Phil Spencer came out and apologized for the scantily clad women that danced their little hearts out at the Game Developer's Conference this past week. Why? I have no idea. He said this:
At Xbox-hosted events at GDC this past week, we represented Xbox and Microsoft in a way that was not consistent or aligned to our values. It was unequivocally wrong and will not be tolerated. I know we disappointed many people and I’m personally committed to holding ourselves to higher standards. We must ensure that diversity and inclusion are central to our everyday business and core values. We will do better in the future
At Xbox-hosted events at GDC this past week, we represented Xbox and Microsoft in a way that was not consistent or aligned to our values. It was unequivocally wrong and will not be tolerated. I know we disappointed many people and I’m personally committed to holding ourselves to higher standards. We must ensure that diversity and inclusion are central to our everyday business and core values. We will do better in the future
So you are apologizing for having scantily clad women in green kilts at an after party around St. Patrick's Day? First of all, everyone should be in green kilts to celebrate this awesome holiday. So if you felt unwelcome at this party, maybe it's because you were dumb enough to show up in a shirt and tie or a pants suit and not a green kilt. Of course numerous people felt alienated. You showed up to an AFTER PARTY during an Irish drinking holiday dressed like a shlub. Yes, you don't fit in. It's like showing up to Catholic Mass on Easter Sunday next week in your disheveled sweatpants and hoodie from college. You are going to look around and be like "Whoops, wrong attire for this situation."
gripe #1: this is hypocrisy.
Microsoft held a women in gaming luncheon and then they have female Go-Go dancers at this party. I think the people who are crying about this are trying to say that, "In one instance you pretend to support women in gaming culture and then totally shit on them by having sex objects up on stage." Maybe I need to attend more luncheons, but it is my understanding that a luncheon of this sort, is to discuss business and industry topics in order to produce a better product or service to the people that make you money. In this case, a luncheon for women because they are an under represented demographic in the gaming world. I am pretty sure that is what happened at this luncheon.
A party on the other hand is for dancing and drinking. At the Xbox after party there were tons of people drinking and dancing. Anyone that runs these types of events knows that the best way to get people dancing is to already have people dancing. Otherwise it is like a 6th grade dance with a bunch of people standing around quietly staring at each other. It seems to me that this is not hypocrisy but how you run dance parties and luncheons. If you are going to tell me that they are objectifying women in one instance and promoting them in another well, we will get to that in the sexist portion, so hold on to your panties.
A party on the other hand is for dancing and drinking. At the Xbox after party there were tons of people drinking and dancing. Anyone that runs these types of events knows that the best way to get people dancing is to already have people dancing. Otherwise it is like a 6th grade dance with a bunch of people standing around quietly staring at each other. It seems to me that this is not hypocrisy but how you run dance parties and luncheons. If you are going to tell me that they are objectifying women in one instance and promoting them in another well, we will get to that in the sexist portion, so hold on to your panties.
Gripe #2: this is sexist
If you think this is sexist, you are a sexist, heterocentric dolt. To continue from our last topic, this is a party. To have scantily clad women at the luncheon serving up a tray of assorted appetizers and pleasantries would have been sexist. Mainly because the purpose of the luncheon is for having a discussion and putting scantily clad women in that situation is incongruous with the goals of the meeting. The only benefit of having hardly dressed women in there would be for others to ogle them which would detract from the intended goal and therefore sexist (maybe).
The purpose of the women at the PARTY is to get people to let loose and dance. In our example of a middle school dance above, you will see that there are only two people dancing. They are female and more than likely not hired by anyone. They are just two girls that want to dance and will most likely encourage the other stiffs to dance. A counter argument could be that there are no dudes st the after party dancing. True, but it is unusual for a company that provides dancers to have male and female dancers. It is not a profession that lots of males get into (maybe we should protest that the erotic dance industry is a sexist girls club because it is dominated by females). Also, it seems as if the complainers are saying that women would not be into female dancers or dancing with other women. Nothing like whispering to the woman next to you about how gross and sexist this is when that half drunk lesbian is having the time of her life staring at these dancers while slamming back some cosmos.
I kind of feel like even if there were male dancers up there, the same people would still be complaining. Maybe it's not the exploitation of women, but the fact that scantily clad dancers offend them. To you, I suggest you keep to parties outside of major cities and especially San Francisco.
The purpose of the women at the PARTY is to get people to let loose and dance. In our example of a middle school dance above, you will see that there are only two people dancing. They are female and more than likely not hired by anyone. They are just two girls that want to dance and will most likely encourage the other stiffs to dance. A counter argument could be that there are no dudes st the after party dancing. True, but it is unusual for a company that provides dancers to have male and female dancers. It is not a profession that lots of males get into (maybe we should protest that the erotic dance industry is a sexist girls club because it is dominated by females). Also, it seems as if the complainers are saying that women would not be into female dancers or dancing with other women. Nothing like whispering to the woman next to you about how gross and sexist this is when that half drunk lesbian is having the time of her life staring at these dancers while slamming back some cosmos.
I kind of feel like even if there were male dancers up there, the same people would still be complaining. Maybe it's not the exploitation of women, but the fact that scantily clad dancers offend them. To you, I suggest you keep to parties outside of major cities and especially San Francisco.
gripe #3: microsoft's values
Well, I didn't try very hard, but I couldn't find what Microsoft's values were. They have a mission, a strategy and ambitions listed on their website. They want to empower people and motivate them to be more productive by creating great mobile software. Do they have some kind of family values that I am unaware of. Are they trying to be like Nintendo? If they were, I would imagine that they would stop carrying so many titles that involve violence, gore and of course scantily clad women. Also it is an after party. It isn't the actual conference. I know plenty of companies that have parties that get crazy and don't reflect their normal business practices. Heck, I know kindergarten teachers that go out and drink on Fridays and get plastered. Obviously nobody wants a drunk lady watching their children but guess what, the things that they do at work and the things that they do at parties don't meet.
final comments
If you think Microsoft should apologize for having dancers at a party then please reassess your values. If you think Microsoft should do everything possible to appease everyone, then they will stand for nothing. How many people did they alienate by having booze at a party? How many people thought the music was too loud? How many people didn't like the type of music that was even being played? Stop using a party to judge business practices. It makes no sense. Use business practices to judge business. I am also not sure what is offensive about scantily clad women. Are we objectifying dancers? They are there to dance. That is their job. They work in tandem with the DJ to produce the desired result of a dance party ... which is dancing. You have alienated another customer today Microsoft. Stop apologizing for throwing parties.
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