booth babe

I can’t even go on G+ anymore I’m just too cranky.

The ASUS tweet was the straw that broke the camel’s back. I’m dangerously close to becoming a bra burning, angry feminist but my more rational self really loves a great bra.

In case you missed it the good folks at ASUS tweeted this

I’m smart enough to know that this doesn’t represent everyone at ASUS, nor does it necessarily represent the corporate culture at ASUS this week, but if I was a woman looking for work in technology would I want to work at ASUS? No. Absolutely not. If I was standing at Best Buy thinking about buying a computer when this tweet came in would I want to buy ASUS? Hell no.

ASUS isn’t the problem. Yes, they have at least one jackass working there, but they aren’t the problem. We are all the problem. I stood at the Auto Show this year talking to a model with glittery tits about Fiat. I tried to give her the benefit of the doubt but she was there to be shimmery, not to talk MPG.

At CES this is how Bluetooth is sold by Supertooth. Obviously men are the only ones who buy bluetooths… straight men. Let me make that clear.

This is an issue I’m just beginning to discuss because it’s multilayered. The problem in technology and in automotive (though less so in automotive) is that it’s really tough for clothed women to walk into a room full of young men who are ogling undressed women and then to be spoken to respectfully. I wouldn’t expect a man to walk into a male revue and be taken seriously.

Also, from a totally pragmatic point of view women buy stuff but not from people they think might hate them. Setting up a situation where men have all the power and women have none of the clothes makes me think that someone working at these brands hate women. Someone in some sort of power position.

Women are sexy, women can be silly, but men can be both of those things too. If a tech firm hired a woman to dress in booth babe attire in the office they’d open themselves up to sexual harassment lawsuits. Why is the conference any different?