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Comment by WillPostForFood | Hacker News Reader

It didn't say they were uncomfortable hiring or promoting women, it said mentoring which implies a more personal relationship. Specific example from the article, which doesn't seem like bullshit:

nine times more likely to be hesitant to travel with a junior woman for work than a junior man, and six times more likely to be hesitant to have a work dinner with a junior woman than a junior man.

This is, unfortunately, a rational response to the current climate.

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Why is it a rational response? I've travelled with female co-workers before, it's not as if the company made us share a bed. We were just two people travelling. I don't really understand how the "current climate" would make me rethink that.

Because there is a much greater surface area for misunderstanding when you are travelling with someone. E.g, I ask you to drop off my laptop at my office (no misunderstanding), I ask you to drop off my laptop at my hotel room (risk of misunderstanding).

Can you prove you didn’t proposition her during the trip? Remember, she doesn’t have to prove anything to be taken seriously. You, however, have to prove a negative and that’s very hard to do.

If I travel with a male coworker can I prove I don't proposition him? Gay people exist, you know. This isn't any different.

If you are gay, and your gay male coworker accuses you of something it looks worse than if you are a woman, and a gay male accuses you. So, yes, of course it is different. Look at this way, a compatible sexual couple is at higher risk of an accusation than non compatible sexual couple.

But a trustworthy employee won't do any of those things, no matter the gender. If you have an untrustworthy employee you have a whole other problem. They could accuse you of making a pass at them, or of stealing from them, bullying them... the list is endless really. I don't get the preoccupation with sexuality in that context.

Let's do a simple test and reverse the roles.

Yup, it's still rational in that respect too; this sucks and the way to fix it seems to be at the organizational level. Make it not one on one meetings, and make it "public" record (transparent), and make the support systems for reporting abuse in either direction act on that public record.

> This is, unfortunately, a rational response to the current climate.

Yes! It is rational to have a fear response to the prospect of being held accountable. Because we have not had a culture of accountability, many men are not confident in their ability NOT to behave in a harmful manner, even if they do not intend to harm. That feeling of discomfort is from finally having to think about these things. I hope more men embrace that discomfort instead of resent it.

Many men aren’t confident that they would be able to prove that something didn’t occur. Many men aren’t confident that they would get a fair process. We saw what happened to Kavanaugh. Flimsy allegations from decades ago when the players were in high school, with no corroboration, even from a person who was the best friend of the accuser and present at the scene of the alleged event. Yet that was almost enough to destroy a judicial career.

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