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Yahoo Offered Lap Dances At Hack Event 572

Fotograf writes "Yahoo's latest embarrassment seems like a sign that the company is just trying too hard to be cool. The latest debacle is earning the company some additional publicity. After Yahoo hosted Taiwan Open Hack Day, a special event for engineers and developers that was held last weekend, a series of photos found their way onto the internet — as ill-thought out decisions often do. Yahoo offered lap dances to the attendees of the hack event. Since the pictures have come out the company has decided to apologize."

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Yahoo Offered Lap Dances At Hack Event

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  • shucks (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 22, 2009 @10:52AM (#29835197)
    Awesome. Wish I was there.
  • by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 22, 2009 @10:53AM (#29835209)
    Now that's a nice company issued laptop. ZING!
  • by PalmHair ( 1222728 ) on Thursday October 22, 2009 @10:55AM (#29835239)
    Why wasn't I invited?
  • by Nebulious ( 1241096 ) on Thursday October 22, 2009 @10:55AM (#29835249)
    Just goes to show you that you can read all of the documentation you want, but experience is what really matters.
  • by MickyTheIdiot ( 1032226 ) on Thursday October 22, 2009 @10:56AM (#29835255) Homepage Journal

    Get the popcorn... this is going to be an epic thread. We've already had the "Wish I was there" post, it's time for the feminist wing to turn up. Oh the objectification!

    • by armanox ( 826486 ) <asherewindknight@yahoo.com> on Thursday October 22, 2009 @11:00AM (#29835313) Homepage Journal

      Get the popcorn... this is going to be an epic thread. We've already had the "Wish I was there" post, it's time for the feminist wing to turn up. Oh the objectification!

      This is slashdot. I have yet to see a feminist wing.

      • by Abreu ( 173023 )

        And yet when a guy tried to complain here about sexist attitudes in open-source he was shot down to hell...

      • by Locke2005 ( 849178 ) on Thursday October 22, 2009 @12:58PM (#29837029)
        This is slashdot. I have yet to see a feminist wing. Hey! We do have a feminist wing! But this is her day off.
    • Hello,

      I represent LAMBDA. I'd like to know why there were no MALE dancers for me to enjoy? Not all of us like girls. Men want to be objectified too!

      ;-)

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by pete6677 ( 681676 )

      This kind of stunt has become a common play in the PR handbook. Do something moderately outrageous, just enough to piss off some special interest group, and your company gets a ton of free publicity as a result. Pepsi did something like this a few months ago with an iPhone app: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33310411/ [msn.com]. You can't tell me that nobody in charge knew this stuff would be controversial. They knew exactly what they were doing and that it would get them more publicity than they were willing to pay for

      • by caffeinemessiah ( 918089 ) on Thursday October 22, 2009 @11:13AM (#29835509) Journal

        You can't tell me that nobody in charge knew this stuff would be controversial. They knew exactly what they were doing and that it would get them more publicity than they were willing to pay for

        Never attribute to cleverness what can be attributed to stupidity. The Pepsi campaign was actually for Amp, a mountain dew-type energy drink, which is supposed to be "edgy", whatever that means. To me, that sounds like a bunch of douchebag marketing execs, fresh out of newly minted MBAs or marketing degrees, who genuinely, genuinely believe that putting out a sexist ad is "targeting the demographic" and not a "massive liability".

      • by BitZtream ( 692029 ) on Thursday October 22, 2009 @03:01PM (#29838709)

        PR handbook if it was done in the US maybe.

        In most of Europe, no one would care.

        In Tiawan, no one cares the slightest.

        You are applying your culture to a country and people thousands of miles away from you that subscribe to a completely different culture.

        The only reason you know about it is because some posted pictures of the event and someone else said 'OMG BOOBIES OMG OMG OMG OMG'.

        They did it last year as well, no pictures, no story. This is completely socially accepted in Taiwan's culture. Stop projecting yours on to it.
        $10 says it didn't make the news in the city it happened in, probably not even the country it happened in. No one there CARES.

    • the new feminism is about self-empowerment

      such that grad students who work in strip clubs are seen as feminist icons: its all about exploiting silly weak men for lots of their cash by doing nothing but shimmying around

      and no, that doesn't mean the new feminism is the same as pre-feminism. because the feminist who strips is CHOOSING to strip for fun and titillation (pun intended), rather than being FORCED to do it for economic difficulties

      not that women aren't forced into exploitation for economic difficulties anymore, i'm not describing reality. i'm describing philosophical trends in feminist thinking. in feminist thinking, porn actresses are the new pioneers

      • by swb ( 14022 ) on Thursday October 22, 2009 @12:24PM (#29836473)

        Mod parent up.

        The old, Andrea Dworkin, men-hating, anti-pornography lesbian feminism is over. As it turns out, the philosophy really was driven by the psychology of angry lesbians who could only find empowerment by striking at heterosexual women capable of controlling their sexual destiny.

