Better Living through Software

Chris Locke, one of the authors of Cluetrain Manifesto, allowed his forums to devolve into very personal and graphic sexual harassment.  His attempt to clear his name falls short.

It’s great that he actually decided to engage in the conversation.  And it is understandable that he feels like an “angry mob” is engaging in “character assasaination”.

But Chris is missing the point and changing the subject.  Sexually explicit attacks on women are not just “over the top”, “bad taste”, or “hateful”, to use Chris’s words.  The photoshopped attack images directed at Kathy were unacceptable.  They should have been removed immediately.

Perhaps it’s a generational thing.  Chris’s refusal to apologize is reminiscent of the way factory plant managers behaved in the 70’s and 80’s as more women entered the work force.  Bosses used to wink and ignore sexual harassment with a dismissive “boys will be boys”, and then act like victims when they got in trouble.  The pattern is so stereotype that it features in shows that mock the past, like “Anchorman” with Ron Burgundy.

In the 70’s, that kind of behavior may have been tolerated, but it’s about as welcome as a KKK rally today.  This world belongs to a new generation, and those kinds of misogynistic attacks are not cool with us.  Letting other people do it, and then slinking away mumbling “it wasn’t my fault” only after the stuff hits the fan, is not cool.

I am sure that Chris is feeling victimized, and that’s unfortunate.  But if he continues to argue that people shouldn’t be censored/punished for sexually explicit personal attacks on women, then he clearly doesn’t represent my generation or my industry.

This entry was posted on Friday, March 30th, 2007 at 6:27 am and is filed under Life at Microsoft. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.