Brotopia: Breaking Up the Boys' Club of Silicon Valley

by Emily Chang

When minorities are forced to self-identify as minorities, their performance suffers.

Another female entrepreneur described the unfair power dynamic that’s created. “There is this undercurrent of a feeling like you’re prostituting yourself in order to get ahead because, let’s be real, if you’re dating someone powerful, it can open doors for you. And that’s what women who make the calculation to play the game want, but they don’t know all the risks associated with it,” she said. “If you do participate in these sex parties, don’t ever think about starting a company or having someone invest in you. Those doors get shut. But if you don’t participate, you’re shut out. You’re damned if you do, damned if you don’t.”

A more reasonable goal would be to create an online social landscape that roughly mirrors that of a healthy city. In most cities, you can, if you desire, find a dive bar, a strip club, or a rough neighborhood where rude or obnoxious behavior is allowed or even encouraged. But in most public spaces—the parks, restaurants, museums, and theaters—you should be fairly confident that neither you nor your children will be verbally assaulted or followed around by some creep shouting threats.