On Sat, Jul 08, 2000 at 08:10:43AM -0400, Chris Nandor wrote:
> So now I'll say it: I found it offensive that
> Perl Mongers brought along a "booth babe".
Perl Mongers, yapc and TPC have hit a point where putting volunteer
perlfolk behind the mongers table is an impossibility. As I see it,
brian brought booth staff to yapc this year. The tshirts, lanyards
and raffle tickets get sold whether the seller is male or female,
bearded or blonde.
> There's a line that can be crossed, and I think a "cute blonde" in a tight
> short dress whose only apparent purpose is to attract guys crosses that
> line.
There's another line that can't be crossed; getting a free table to
sell stuff but not interfere with the conference, and then interfering
with it.
With volunteer staff, everyone wants to visit, stand around, chat, eat
lunch, get in the way and so on. Those issues are resolved by having
paid staff.
> I am not mad at anyone here. I may appear pissed off, but I'm not; I am
> just forcefully stating my opinion. I don't think anyone meant any harm.
> But I think it does harm. I think it was an objectionable act to have her
> there at all. This is nothing personal, so if Brian and Amelia are seeing
> this, please don't take it that way. I've always liked Brian and Amelia
> seemed really nice. I just find it objectionable, and so do others.
One issue remains: if the Perl Mongers are going to sell stuff at
these conferences, how do we do it? Bringing Amelia offends people
because she's a booth babe. Using volunteer monger staff irks the
conference promoter because the sales table acts an inopportune
place for everyone to congregate and generally get in the way.
> Following Nat's lead, I've now stated my position and will shut up.
A lot of people have stated their position as being pretty offended.
So:
- no one minds the tshirt sales
- volunteer staff encourages people to hang out and get in the way
- no one minds Amelia personally
- practically everyone minds the image presented by Amelia
being hired as a booth babe
What's the solution? Don't sell tshirts? Hire less objectionable
male staff? Hire poor starving college students regardless of gender?
Z.
