This has confused me. As a European the idea that making dongle jokes is specifically sexist or worse harassment seems a bit odd.
Its childish, its in bad taste, and not very funny. Its also against pycon rules so they got their wrists slapped like naughty children which is all fine.
However the idea it was anything more serious is kinda confusing to me.
At the risk of getting into a conversation I really don't want to, I'll see if I can help (I'm British and live in the Bay Area).
I think that there is a different cultural thing in the Valley that you don't find elsewhere due to the gigantic number of people working in just one, male-dominated, industry. I would guess that there is a fixed X% of men and women who are jerks. In a male-dominated industry, the absolute value of that X% is pretty high, so everyone is going to get a dose of them at one time or another.
Everyone in this industry has to rise above those unfortunate encounters, but gender puts a nastier spin on things; what might have been a trollish rebuttal to a male gets gender thrown in as well. And there are women who are not happy about that situation, and the Internet gives them a venue to disseminate their upset, which is all fine. Getting things out in the open gets us to discuss it and try and move things forward.
I don't think that what the guys did was sexual harassment, just silly. But when taken with context of a history of meeting jerks, you can kinda see why Ms Richards may have been sensitive towards it. No-one has the right to not be offended, but PyCon is also not a pub. There's a certain expected level of decency.
I think PyCon pulling them in and saying "hey guys, make the jokes in the bar afterwards" and letting them on their way was a proportional response. I don't think that broadcasting photos on the Internet of people who you don't like is at all proportional. That's vilification, and I think Ms Richards is also very much in the wrong. No-one should have lost their job, everyone should be able to get along better.
Makes perfect sense ta. Yeah it was a conversation I didn't necessarily want to have either but I was interested enough to give it a shot. Thanks again.
I feel like this isn't an "American" vs. "European" thing. There's clearly a lot of controversy over the seriousness of these jokes in America and elsewhere.
You could be right but I'm not sure I've heard it discussed much in a British setting.
In fairness you don't hear many dongle/large feet type jokes but I think that's because they are crude, not really funny, and not really suitable for a professional environment.
Having said that I don't think I've ever heard anyone linking them directly to sexism.
Its childish, its in bad taste, and not very funny. Its also against pycon rules so they got their wrists slapped like naughty children which is all fine.
However the idea it was anything more serious is kinda confusing to me.