Slashdot Mirror
UploadVR Had a 'Kink Room,' Pressured Female Employees To 'Microdose,' Alleges Lawsuit (gizmodo.com)
The virtual-reality company UploadVR is being sued by the company's former Director of Digital and Social Media for rampant sexual harassment. According to Gizmodo, "the lawsuit alleges that the company's employees and founders created a hostile work environment in which sexual harassment, gender discrimination, and retaliation occurred on a regular basis." From the report: In the suit documents, the former Director of Digital and Social Media for UploadVR claims that the office environment was a "boy's club" that employees expressly referred to as a "boy's club." From the suit: "Specifically, the male employees of UploadVR, including Mason and Freeman, would discuss their sexual exploits in graphic detail at the workplace in front of Plaintiff and other female employees. For instance, UploadVR employee [name redacted]'s sex life was a frequent topic of conversation. The other male employees would talk about how he 'refuses to wear a condom' and 'has had sex with over 1000 people.'" The documents also claim that employees were engaged in Silicon Valley's hot new trend of "microdosing" and "using Marijuana in the office." When female employees didn't want to participate, they would be ostracized by the male employees and excluded from important meetings and lunches.
This is what you get for hiring a bunch of phricks.
News flash: most men and most women are exactly like this.
Don't believe me about women? You don't think that when they get together that they discuss their own sexual exploits, menstruation, or whatever other topic they care to discuss?
The reason this is happening is because those who pretend to be our betters and deign to tell us what is acceptable behavior have systematically gone about destroying societal norms for the last few generations. There was a time when a group of men would have the common sense and decency to confirm discussion such as those described to the locker room, club, or some other place outside of mixed company. Of course, if you spend 50 years telling boys that girls are not different than them and that they are exactly the same, then why are you going to be surprised when boys act like boys and include girls in the conversation? I mean, girls are no different, right?
Then, if you have the temerity to teach boys that they need to treat girls in a particular way you are socially lynched for perpetrating the patriarchy, subjugating women, etc., etc. Oh well, this is a no win situation if every I saw one.
Don't hire women. Problems solved, and you cut 90% of your HR dept.
Actually, you can cut your HR budget by 100% with that kind of blatent discrimination, because your company won't have any capital after the lawsuits conclude.
Oh wait, I forgot. This is Trump's Amerika. You're female ... you don't have any rights.
"Microdosing is for pussies," said John McAfee as he prepared to hit the pipe.
(Hint: not serious. But he probably would feel something like this.)
How is the Riemann zeta function like Trump rallies? Both have an endless number of trivial zeros.
How nice of you to completely ignore talking about the female employees in a sexual manner right in front of them. They weren't just talking about their own sex life. Phrasing is the key, and your obvious attempt to gloss over the thing that's actually wrong shows what you really think people like you should be allowed to do.
And excluding workers from important meetings who didn't participate in the drugs is not merely laughing at them. It's actively preventing them from performing their job. And one of them was terminated for complaining about it. You obviously think it's okay to terminate people for complaining about behaviour then.
This can only ever be neutral if you straight up ignore the actual details.
Those who do not learn from commit history are doomed to regress it.
And lose it all again on paid maternity leave.
Yeah, OK, I'll probably get modded flamebait for that, but it was worth it :-).
Egos are out of control in tech. The fact that they are high all the time is most definitely reflected in their ridiculous and hair-brained ideas. It makes it that much easier to pull the rug out from inder them. A lot of new tech will fail due to their being a bunch of hateful, oblivious, drug-addled douchebags that were only suffering from adolescent superiority complexes rather than a actually ever having been all that bright in the first place. Pathetic, all of them, from top to bottom.
I was sexually assaulted as a 10 year old. When saying it to feminists they will repeatedly say "you are a man, it does not count". But thanks for wishing me another assault, it sure as hell shows how behind your "feminist" facade you are just another person wishing for someone to be assaulted. I guess that because I'm a man it makes it ok.
Avantgarde Hebrew science fiction
Someone didn't read the entire article. They were way over the line.
