Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search
 

KamaAina

(78,249 posts)
Sat Mar 19, 2016, 08:30 PM Mar 2016

Microsoft Hired Women In Tiny Catholic Schoolgirl Outfits For a Game Developers Conference Party

Not. The. Onion.

http://jezebel.com/microsoft-hired-women-in-tiny-catholic-schoolgirl-outfi-1765738873

In a very smart move, Microsoft hired women in extremely tiny Catholic schoolgirl outfits to dance at their official afterparty in San Francisco during this week’s Game Developer Conference. People are so thrilled!

GDC is a massive four-day event, and women’s inclusion in tech and gaming is, as you may have heard, kind of a hot topic right now. Microsoft owns Xbox. So by all means, why wouldn’t you hire women in highly sexualized outfits to appear at your industry event?

Partygoer Kamina Vincent, a producer at an Australian games studio, tells Jezebel via email that when she arrived, the women were “immediately noticeable,” in that no one else was dressed like an erotically-awakened Catholic schoolgirl:...

Vincent tweeted (and later deleted, because she hadn’t gotten their consent) photos of the women. She also left the party fairly quickly: “Decisions like these reinforce that women are decoration instead of a part of the industry.”


18 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies

lpbk2713

(42,696 posts)
2. I can't fault the women that participated.
Sat Mar 19, 2016, 08:38 PM
Mar 2016



The cost of living in the SF Bay area is the highest in the nation.

And the people who hired them used that fact to their advantage.

 

Rex

(65,616 posts)
9. Not grown men. Well paid boys.
Sat Mar 19, 2016, 09:56 PM
Mar 2016

All that is missing is the bra hats. What did you expect? Class?

MADem

(135,425 posts)
4. Those look more like "Japanese school girl outfits." Like in those stupid cartoons the kids like.
Sat Mar 19, 2016, 08:50 PM
Mar 2016

Either one is dumb as hell, but I think they were trying to appeal to the "bros" who go for that anime stuff--those look like costumes you'd see at a ComiCon.

When I was in Japan some of those cartoons used to come on in the afternoons on TV, and it was just not appropriate after school fare--very sexist, very insulting, degrading, etc. The oversexed young girls were constantly being harassed by the male students who would chortle like morons. It was just some offensive shit.

I don't quite get the appeal of it--it reminds me of those giant eyed drawings that were popular in the seventies...some of the most hideous dreck I've ever seen!

 

KamaAina

(78,249 posts)
5. "Like in those stupid cartoons the kids like." You mean anime?
Sat Mar 19, 2016, 09:40 PM
Mar 2016

Sexist, maybe, but hardly stupid.

MADem

(135,425 posts)
7. Did you just read the headline and not the post?
Sat Mar 19, 2016, 09:50 PM
Mar 2016

I said anime in the body of the message. And sorry, sexism in anime IS stupid. Sends a very bad message.

 

davidn3600

(6,342 posts)
6. Not much different than what you find at Comic Con
Sat Mar 19, 2016, 09:47 PM
Mar 2016

A lot of women dressed up in cosplay and revealing or sexualized outfits. It's par for the course when dealing with those kind of conventions.

 

Rex

(65,616 posts)
8. Meh. The gamergate crowd.
Sat Mar 19, 2016, 09:55 PM
Mar 2016

Really? Catholic Schoolgirls? How 1980s, did they get permission slips from their mommy's to attend the party?



Stop looking at her naughty parts.

csziggy

(34,120 posts)
18. Microsoft claims to be trying - but they seem to be failing badly
Sun Mar 20, 2016, 09:47 AM
Mar 2016

From the link in the OP:

Game developer and frequent Gamergate target Brianna Wu, who heads the studio Giant Spacekat, tells Jezebel that Microsoft has essentially undermined their own work on the issue of inclusion.

“Microsoft is doing so many things right on this issue,” she says. “They instituted mandatory unconscious bias training this year. Their Hololens team has a ton of extremely skilled women engineers. They are working hard to be part of the solution. This undermines all that great work. I’d like to see accountability from the Xbox marketing team.”

Emphasis added by me.

Maybe they need to have mandatory CONSCIOUS bias training!
 

Jim Beard

(2,535 posts)
11. My son was a radio DJ and the record companies were always taking them to the strip clubs.
Sat Mar 19, 2016, 10:10 PM
Mar 2016

He quite that job long ago.

AgadorSparticus

(7,963 posts)
15. Wow, Microsoft is FULL of bad decisions for the past decade.
Sat Mar 19, 2016, 11:44 PM
Mar 2016

And they continue their bad decision making streak.....absolutely shameful.

 

TipTok

(2,474 posts)
16. Meh... Equivalent of 'booth babes'...
Sun Mar 20, 2016, 08:20 AM
Mar 2016

On the list of things to get outraged over, this is towards the bottom.

Latest Discussions»General Discussion»Microsoft Hired Women In ...