Yahoo Hires Lap Dancers

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Although it has since apologized, Yahoo! thought it would be cool to hire lap dancers for the "Hack Day" event it hosted in Taiwan on October 17 and 18, 2009.

The objective was to attract third-party developers to build widgets for Yahoo!, although it seems that they managed to attract the wrong kind of attention. Attention from women who were at the event and were disappointed that there were no male lap dancers. Just kidding.

Women were pissed off because it's already hard enough for women in tech to get any respect considering it is a male-dominated field; now add to that a major company throwing it in their face by hiring sexy chicks to grind up against their colleagues' penises and they may feel sort of discriminated against.

The thing is, the only reason people are tripping on Yahoo! now is because they posted Hack Day winners and photos form the event on the Yahoo! Developer Network Blog.

One commenter, who goes by the name Sherri, wrote:

THANKS YAHOO TAIWAN FOR TAKING DOWN THE TECH COMMUNITY SEVERAL MORE NOTCHES. 2009 HAS BEEN A BANNER YEAR FOR SEXIST BEHAVIOR IN THE TECH COMMUNITY AND THIS EVENT IS A PRIME EXAMPLE.

INTERESTING TO NOTE THAT THIS SUNNY, UPBEAT RECAP DOES'T BOTHER TO MENTION THE STRIPPERS AND LAP DANCES. IS IT SOMEHOW SUPPOSED TO MAKE IT "OK" BECAUSE THIS HACK DAY WAS IN TAIWAN AND THEY JUST HAVE "CULTURAL DIFFERENCES" TO THE REST OF US? WERE THERE SOME "HACK BOYS" TO ENTERTAIN THE HANDFUL OF FEMALE PROGRAMMERS WHO SHOWED UP?

THANKS FOR SENDING THE SIGNAL THAT WOMEN ARE JUST FINE AT TECH EVENTS SO LONG AS THEY ARE SCANTILY CLAD AND KNOW HOW TO DANCE ON A MAN'S LAP.

And the following words of shame come straight from Yahoo!:

ALL,

I WANTED TO ACKNOWLEDGE THE PUBLIC REACTION GENERATED BY THE IMAGES OF FEMALE DANCERS AT OUR TAIWAN OPEN HACK DAY THIS PAST WEEKEND. OUR HACK EVENTS ARE DESIGNED TO GIVE DEVELOPERS AN OPPORTUNITY TO LEARN ABOUT OUR APIS AND TECHNOLOGIES. AS MANY FOLKS HAVE RIGHTLY POINTED OUT, THE HACK GIRLS ASPECT OF OUR TAIWAN HACK DAY IS NOT REFLECTIVE OF THAT SPIRIT OR PURPOSE. AND ITS CERTAINLY NOT THE MESSAGE WE WANT TO SEND ABOUT OUR VALUES HERE AT YAHOO!. HACK DAYS ARE ABOUT MAKING EVERYONE FEEL WELCOME, INCLUDING WOMEN CODERS AND TECHNOLOGISTS.

THIS INCIDENT IS REGRETTABLE AND WE APOLOGIZE TO ANYONE THAT WE HAVE OFFENDED. REST ASSURED, IT WONT HAPPEN AGAIN.

Perhaps is should not have happened in the first place. For shame.

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Anonymous - A Young Girl Diary
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