

The first hack at TechCrunch Disrupt's hackathon is called TitStare. - joejohnson
http://www.aol.co.uk/video/titstare-demo-at-hackathon-sf-2013/517925671/

======
dotBen
Not only is this offensive and misogynistic _(and that point well covered here
already)_ but it also sets a clear marker of the slow decline of hack
days/hackathons.

In addition to being disrespectful to women, this kind of "joke" hack is also
disrespectful to hacker culture and the people that want to participate in
hackatons. Time is wasted presenting this crap which could have been spent
showcasing real innovation and real hard work spent producing meaningful hacks
and projects.

It pains me to link to Valleywag, but they have a video of both inappropriate
demos, and unlike AOL (which owns TechCrunch) are unlikely to remove the
videos.

[http://valleywag.gawker.com/techcrunch-disrupt-kicks-off-
wit...](http://valleywag.gawker.com/techcrunch-disrupt-kicks-off-with-
titstare-app-and-fa-1274394925)

~~~
untog
IMO this is exactly the kind of event that demonstrates the purpose of
Valleywag.

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tomasien
Making something called "TitStare" or even starring at breasts aren't the
worst kind of sexism. Making something called "TitStare" and then thinking it
would be ok AND funny to give a presentation on it in public to an
unsuspecting audience at a tech conference, and therefore deciding it was ok
to make the women in the audience feel objectified and unwelcome, IS.

This is just such a remarkably ugly and hateful thing to do, it makes me sick.

~~~
andor
I think it's hilarious. At the same time, they make fun of stereotypical phone
applications and people staring at tits. Also, I don't believe it actually
exists. They only show a screenshot and the presentation is way too funny.

~~~
estel
Something can be a parody (and I'm unconvinced parody was their intent) whilst
also being offensive, sexist, inappropriate and awful.

------
jaredsohn
A few notes from someone who watched this streaming live:

* The headline is wrong (according to my memory, haven't been able to confirm yet); this was roughly the 68th hack (minus no-shows) since they made a joke saying that the next act was #69. The headline text has been tweeted a bunch (and reported by Valleywag :)), though, and probably came from there.

* There was laughter during the presentation and applause afterward. A few hacks earlier was an adult-themed hack called CircleShake ([http://www.aol.co.uk/video/circle-shake-demo-at-hackathon-sf...](http://www.aol.co.uk/video/circle-shake-demo-at-hackathon-sf-2013/517925667/)) which might have set the mood for the audience a bit.

* They had a break a few minutes later and after they came back the announcer mentioned that hack presentations need to meet a certain professional standard and that they wanted to have a better tone going forward.

* TechCrunch has apologized via Twitter ("We apologize for two inappropriate hackathon presentations earlier today. We will more carefully screen from now on.") and on their site ([http://techcrunch.com/2013/09/08/an-apology-from-techcrunch/](http://techcrunch.com/2013/09/08/an-apology-from-techcrunch/))

* Here is a mirror of the video: [https://www.dropbox.com/s/ausf5taq1vy4g04/AOL.co.uk%20-Video...](https://www.dropbox.com/s/ausf5taq1vy4g04/AOL.co.uk%20-Video%20-%20Titstare%20Demo%20at%20Hackathon%20SF%202013.mp4)

~~~
jlees
Pretty sure it was 68. I'm in the audience and presented my back earlier.

Although the hack was ridiculous, I think it's important to keep the facts
straight. There was also a pretty awful 'asl' hack pitch later on, given by a
woman. It definitely says something about TechCrunch that folks think this
behaviour's OK at their event, but it was not their Disrupt keynote as some
folks are seemingly interpreting! (It'll still hurt them a lot, though.)

The 9 year old girl (who went later) is far more worthy of the coverage. :-)

------
whbk
Ugh. One of the things Twitter's blowing up about is that this occurred after
a 9 year old girl presented her hack. I'm one of the 'privileged young white
males' people love to talk condescendingly about, and as someone fairly new to
the tech scene I had thought all the sexism hand-wringing was a little blown
out of proportion, but...really? Blows my mind that there really are people
who think this is okay/funny and that the adults in charge didn't serve as an
(unfortunately necessary) line of defense against this asshattery.

~~~
jaredsohn
This happened before the 9 year old's presentation.

~~~
whbk
Thanks for the correction, though the fact that it occurred at the same event
is really the point.

------
rpicard
There is a lot of sexism out there for sure, but is this app doing any more
than poking fun at men who were caught looking at womens' breasts? Are men out
there really going to say that we never sneak a peek at a woman's cleavage? Is
that sexist?

