays, though, a much more typical situation is to have both a man and a woman in the booth, both dressed in jeans and t-shirts, and both engineers, with both answering questions. And you know what? This actually works much better.
I used to do promo work back in my student days, we did heaps of jobs wearing hoodies and caps rather than short shorts and halter tops
We don't want you to wear hoodies and caps, we want you to wear short shorts and halter tops. How dare you wear comfortable clothes and deprive us of the view!
As a misogynist, I'm truly happy that the RSA has taken this brave step forward in denying women employment. Normally moves like this are prevented by the law, but I'm glad to see that a loophole allowing people to be fired for being female has been found.
No thanks, I've had enough of digging through rotten piles of waste.
Just when I thought we were finally making progress on including more women in IT.
This is just the problem with including more women in IT.
Day One: Include more women in IT.
Day Two: Women in IT want to come along to IT conferences.
Day Three: Women in IT coming along to IT conferences want IT conferences to stop being strip-shows aimed at basement dwelling boys.
That's where including women in IT will lead you, with "inclusive" conferences and trade shown which are no longer exclusively targeted at the masturbatory fantasies of sex-deprived nerds. Sad.
So, no displaying excessive cleavage - I can accept that, but I have to note, there's no such thing as excessive cleavage :P However, no miniskirts, minidresses or shorts? I mean come on, we're not living in the Victorian era anymore. Enough is enough. You could just hand out large sacks at the entrance and mandate wearing them.
I am putting myself to the fullest possible use, which is all I can think that any conscious entity can ever hope to do.
He forgot the "great" in that sentence.
Table-ized A.I.
I'm guessing you find CNN and MSNBC to be "trustworthy"
I never really considered them particularly trustworthy. But they're gold when held up to sites like thetruthwins. Hell that site even makes Infowars looks reasonable, that's some accomplishment.
Either way, you are a moron.
Can't speak for anyone else, but you convinced me with that line of argument: He's obviously a moron ... and you're sane.
Obviously not, it's just a sign that these conferences are "growing up" and getting more like the conferences of other industries.
There's a bit of a difference between having salesfolk who are dressed appropriately and look good or blatantly hiring a bunch of strippers that don't even strip.
I don't have anything against strippers but spending company money or taxpayers money to send people to see strippers that don't even strip instead of paying attention to the conference is a waste that disgusts me a bit. I don't want the people who sell me stuff to be jacking up the price of the thing they sell me just to pay for a bunch of people to go to such a junket.
Personally I think if people want to pay to see strippers that don't strip (or even better ones that do) they should do it out of their own pockets. They'll be helping the community.
http://www.tshirthell.com/funny-shirts/i-support-single-moms/
All hail ECDSA
...I thought the goal was to have "more women in tech"?
I'm going to guess that whereas the humanity within conventions was 80/20 male/female, it's probably dropped to 90/10 or further.
-Styopa
fucking faggots... what's wrong with good looking women? are you afraid lol?
Snooze...
Jerbs?
> If the attire matches our dress code, then they can proceed and we can explain to the attendee why that form of dress is allowed. If they are clearly in violation, we will ask them to change.
Basic message: you are not allowed to dress whatever you want in the West, unless you belong to a very particular religious group. In that case, heavens forbid if anyone tells you how to dress or you will feel the wrath of the SJWs.
What has actually happened is that the "conference organizers" reached a ratio of gay and/or feminist leadership that had enough voting authority to change the rules of the conference. Anyone who has attended a trade conference knows that outside if the task/product/skill focused breakout sessions, nobody really wants to toddle around in the vendor area without the opportunity to collect a lot of free swag and/or see the attractive women handing it out. Ever heard of OTC? They actually fly/bus in prostitutes for that conference.
He took the bus. It will be a long wait.
Only boring people are ever bored.
Sex sells. It is used in all forms of advertisement. Booth are advertisement, so of course, sex sells there too.
Also, how can this be enforced. What if a woman is a competent employee and it also just so happens that this women is what the average techie would consider "hot". Is she banned just for being hot? That is law suit waiting to happen.
Look, the techs like booth babes, the booth babes get paid, companies with booth babes sell more product, and the more the company sells the more the booth is worth to the venue. It is a win, win, win, win. 4 groups (techs, vendors, booth babes, venue), and all 4 win.
Take away the booth babes, and the techs attending don't get the eye candy, the booth babes are out a job, the company will get less penetration into their market, which will make their booth less valuable. 4 groups (techs, vendors, booth babes, venue), and all 4 lose.
Seems easy guys. Get some cute chicks, teach them the products and such, put them in a nice little short skirt. Boom, sales!
Been going on for years, the short skirt sale. That's how you end up with a piece of crap at a government agency.
--
.nosig
You are the one who complained about women and dress codes, not I. I think you need to re-read the thread in order so you can handle a simple conversation.
-The wise argue that there are few absolutes, the fool argues that there are no probabilities.