zen.org Communal Weblog

Katie at ShinyShinypointed to a discussion happening on Chick Geek sites (like Darla Mack, Anina and Techie Diva). Mainly the fact that at CeBit, lovely Korean mobile company VXMobile decided to have naked (but body-painted) booth babes showing off their product. The mobiles appear to be glued to their arms, and I guess we should thank the Goddess that it wasn’t glued somewhere else.

Now, let me first say one thing: These women are obviously beautiful. They have lovely bodies. They were paid for this. This is their choice, and I have no problems with them.

It’s the stupid-ass marketing people who thought “OH, I KNOW! Let’s paint them. Let’s have them naked and do a Demi Moore on them!” Body painting is an art. It can be classy, stunning and breathtaking.

These booth babes are not. They are painted, sorta. Not artistically, but to get men to look at them and what they are “selling”.

I guess I just thought that, since I know sooo many women involved in technology, so many grrls, hackers, writers, and since most of the people I know online are women, that the world will have caught up with that. Guess not. Hooters sell, apparently. Well, we should find out if VX made a lot of sales at CeBit. But why on EARTH can people still think that nudity, heck, even booth babes, are trade show fodder? I *cringe* when I see women posed over cars and motorcycles at car shows. And I again cringe when I look through Stuff magazine (someone please start a magazine for smart women that has all the same gadgets, but without scantily clad women all over it?)

Women are technically minded. Women who are in tech have, most of the time, been accepted as technical by their (mostly male) peers. Most guys I know accept me as technical cause I can talk the talk. But tech women are smart women. Intelligence. I would love to know what Carly Fiorina, Kim Polese, Esther Dyson, even Grace Hopper, what they would say seeing that. Even women I know who are in tech and television (Michaela Pereira, Sumi Das, Becky Worley), who have dealt with trade shows and reporting from them, who have dealt with this before…I want opinions.

Personally? Women are smart. Women are beautiful. And I don’t even want to go down the line of “don’t let a man demean you”, but it seems that it still needs to be done.

Jeeez. Pink got it right, ya know? I don’t know who to be madder at…the women who stood there, naked but covered in paint, or the idiots who think this is still acceptable.

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