Because if you read the article, it was clearly both very inappropriate and targeted behavior:
The founders and other employees are accused of speaking “sexually” about female employees right to their face, and one employee would, allegedly, talk about having “a boner” and going to the bathroom to “rub one out” in order to maintain focus.
Making unwanted sexual comments directly to someone is the textbook definition of sexual harassment. Masturbating on company time is just over the top.
If their director of social media is acting like a retarded frat boy and encouraging the same in others, he needs to go. If the company gets hit with a lawsuit because they couldn't figure that out on their own, well, too bad.
---
According to the latest ruleset, this post should be modded as Vorpal Flamebait +5.
Yes, concluding that men and women are different could not possibly be arrived at through observation and experience. It is clearly the result of mental illness.
Which is why boys need adult supervision. Men, specifically, to set an example.
A man acts with dignity, self-restraint, and consideration for others. He doesn't do shit just because the people around him are doing it, and he doesn't pressure other people do things without a good reason.
If none of that sounds like any fun, feeling obligated to impress other guys with bullshit isn't any fun either. It's a bigger, more joyless burden than acting like a grownup, you just haven't figured that out yet.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
I agree entirely. As a man I would not have wanted to work there either. I understand a certain amount of off-topic conversations at work but this is way outside what is okay.
If you discuss a new movie, tv, scientific study, etc at work that is fine so long as it does not take up too much time but not this kind of stuff.
In general I would also avoid politics and religion. :)
Computer modeling for biotech drug manufacturing is HARD!
In Obama's America, female White House Staffers got paid less than their male counterparts. At the very least, Bill Clinton had this level of sexual harassment for years, and by some accounts crossed into rape. Al Gore also engaged in this type of behavior, but his investigation was magically dropped during the Obama years. And yet, you never comment on these because of.....reasons.
Please, please stop with the anti-Trump bull shit. Do not give people a pass because they play for your fucking team. Take the time to judge ALL politicians, and do so the same way. At that point, then maybe you will have credibility to comment. Until then, you are human trash.
I was sexually assaulted as a 10 year old. When saying it to feminists they will repeatedly say "you are a man, it does not count".
Feminist here. I'm really sorry you had to go through that. I can tell you know, it absolutely does count. Sexual assault against males is a real problem, and one which we want to solve.
I don't know who you spoke to, but they don't really sound like mainstream feminists. There are some asshats who otherwise have broadly feminist views, even though they, for example, exclude trans women. Like any philosophy, there is no control over who believes it and no control over who calls themselves a feminist, but please understand that it is not mainstream feminist thinking to discount sexual assault of any kind.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
Of course, it's not "acceptable". But the way a free society deals with "not acceptable" behavior is by people voting with their feet, not by calling in the STASI.
No, it is absolutely not "great" or even "acceptable" that the federal government gets involved in questions of whether men are behaving nicely towards women at work; that's totalitarian.
You mean like Hillary and Bill Clinton?
Excuse me! I happen to like sexual topics and I find it very offensive that you would call that interest of mine reprehensible.
Seriously, though, it depends on the company you are in. If the people around you are okay with it, then I see no problem at all. The question here is how realistically was the company's attitude represented to the employees during their job interview.
I am not trying to gauge the chances of this being the case, however there is a chance of some people being okay with that and now trying to get their hands on a bit of cash after some falling out.
I don't find your interest reprehensible. I find it reprehensible that this happened in a company setting. There is a large amount of peer pressure for people to just go along with something especially if their job is involved. Even if people are uncomfortable with something or are even disgusted by it they will often put up with it so they can keep their jobs and get promotions. This creates a hostile working environment and it is not acceptable.
If you want to talk like this then do it in a context where there is no coercive force on others present.
Computer modeling for biotech drug manufacturing is HARD!
If you're going to link to conspiracy site and RT mouthpiece zerohedge, why not link to the Enquirer too so that we can learn about bigfoot's alien babies?