        Diablo Cody, screenwriter of "Juno" is the exact personification of the new feminism. Stripper, writer, she's "in control" of her sexuality and is fine with using it for *her* own ends, even if on the surface it appears to be just furthering the old stereotypes. That doesn't matter because the men are really the manipulated victims (paying for sexual titillation) and the women are in charge.

        Excuse me, gotta run, I have an English Lit class.

    • I'm androgynous, you insensitive clod!

    • by Crudely_Indecent ( 739699 ) on Thursday October 22, 2009 @12:05PM (#29836235) Journal

      Forget the feminist wing, I'm looking forward to the lesbian wing showing up! I don't need a lap dance, I just want to watch.

      On that note, did anybody see Gretchen kiss Claire on Heroes? HOT!

      Dexter has been replaced by Heroes as my favorite TV show!

    • by adisakp ( 705706 ) on Thursday October 22, 2009 @12:48PM (#29836845) Journal
      FWIW, Having Strippers at the company is *NOT* a good idea. The last game company I worked for had a stripper come in for the art directors birthday. I t was very awkward -- especially since she tried to get him to strip as well (which is something I did not need to see). Plus between married guys and nerds, no one really knew what we should be doing (I guess neither married guys nor nerds get sex).

      Oh, and to top it all off, the one woman who was working there at the time (the receptionist) ended up suing the company for sexual harassment when she quit.
  • Figures... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Monkeedude1212 ( 1560403 ) on Thursday October 22, 2009 @10:56AM (#29835257) Journal

    The one IT related conference I DON'T go to... AND LOOK WHAT HAPPENS!

  • Eh (Score:5, Funny)

    by ae1294 ( 1547521 ) on Thursday October 22, 2009 @10:56AM (#29835263) Journal

    Not really a big deal.. they offer blow jobs to congressmen all the time..

    • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

      Yeah.. but it's the upper level execs that are offering them in that case. What would you expect from them?

  • Yawn (Score:3, Interesting)

    by MBGMorden ( 803437 ) on Thursday October 22, 2009 @10:57AM (#29835279)

    Company sponsored AT the actual event - yeah, that's a bit over the top. But it's pretty common for guys to head to a strip club after a business meeting. Heck in any large-ish town there will be several clubs with varying reputations (almost a caste system of sorts). Invariably there is almost always one that caters to the business crowd where you walk in and it's pretty much universally guys in suits.

    Yahoo took the next awkward step, but the idea overall ain't that far-fetched.

  • by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 22, 2009 @10:59AM (#29835301)
    I think Yahoo should be like, "F**k yeah! We have lap dances at our events." I say this because the last time I apologized to a girl for kissing her, she dumped me for being such a woosy.

    Moral of the story: NEVER apologize for sex.

  • Apologize? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by jacob1984 ( 1314123 ) on Thursday October 22, 2009 @10:59AM (#29835303)
    Why?
    • by corbettw ( 214229 ) on Thursday October 22, 2009 @11:04AM (#29835377) Journal

      For not announcing the dances ahead of time so more engineers could plan on attending. Duh.

    • Why?

      Because they got caught. It wouldn't do to have a good time and then be unapologetic about it. We live in more enlightnened times, now, doncha know?

  • by Cthefuture ( 665326 ) on Thursday October 22, 2009 @10:59AM (#29835307)

    Who the hell would want a lap dance on a stage in front of tons of people. That would be awkward and unpleasant even if you liked lap dances from strangers (rubbing their diseases all over you, heh).

    • by Red Flayer ( 890720 ) on Thursday October 22, 2009 @11:28AM (#29835751) Journal

      Who the hell would want a lap dance on a stage in front of tons of people. That would be awkward and unpleasant even if you liked lap dances from strangers (rubbing their diseases all over you, heh).

      Some people actually dig that sort of thing.

      In my case, it would be awkward only because I'd feel guilty about making all the men in the crowd feel inferior because of the size of the bulge in my pants.

      (No one needs to tell them that I stole a paper-towel tube from the kitchenette just prior to the lapdance).

  • by beefnog ( 718146 ) on Thursday October 22, 2009 @11:00AM (#29835315)
    Maybe I'm a bit jaded or detached, but I fail to see how offering lap dances is fundamentally different from offering free beer. It's cheap fun, and some people may find it morally objectionable, but in the end not a single attendee is going to end up bumping uglies with one of the dancing girls. Had the cheerleaders for an NFL team been there in tight shirts and tiny skirts waving pompoms nobody would have said a word.
    • by PalmHair ( 1222728 ) on Thursday October 22, 2009 @11:07AM (#29835419)

      ... I fail to see how offering lap dances is fundamentally different from offering free beer...

      I am heterosexual and I definitely see the difference.

    • by amplt1337 ( 707922 ) on Thursday October 22, 2009 @12:53PM (#29836917) Journal

      Had the cheerleaders for an NFL team been there in tight shirts and tiny skirts waving pompoms nobody would have said a word.

