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Wanted at Chinese Start-Ups: Attractive Women to Ease Coders’ Stress (NYT)

CannonFodder52

CannonFodder52

Member
Oct 25, 2017
9,006
Canada
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/24/business/china-women-technology.html
By SUI-LEE WEEAPRIL 24, 2018

Thought some of y'all might be interested in this story.

BEIJING — China's vibrant technology scene is searching for people like Shen Yue. Qualifications: Must be attractive, know how to charm socially awkward programmers and give relaxing massages.
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He said he was open to the idea of male programmer motivators but somewhat skeptical. "A man chatting with another man, it's like going out on a date with a guy," Mr. Feng said. "A little awkward, isn't it?"
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Ms. Zhang, the human resources executive who was part of the panel that hired Ms. Shen, stressed that it is important for a programmer motivator to look good. She said the applicants needed to have "five facial features that must definitely be in their proper order" and speak in a gentle way.

They should also have a contagious laugh, be able to apply simple makeup and be taller than 5 feet 2 inches.
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China's tech industry is beginning to question such practices. Wang Jie, 40, the chief executive of Shanbay.com, an app that helps people learn English, has been vocal about the "objectification" of women by other start-ups.
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But Mr. Wang has found that attitudes are difficult to change. Several people responded to his post, saying he was making a mountain out of a molehill.

"The men said: 'If there are more beautiful women, I'll be happier in my job. What's the issue?'" Mr. Wang said. "And some women said: 'As a woman, I don't think this is a problem at all.'"
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Fubar

Fubar

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,722
I mean on one hand, the jobs I worked at that had more attractive women (and people in general) at I was generally happier. So I definitely get where this could be a goal for a company. On a down low, back of the mind, last tiebreaker between candidates sort of thing. It sucks, but hey that's the way life works.

But really, on the other hand, recruiting specifically for attractive people to do nothing but charm and give massages is fucked up. If they do nothing related to the company aside from that, it's exactly as Wang is saying in the article. Its objectification and it's not okay.
 

BigJeffery

Banned
Oct 30, 2017
2,338
Definitely seems like the kind of thing you should do without ever actually admitting to doing it.
 
Mesoian

Mesoian

▲ Legend ▲
Member
Oct 28, 2017
26,369
This is some 1980's "let's have strippers and prostitutes in the office! That'll be fun!" mess.

All it's going to do is drive the stress levels of people who are bad with women through the roof.
 
Chopchop

Chopchop

Member
Oct 25, 2017
14,171
The underlying idea of hiring people and services to help keep your employees relaxed is okay. That's the same thing as offering massage services as an employee benefit, which can happen in normal companies.

But the way this guy puts it is really fucking creepy. It almost sounds like they want to hire cheerleaders or escorts for their male programmers, which is pretty fucked up.
 

see5harp

Banned
Oct 31, 2017
4,435
I know that I'm a much happier person when there are attractive charming people around me but I would never actually admit this.
 
Pau

Pau

Self-Appointed Godmother of Bruce Wayne's Children
Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,833
Well that's certainly not going to make programming look even more like it's meant as a job for only or primarily men.
 
PixelatedProphet

PixelatedProphet

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Oct 25, 2017
1,103
Konoha
User Banned (3 days): Sexism, using cultural relativism to justify sexist practices.
If women chose to do this i don't see any issues. People need to stop trying to police the choices of women. It's crazy how people automatically assume this Equals sex. I also wish people would get out of their western "values" are the best mindset it's super imperialistic. I'm also annoyed with these 2 minute videos that barely explain things and puts a western filter on it. You could at-least go to china and interview some of the women. I don't care about the opinion of some western feminist.
 
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greekwolf

greekwolf

Member
Oct 28, 2017
209
'"If there are more beautiful women, I'll be happier in my job", said Mr. Wang

I refuse to believe this is real.
 

capitalCORN

Banned
Oct 26, 2017
10,436
Once again, women are called to 'alleviate' and 'mend' the discomfort of others, and it's sold like it's a fucking virtue.
 

DarkJ

Member
Nov 11, 2017
1,084
Chopchop said:
The underlying idea of hiring people and services to help keep your employees relaxed is okay. That's the same thing as offering massage services as an employee benefit, which can happen in normal companies.

But the way this guy puts it is really fucking creepy. It almost sounds like they want to hire cheerleaders or escorts for their male programmers, which is pretty fucked up.
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I agree. It's a service for the company like a gym, kitchen, or daycare. This just happens to be in the form of pleasant human contact. But this guy does make it sound more nefarious than what it possibly is.
 
Chopchop

Chopchop

Member
Oct 25, 2017
14,171
DarkJ said:
I agree. It's a service for the company like a gym, kitchen, or daycare. This just happens to be in the form of pleasant human contact. But this guy does make it sound more nefarious than what it possibly is.
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Unfortunately, this guy absolutely sounds like he's going for the creepy, objectifying kind of benefit rather than the normal, non-creepy kind.
 

capitalCORN

Banned
Oct 26, 2017
10,436
DarkJ said:
I agree. It's a service for the company like a gym, kitchen, or daycare. This just happens to be in the form of pleasant human contact. But this guy does make it sound more nefarious than what it possibly is.
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When the position is referred to as programmer motivator, that openly discriminates applicants based on physical features (that in itself is a fucking nuclear warning sign), I'd say it's more than ambiguous,
 
LucidMomentum

LucidMomentum

Member
Nov 18, 2017
3,645
PixelatedProphet said:
My read of some of the posts are people implying the company is trying to hire hookers or something.
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I mean, there's not much difference other than how much clothing is on.

They're basically reducing the woman's role to being a support for men.

They even joke about having male motivators makes it seem "gay".

Like, it sounds hella suss.
 
Felt

Felt

The Fallen
Oct 27, 2017
3,210
The attitude of sexism in China blows my mind. It's really perpetrated by both sexes, too, in my anecdotal experience. We have a lot of international colleagues here, and the expectation that men carry their girlfriend's bags and treat them like dolls is always comedic.
 

capitalCORN

Banned
Oct 26, 2017
10,436
PixelatedProphet said:
Even if they are getting hookers women have free will. If women chose to do this then i'm ok with it.
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And who's criticizing women in this thread. You seem to refuse to discuss the problems with the position, instead mumbling about impotently about 'women's rights' in no clear direction. And since you want to argue so much about prostitution, turns out it's illegal in China, and having a corporate entity partake in it is doubly more problematic than a 2:00am john.
 
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