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
Putting aside the harassment claims for a second, this sounds like what happens when you have an immature "executive team" running a company fueled by large VC investments. If a company's culture encourages a frathouse mentality, and its executives display that culture, that's exactly what regular employees will see and emulate. It goes down to the department level too - I've worked in IT departments for a number of companies, and there are always problem child departments, usually sales. Some salespeople are just walking sexual harassment lawsuits waiting to happen, and companies tend to turn a blind eye to it when they're "rockstar" salespeople. Working in software, there's just some guys you don't want to get paired with on customer visits because they're just embarrassing. Watching an overweight middle aged balding sales dude hitting on a customer's receptionist or female employees (unsuccessfully) is cringe-worthy.
I do think that years of anonymous online communication as a primary means of interaction does contribute to some of the problems. I'm a guy, and a very liberal laid-back one at that, but it would never occur to me to say or do anything unprofessional at work. I've mentioned on here in the past (and been raked over the coals for it) that people need to understand that free speech doesn't mean you can let whatever comes to your mind slip out. People need to learn impulse control, and not seeing the other person on the other end of your conversation emboldens people to say things they normally wouldn't. Look at any comments section on any online news outlet that uses Facebook logins - even with a person's name, picture and sometimes employment history written right out there, I have a hard time envisioning some people saying the things they say in a public setting.
What I think is funny is that this second tech bubble is playing out almost exactly the way the first one did. We're headed for the top -- products and services are getting wackier every day, there's a million copycats of every single idea trying to squeeze out the last few VC dollars in a space, and the investors are finally starting to shut off the money faucets. It's almost like 1999 never happened, and no one alive at that time has any memory of it. This is going to be one of many flame-out stories in the next 2 or 3 years.
Bullshit. I'm part of a "mixed company" club that shares a locker room on occasion. The conversation is by no means clean, but there's no bragging about sexual exploits or pressuring anyone into doing drugs. Why not? Because we have respect for each other and are there for a specific purpose that has nothing to do with sex and drugs. Some people drink, some people don't. Some people smoke, some people don't. Some people probably do drugs, but they keep that to themselves if they do and don't let it interfere with what we're doing. Some people are having sex with each other, same sex, opposite sex, whatever, but they do that on their own time and don't let it be a distraction. Nobody had to be told to act this way and there are no rules governing it beyond basic conduct when in public. You have to get along with a diverse group of people, often in challenging situations, so you don't act like a total prick. It's simple common sense.
The "boys' club" mentality is the aberration here. By removing all consequence in a "everything's acceptable because we're all guys" environment, you amplify the absolute worst in human behavior. And then you justify it with the "boys will be boys" defense, assuming that everyone is naturally like that. Except that situation self-selects the loudest and the meanest, forcing everyone else to either go along with it or leave. Because anyone who has a problem with it is told to shut up, ridiculed until they give in, or worse. The assholes are a vocal minority but look like the majority when you let them make the rules. And then that eventually extends beyond the "safe space" of the locker room or wherever into other aspects of these people's lives.
The point here isn't that boys and girls are the same, it's that everyone is different, regardless of whether they are boys or girls. And in that sense, they're all the same. In that they're not. But everyone should be treated the same, like they're worthy of dignity and respect. And that's not a fantasy; if it can happen in a coed locker room, we should be able to expect it from a workplace.
then it is absolutely wrong to write that "male" employees used the room, because they will have used it together with their female sexual partners. Which makes one suspect that this is not a men-harrassing-women problem, but more generally an entirely inappropriate, sexually-loaded work environment, with both men and women acting out in unprofessional ways.
The men who used the room did not necessarily have to bring female employees into the room. They could have used it with women who were not employees. And those women could have been acting quite professionally in their particular career.
A free society protect's people's freedoms by ensuring that they can work and live a reasonably free life. If you live in a country where no-one will give you a job because of your gender, "voting with your feet" is kinda difficult. You are not very free because you have no money and no opportunity to earn it.