I understand that there are a lot of different perspectives though, so maybe
some women out there could explain what I'm missing.

~~~
glesica
"Sneaking a peak at women's breasts" is fundamentally different than
"presenting an app related to staring at women's tits at a tech conference to
an audience of mixed gender and age, with widely varying sensibilities".

Checking out an attractive individual in a non-aggressive manner? Totally
fine, carry on. Making as ass of yourself and possibly offending a ton of
people? Not fine, GTFO.

This isn't about checking out attractive members of the opposite sex, it's
about being potentially offensive in a totally inappropriate setting.

~~~
rpicard
I don't see how there's anything fundamentally offensive about it. Maybe
immature, but harmless from my point of view.

~~~
untog
I'm going to throw out a wild theory here: you're not a woman, are you?

~~~
rpicard
No, but it's not just men versus women. I know plenty of women that would
think it's funny. It seems like the thing here is that it was unprofessional,
and some people don't like that. It's a valid opinion, but it's not along
gender lines.

------
feebar
How is this HN material?

But while we'ere here, can someone explain why the feeling of offence is
something beyond the control of an individual, but is instead directly
controlled by every other person on the planet?

Is it completely illogical to suggest that someone (or a room full of people)
can /choose/ not to be offended, because they fully understand the the idea of
freedom of speech?

Why is it always:

Someone said something -> I'm OFFENDED BY THAT. AARRGHH!!

Not:

Someone said something -> I didn't agree/like it -> That's OK.

~~~
estel
Freedom of speech exists in the public, not private spheres.

In this case, apps such as Titstare being presented at an event (aimed at all
ages), such as this, only reinforce the perception that such events are boys
clubs for 18-35 year old guys who like staring at tits. Presumably, you want
that image to change: isn't it worth imposing restrictions to reduce the
amount of "offence" caused to people in order to bring this about?

------
cjdavis
\- Women who wear clothing designed to show cleavage

\- Men who stare at cleavage

Discuss.

Wait, just to make it a little more useful:

\- Men who giggle like children about their project aimed at the above two
groups

~~~
kyledrake
Men that ridicule Men who giggle like children about their project aimed at
the above two groups
[https://twitter.com/kyledrake/status/376821198488731648](https://twitter.com/kyledrake/status/376821198488731648)

------
mcantelon
Disrupt: Junior High School Edition.

------
marshray
Quick, monetize the trend! Someone make a Cowclicker spinoff called
'Teatstare'!

------
estel
They posted a screenshot to Twitter:
[https://twitter.com/HateYouCards/status/376735190434840576](https://twitter.com/HateYouCards/status/376735190434840576)

------
collypops
Someone is hacking Twitter accounts to defend TitStare:

[https://twitter.com/search?q=%23titstare%20is%20awesome&src=...](https://twitter.com/search?q=%23titstare%20is%20awesome&src=typd&mode=realtime)

"#TitStare is awesome. Stop hating you feminazis (or whiteknights) and take a
joke"

------
Aloisius
Clearly a hack called Jackass that you run your presentation through to
determine if you're a jackass or not is needed.

------
cjdavis
...and, video not found 11 minutes later.

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jpinkerton88
video seems to be unavailable

------
rmrfrmrf
Gotta love an inclusive environment.

------
smtddr
Ah, our friendly reminder that we still has a few immature boys who think the
tech scene is their private bachelor party.

------
batemanesque
in any case, the guys at Hacker News have now hidden this thread & the other
one about TitStare, so we can all pretend the problem's gone away.

------
jerrya
Is staring at tits sexist, or is it just a result of human evolution that
affects us all, regardless of how sensitive we are to gender equality issues?

[https://www.google.com/search?q=hillary+staring+at+christina](https://www.google.com/search?q=hillary+staring+at+christina)

[https://www.google.com/search?q=sophia+loren+staring+at+jayn...](https://www.google.com/search?q=sophia+loren+staring+at+jayne+mansfield)

~~~
foolrush
Overused and misused babble science theory.

Humans are emergent species. Even optical illusions, despite being used as
evidence of ‘hard wiring’, have been further studied to be learned and
emergent phenomena[1].

[1] EG: The Influence of Culture on Visual Perception, MH Segall, DT Campbell,
MJ Herskovits - 1966

~~~
jerrya
That culture influences visual perception does not seem to preclude other
evolutionary or biological influences on visual perception. I don't have the
reference you provide, maybe you can tell me if that reference or others you
have preclude evolutionary or biological influences on visual perception?

And even agreeing, okay, tit staring is a culturally influenced, a social
construction, so what? You still don't describe how that makes it sexist and
so should be shamed, especially in light of evidence that it affects both men
and women.

Why are natural harmless instinctual reproductive behaviors that the culture
associates with males worthy of shame?

------
benguild
Zero fucks being given by these guys...