      Um, no.

      Women (try talking to one sometime) are very widely offended at the whole phenomenon of Booth Babes, scantily clad spokesmodels, etc. The difference with this is that because it was lapdances, it actually makes the news.
      It's just as hostile to the women who want to be treated as colleagues (instead of sex objects) to have micro-bikini models hanging around, but that won't make the papers.

  • by LizardKing ( 5245 ) on Thursday October 22, 2009 @11:01AM (#29835337)
    Personally, I always prefer a lap dance when the stripper is crying.
  • Remember! (Score:5, Funny)

    by lupinstel ( 792700 ) on Thursday October 22, 2009 @11:02AM (#29835353)

    No penetration testing in the champagne room!!

  • by Anonymusing ( 1450747 ) on Thursday October 22, 2009 @11:03AM (#29835357)

    .stripper(): slowly removes the HTML elements of your page, revealing something naughty underneath.

    .poleDance(): automatically adds a vertical navigation bar to your site, then teases you when you want to click on something

    .Titillate(): a replacement for .Console(), to make sure the programmer is, um, "properly aware" of script feedback

  • by The Archon V2.0 ( 782634 ) on Thursday October 22, 2009 @11:04AM (#29835371)
    Because I read the headline as some hick/yahoo stumbling onto a hack event and being offered a lap dance by... someone. It was dredging up some incredibly disturbing images that were half Deliverance and half cosplay gone horribly horribly wrong.
  • Apologize for what, not inviting me? Bastards.

  • In June go to Computex in Taipei.......lots of hardware and scantily dressed Taiwanese girls. A geek paradise.

    http://www.computextaipei.com.tw/ [computextaipei.com.tw]

  • Pictures... (Score:3, Funny)

    by jeffshoaf ( 611794 ) * on Thursday October 22, 2009 @11:21AM (#29835643)
    Pictures or it didn't happ... Oh, wait...
  • It is Taiwan.... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by 140Mandak262Jamuna ( 970587 ) on Thursday October 22, 2009 @11:24AM (#29835703) Journal
    ... There it is considered positively old fashioned and prudish to stop with just lap dances. The competition is sure to be offering a lot more.
    • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward

      ... There it is considered positively old fashioned and prudish to stop with just lap dances. The competition is sure to be offering a lot more.

      I find your ideas intriguing and would like to subscribe to your newsletter

  • by kevjava ( 259717 ) on Thursday October 22, 2009 @11:30AM (#29835783)

    in the Information Technology field? This might go some way to explain it.

    Did Yahoo not think that women engineers would be present at this event? They make up roughly ten percent of engineers as a whole [dol.gov]. Furthermore, did they think that there was some way that women attendees would be perfectly comfortable watching other women objectified on a stage?

    It's not that I mind women being objectified for money -- the women involved are handsomely rewarded for their parts in this business deal. I do mind people in my field saying that they do everything they can to make women comfortable in our field, then turning around and saying that they don't understand why anyone would be offended by this.

    • by Jearil ( 154455 ) on Thursday October 22, 2009 @12:20PM (#29836417) Homepage

      Actually there was someone there who interviewed a bunch of the women hackers at the event. A lot of them thought it was funny watching the awkward guys up on stage going through having a girl dance next to them. Even more said they didn't even notice what was going on on stage. Apparently the dances only happened twice during the multi-day event and each dance was for about 5 minutes.

      There's been a lot of outcry from women in the US about it, but none of the women who attended the event had anything negative to say.

      • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

        That makes sense. While the appropriateness of it *is* debatable, the culture is different over there. People in this country would be better off just not having an opinion on it really.
    • by that IT girl ( 864406 ) on Thursday October 22, 2009 @12:24PM (#29836471) Journal
      Heck, I'm a woman and I think it's kind of funny, albeit inappropriate. Not necessarily an event I'd want to be at while this was going on--simply because lap dances and this kind of sexually charged thing is generally considered part of one's personal life, and this was a business/professional event. Some women and and even more privately-minded men would feel uncomfortable. If a man wants to go to a strip club, that's his business and I personally have zero problem with that. It's just not really appropriate for this event, in the same way that overt sexual advances, talking at length about one's sex life, etc are not appropriate for the professional office.
    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Every single one of us "objectifies" ALL of our sex partners or potential sex partners at some point in time. Women are "objectified" as a comparison to other available members of their sex or gender, as a part of an evaluation we MUST go thorugh and are ENTITLED to go through as one of our basic delights in the choosing of the direction of our future genes.

      Women who are initially objectified for their looks don't stay objectified for long, unless the man doing the choosing is vapid. But the tendency to fir

  • by geekoid ( 135745 ) <dadinportlandNO@SPAMyahoo.com> on Thursday October 22, 2009 @12:21PM (#29836429) Homepage Journal

    "Screw you. Some people like lap dances so they got one, and we're not apologizing."

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