A couple of Silicon Valley male executives were in the cross hairs recently following a story ran by a major publication revealed some incidents of sexual harassment. This even led to the resignation of 500 Startups' founder Dave McClure.
The sexual harassment scandals in the technology space have taken its toll now as more women working in Silicon Valley have come forward to reveal the dark side of this part of the San Francisco Bay Area. Sexual misconduct committed by men in Silicon Valley is succinctly explained by a male engineer.
Speaking to Business Insider, an industry employee who used to work at Facebook said that sexual misconduct there may have rooted down to how Silicon Valley companies pay young engineers which fuel what the source called the "frat house" mentality.
The big amount of cash—regardless if it is a salary, signing bonus, or incentive—sends them a sense of entitlement in a way that leads them to commit the worst scenario.
However, this may not be the sole issue at play as technology companies offer free food, alcohol, and napping pods. These employees are burdened, spending long hours at work which could morph a workplace into a "frat house".
In the so-called "Silicon Valley blacklist" are mostly names of company leaders: McClure, Binary Capital co-founder Justin Caldbeck, Lowercase Capital co-founder Chris Sacca, Broadband Mechanics founder Marc Canter, and a lot of people at Uber.
McClure's sexual misconduct forced him to step down and cost him his company. Issuing his apologies to the defendants and the public, many have been fascinated by this "humility", gaining him praises.
It may be confusing for some how is that part praiseworthy, this reflects how men are treated when they commit mistakes and how they are admired for saying they are sorry.
The unfolding of horrible stories of sexual harassment in Silicon Valley has just started to be out in the open. More women are expected to stand up and muster enough courage to shed light on this scandalous subject matter.