Freedom isn't just "leave me alone, let people do whatever the hell they like". It's a balance between allowing as much as possible but also protecting people from some harmful behaviour. Even the most ardent libertarian wants a police force, which explains why they have no moved to Somalia.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
Are you psychotic? All of this is utterly unprofessional behavior, and a big chunk of it is *illegal*. Drugs are still illegal throughout the USA, it's a federal crime. So it this type and degree of sexual harrassment. Anyone who condones this sort of behavior in the workplace is a moron, risks the entire companies' standing, is ripe for a lawsuit (which they will easily win), and overall, a jackass.
If "people are OK with it" then they should all be fired summarily.
This is the sort of people we are turning out in this country - morally bankrupt and self-centered.
I don't find your interest reprehensible. I find it reprehensible that this happened in a company setting.
I'm sorry but if you can talk about the game on the weekend or this funny youtube vid you saw you should be able to talk about sex. Just because a large population cringe up whenever they hear the word and like to pretend its a dirty disgusting thing they would never do doesn't make it more or less a legitimate thing to talk about. Obviously if someone doesn't want to talk about something you shouldn't force it on them but you also shouldn't let someone take a topic off the table because they don't like it. People need thicker skins than running to HR whenever they overhear something they don't like.
Personal anecdote, a couple women in an office I worked in were well into books, fair enough, but the books they enjoyed were basically biographies of kids that had been abused and basically been through some of the most horrible shit you can imagine. Still a legit thing to write about, no arguments there, but they would openly talk about the graphic content of these books to each other, not forcing anyone else in or anything but other people could definitely hear them. No one really liked overhearing it but no one would dream of telling them not to talk about whatever they wanted. The only real rule was no swearing infront of clients and they never did.
Unless you are going to white list some topics for the workplace and everything else is no go then you can't really tell people to talk to each other according to your sensibilities.
Even if you are disgusted by it and only put up with it to keep your job and get promoted then good, well done, you've become an adult and might find getting on in this world a bit easier.
Furthermore, should women be treated sensitively and protected from things men think they might not like or should they actually be treated equally and expected to deal with it?
Wanna buy a shirt?
https://www.redbubble.com/people/stealthfinger/shop?asc=u
I'm sorry but if you can talk about the game on the weekend or this funny youtube vid you saw you should be able to talk about sex. Just because a large population cringe up whenever they hear the word and like to pretend its a dirty disgusting thing they would never do doesn't make it more or less a legitimate thing to talk about.
The reason why it's not suitable to talk about in a work environment is because it makes most people feel uncomfortable. This isn't complicated. Get into the reasons why it's jusfied or not, but if the question is how to maintain a non hostile working environment, not permitting people to discuss things that make a large percent of the population cringe up is kind of obvious.
Incidentally, I don't mind talking about sex, but I sure as shit don't want to talk about you having sex, so in return, I won't talk about *me* having sex. This is not complicated stuff.
Unless you are going to white list some topics for the workplace and everything else is no go then you can't really tell people to talk to each other according to your sensibilities.
No, some topics are blacklisted around the office, because there are not that many that make for a hostile work environment. You're doing a lot of mental gymnastics to excuse some reasonable limits on behavior that the majority of the population agrees with.
"Old man yells at systemd"
Well, I'm assuming you are American. This is why most people have a lousy opinion of the average American. You can apply your right to free speech all you want. Insult Cubans once they let you into their country, etc. Just don't be shocked when most of the world is repulsed by you, because you don't understand anything about respecting the people around you.
Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
I'm sorry but if you can talk about the game on the weekend or this funny youtube vid you saw you should be able to talk about sex.
I'm sorry, but your comment contains no logic whatsoever. You're claiming that because A and B are true, that C must be true, without showing any associative link between A and B or C. Perhaps someone can pop up to tell us which logical fallacy that is, but it's not even a very good one.
Furthermore, should women be treated sensitively and protected from things men think they might not like or should they actually be treated equally and expected to deal with it?
Expecting them to deal with subject matter they find threatening in the workplace is not equality. Women are really and actually subjected to sexual inequality and sexual abuse on a regular basis, which is why anyone who actually cares about other people's feelings and who has two neurons to rub together understands that it's not appropriate to create a sexually charged environment in the workplace.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"