Old-fashioned objectification of women rules the roost in tech. It cheapens the industry and demeans women – and men
Sex sells: you don't have to look very far to see implicit promises of sex in a lot of advertising. In general, I don't have a problem with that - I'm not one of the brigade yelling about "pornification" as I think that's a poorly thought-out label for a moral panic based on puritanism. Most adults, and indeed kids, can tell the difference between fantasy and reality; and most of us are capable of judging what's appropriate and what's not.
However, the key word is always "appropriate". There is one area where plain old-fashioned inappropriate objectification of women still rules the roost: technology. This week in Las Vegas geeks, marketers, chief execs, journalists and bloggers have gathered for CES, the annual giant trade show where many of the forthcoming year's gadgets and trends are debuted. But wandering around, you'd be forgiven for thinking you'd accidentally stumbled into the annual adult-entertainment show that's held at the same time every year in Vegas (NSFW). Sprinkled liberally among the stands are the "booth babes", the models who sometimes seem to be wearing more makeup than clothing who are ostensibly there to answer questions from punters and give out information.
Tech remains an industry that's perceived to be male-dominated. Yet women buy tech, use tech, write about tech and are senior players themselves in the tech industry – so every year, I continue to be baffled as to why the booth babes are still considered acceptable. It's perhaps unfair to single out CES: the habit persists elsewhere in tech, particularly in publishing. Go into any newsagent and there, up among the lads' mags, are Stuff and T3. Both are glossy consumer technology publications that are considered authoritative, yet on the covers are leggy models who look as though they wouldn't know one end of a DSLR from another, pouting and making eyes at some new piece of kit.
Editors say that if they want to reach their target (male) audience in the newsagent, they have to be at eye-level with the other lads's mags and men's mags. But that's disingenuous: all the other, dare I say it, more serious tech magazines are at knee-level, sporting pictures not of hot babes, but of very hot and desirable technology. Chris Lowe at Haymarket, which publishes Stuff, says: "We regularly review the use of a model on the cover, based on reader research, and will continue to do so". Make of that what you will, and don't expect to see a change soon.
So what's the point of booth babes? Well, to draw in the mostly male punters, of course. Does it work? Maybe. When I threw open the question to my Facebook and Twitter followers, one man in the tech industry commented: "An attractive girl handing me a leaflet or asking me to enter a draw is probably going to get a better reaction than a nerdy geek in a suit." However, that's disingenuous: if you're really interested in the information, it doesn't matter who gives it to you – and it can be counter-productive. Another friend commented: "They may get traffic to your booth but those are the people that aren't interested in your product – they're the saddos taking pictures with said scantily clad girls – so you have a busy booth but you aren't going to increase sales or brand awareness."
Back in 2006, the Entertainment Software Industry said that it would actually enforce its rules about booth babes at E3, a leading gaming conference. However, that seems not to have stuck: last year's E3 seemed to be as replete as ever with scantily dressed young ladies. Fortunately, not all geeks are equal: the gaming blog Rock, Paper, Shotgun published a wonderful pisstake (safe for work).
Porn and technology have long been, um, in bed together. Porn led the development of much of the technology we take for granted, including cheap and easy videomaking kit, analogue and then digital video, online payment systems. However, that doesn't mean it's appropriate to bring porn memes into technology. As Terence Eden, an independent mobile consultant, noted to me on Twitter, it "cheapens the product but – more importantly – cheapens the industry". It's demeaning to the men, too: to assume that they're simple creatures who only respond to naked female flesh is offensive to any half-sentient bloke who also happens to like technology.
It also creates a series of expectations around the women who are there to work. Helen Keegan, a mobile industry specialist, said to me: "I've had my bottom pinched at industry networking events. I've had a very senior lawyer unable to speak to anything but my breasts. I've been asked for a business meeting – in a man's hotel bedroom. This is why women don't hang out at these events. There are a lot of women working in tech, they just don't want to be exposed to morons."