How much misogyny is too much misogyny?
That’s the question Sarah Lacy, editor-in-chief and founder of tech blog Pando Daily, grappled with in an article titled, “The horrific trickle down of asshole culture: Why I’ve just deleted Uber from my phone.” Lacy declares that she’s officially hit her limit, thanks to a recent blog posted by ridesharing service, Uber.
The blog post, discovered by Buzzfeed and promptly deleted by Uber, hawks a new app in the city of Lyon, France called "Avions de Chasse." That translates to “fighter jet” or “hot chick.” The post offered a promotion for “the most beautiful thing on earth:” A 20 minute ride with a “hot chick” driver.
According to Buzzfeed, the blog post is “somewhat tame” but the accompanying website is filled with pictures of scantily clad models. It’s not the first time Lacy, who is familiar with Uber and its investors personally, states that “asshole culture” has filtered down from Uber’s CEO, Travis Kalanik, whose “asshole” antics and less-than flattering attitude towards women are well documented. (He reportedly said that he should call the company “boober” because of all the female attention he gets as its CEO.)
When it comes to sexism in tech, however, Kalanick is not the worst offender. And when it comes to misogyny among men in general, or the general misogynistic underpinnings of our society, Kalanick is probably not even a spec on the heat map.
Uber promises to deliver safe trips to both men and women. There have been a few incidents lately where Uber drivers have harassed their female passengers, and the potentially demeaning “Avions de Chasse” certainly doesn’t inspire confidence about Uber’s regard for the safety of female passengers.
There’s no skirting around the issue that "Avions to Chasse" bears a sharp resemblance to an escort service, and that some of the language around its promotion is demeaning to women. But Uber isn’t the first company to use sex or stereotypes to sell. How is this different?
The problem is that Uber is not a beer company. It’s a transportation company that promises to deliver safe trips to both men and women. There have been a few incidents lately where Uber drivers have harassed their female passengers, and the potentially demeaning “Avions de Chasse” certainly doesn’t inspire confidence about Uber’s regard for the safety of female passengers. Using sex to sell a beer might be unappealing, but using sex sell a rideshare has the potential to completely undermine the brand. The question is: is this marketing snafu the result of Uber’s asshole culture, or society’s?
Put differently, is there misogyny in tech because men in tech are assholes, or is there misogyny in tech because startups are often run without the checks, balances and regulations that come with being a publicly traded company?
I’d argue the latter, and add that we’re getting intense visibility into how people think, and our global culture manifests in people who aren’t afraid of getting caught. While it’s scary and upsetting at times (when I read that Uber Lyon’s blog post begins, “Who said women don’t know how to drive?” I felt kind of sick), it’s actually an incredible opportunity. I had a philosophy professor who used to say, “If you want to solve a problem, make it bigger” and this is a perfect example of that.
All women (and men who care about women) should be asking themselves: “Where do I stand on this?” and “How will I participate in this conversation?” We owe it to ourselves not to be passive participants.
Fuck ups like this one are making the problem of misogyny visible enough to solve. One poorly executed idea was all it took for the level of sexism to go from what Lacy calls “acceptable” to threatening. By unearthing these uncomfortable truths, tech is giving us a gift: our biggest but most intangible social issues are concrete parts of our daily lives. Now, people like Sarah Lacy who have made tremendous strides in tech have a platform to speak on and an audience to hear them.
The question is: What should the rest of us do?
Tech is a unique industry because of how companies are run but also because of how closely we get to interact with the people involved in the field. As consumers we have an unprecedented opportunity to be part of the conversation, to be educators, to drive a paradigm shift.
For example, Uber’s annual revenue is estimated somewhere around $300 million. If, hypothetically, all women (and men who care about women) were to uninstall Uber until the company issued an official apology for the incident, it would be a significant dip in revenue. Uber doesn’t care about being “nice,” it cares about making money, but if we don’t like what they’re doing, we have the power to impact their revenue numbers more than we can for bigger corporations. On the flipside, a significant change in a company like Uber has great impact on a global level.
For the record, I’m not suggesting that anyone uninstall Uber, but all women (and men who care about women) should be asking themselves: “Where do I stand on this?” and “How will I participate in this conversation?” Things that seem small have far more consequences than we realize. In a few weeks or months, no one will remember this incident. In a few years, Uber and its CEO could have faded from the spotlight. What will last are the culture and constructs that are being created now. We owe it to ourselves not to be passive participants.
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