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By Jessica Roy 5/15 11:21am

XX in Tech

(Photo: Heated Forest)

To Hug or Not to Hug? Hacker News Commenters Unsure of How to Interact With Real Live Human Ladies

It’s simply a part of life: sometimes, when you emerge from the depths of the Internet to refill your Star Trek mug with Stumptown coffee, you accidentally encounter a real live girl. You know, that genre of human being that has boobs and always keeps a copy of Lean In on her desk. Your heart might skip a few beats as you’re forced to pass by her, dreading having to interact with someone outside of your favorite IRC channel. A wave of relief hits you as she keeps her eyes glued to the floor and doesn’t acknowledge you: you’re safe. For now. Read More

By Kelly Faircloth 4/05 3:35pm

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Arrington. (Photo via Flickr.)

New Allegations Emerge Against Michael Arrington, Including a Reported Outside Investigation for Physical Assault [UPDATED]

Update, 4/8/13: Michael Arrington has responded with a denial of all allegations, and his ex, Meghan Asha, has issued her own denial of the allegations  ”made on [her] behalf.” More here. 

Even as most of Silicon Valley stays silent, allegations are still emerging against TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington. Now Gawker says they’ve uncovered two additional stories of Mr. Arrington behaving abusively toward women.

The first incident occurred way back in 1999, when Mr. Arrington was working at a startup called RealNames. Cecile Sharp, who was the company’s HR rep at the time, says that Mr. Arrington was investigated for an alleged assault on a woman who worked as a sales rep for the company.

Gawker reports: Read More

By Kelly Faircloth 3/26 4:45pm

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KatherineLosse

Former Zuck Speechwriter Kate Losse Refuses to Lean In

Here’s the thing about Lean In: Your reaction to the book depends, in no small part, on whether you think a hard-charging life filled with work is a worthwhile goal. If you have little interest in the boardroom, this is not the manifesto you were searching for. And if you’re outright suspicious of corporate America’s seemingly endless demands for more work on less pay, Lean In is your new worst frenemy. Read More

By Kelly Faircloth 3/21 4:15pm

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Ms. Richards (Photo: twitter)

Why Can’t the Tech Community Talk About Adria Richards Like Grownups?

It all started at a conference devoted to Python. Developer evangelist Adria Richards heard a couple of guys behind her making sexual cracks about big dongles and “forking repos,” and, in a moment of frustration, called them out on Twitter, posting their picture and CCing the conference organizers.

One of the guys was shortly thereafter fired. Today, after an Internet uproar that spilled over into a DDOS attack on her employer SendGrid, Ms. Richards has also been fired–publicly.

And so begins accountability in the age of the creepshot, where you can be called out in public by thousands for something snarked to the dude next to you–and where the person who did the calling out gets called a jerk too. Read More

By Kelly Faircloth 3/05 5:00pm

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sheryl-sandberg

Sheryl Sandberg Doesn’t Have to Occupy Menlo Park to be Radical

Over the last week or so, there’s been much debate over whether Facebook’s resident adult in the room is actually a rebel. The fury was kicked off with a New York Times piece previewing Sheryl Sandberg’s upcoming book Lean In. Right on cue, a thousand outraged responses bloomed.

Critics suggested she was out of touch and questioned whether a Davos-attending power player with five dollars more than God could really understand the struggles of working women. Then there was the common contention that Ms. Sandberg was putting all the onus onto women: Stop opting out and start leaning in, external forces be damned.

Unfortunately, much of the response was based on Ms. Sandberg’s previous speeches, an out-of-context quote from that dubious Times piece, and the book’s jacket copy. Upon cracking open Lean In, you’ll actually find a clear-eyed, forcefully argued treatise lamenting the lack of women in power, exploring what holds the back and recommending strategies for change. Read More

By Kelly Faircloth 3/04 12:50pm

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Discrimination! (Photo: screencap)

New Tampon Delivery Startup Discriminates Against Gals with a ‘Heavy Flo’

There’s a new entry into the oversubscribed subscription market. The Verge reports that today brings the launch of HelloFlo, a startup that’ll ship you a box of necessities once a month. As subscription services go, it’s pretty sensible.

The “Feminine Care” aisle at Duane Reade is among the most dismal places in the world, even when you aren’t awash in a sea of hormones. Read More

By Kelly Faircloth 3/01 11:00am

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Ms. Blue. (Photo: Wikipedia)

Censorship at a Hacker Conference? Violet Blue’s Sex Ed Talk at B-Sides Cancelled

The amount of furor that can erupt from a single technical conference never ceases to amaze. The latest installment: Sex educator and CNET columnist Violet Blue was supposed to give a talk earlier this week at the security conference B-Sides San Francisco. But it was cancelled at the last minute, after objections from the Ada Initiative, an organization dedicated to supporting women in tech.

That’s all anyone can agree on, besides the fact that everyone is very, very mad. Read More

By Kelly Faircloth 2/13 11:30am

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A Tumblr Full of GIFs to Express What It Feels Like to Be a Female Software Engineer

At this point, we’re probably past peak GIF reaction blog. And yet, just when we thought we’d seen every possible incarnation there was to see, along comes one we can really get behind: Being a female software engineer, a Tumblr billed as “group therapy for our many shared experiences.” It tackles moments of ugh that are probably familiar to many women who’ve worked in the tech business, not just engineers themselves, like dealing with macho B.S., harassment, and just plain WTF.

We’ve picked out a few of our favorites, to give you a feel for the blog: Read More

By Nitasha Tiku 10/23/12 8:00pm

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9 Photos

Reshma Saujani

Last Night’s Girls Who Code Gala Proves Beyonce’s Thesis: Who Runs the World? Girls!

There are precious few tech events for which Betabeat would agree to wear high heels. But if there was ever a worthy cause, it’s Girls Who Code. Thus between subway transfers, we swapped out our beat-up boots for patent leather and teetered our way around the cobblestone patches outside the New York Stock Exchange for the organization’s startup-studded gala.

The cause for celebration was two-fold. The first was showing off demos from its inaugural class of 20 girls, who represented all five boroughs and some disarmingly ambitious ideas. (We’re still scratching our head at Cora Frederick‘s plan to use data mining and machine learning to classify tumors.) The second was to announce an audacious new goal: to train one million girls in computer science by 2020, starting with a national expansion outside New York City next year.

The nonprofit organization, founded by former deputy public advocate Reshma Saujani and run by former Jumo managing director Kristen Titus, offers teenage girls an eight-week, full-time education in robotics, web design, and mobile development, with mentorship from engineers and executives at Twitter, Google, ZocDoc, Gilt Groupe, and more. In fact, Ms. Saujani noted last night, CEO Dick Costolo volunteered Twitter’s first philanthropic donation to Girls Who Code, although she politely declined to specify the dollar amount. Read More