Here's a topic that could blossom into something of a unique discussion. And it has the interesting virtue of tying in with a theme that has surfaced in many new ways at DEFCON... what role sex and sexual themes play in the community.
How many people interacted this year with the "Secure Ninjas" around the con space? Unbeknownst to me, they apparently did a short interview in the Lockpick Village with one of my staff...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Um3l47yyCEQ
... i like to think i'm open-minded and accepting of all people, but honestly had i been present and seen them coming, i honestly may have just said "yeah, we really don't have room for you in here right now trying to shoot a piece. please leave."
You can have your yellow card / red card debates and you can argue about whether DEFCON should allow penises on speaker slides or how much public groping is too much and what exactly is consensual or harassment... but frankly, i find a group of people like this to be far more offensive to my tastes than any of the other piddly crap that goes on.
If you check the Secure Ninja site you'll see that they're not just media whores (which could be understood if not tolerated very well) but that they actually try to operate as some sort of training and consulting venture. (Of course, their "trainings" are affiliated with the CEH program and so forth.)
I cannot believe that no one has told them how counter-productive this is. I will actively dissuade friends from any work with them because of this. I will retweet other comments giggling at them because of this. I just don't get it.
And the real kicker is, they probably will just attribute it to "awe, those geek guys are jealous that they can't get hot girls like ours" or something. We get LOADS of hotties (girls and guys) all over us all the time. What pisses us off (or at least pisses me off) to no end is the fact that they seem to have gone out of their way to hire vapid and clueless hotties.
Compare this with the gamer world. True, there are plenty of awful booth babe type shenanigans at E3. But you also have clans like the Frag Dolls. UbiSoft, from what i understand, only hires girls in those roles if they know what they're talking about and can play and compete with others at their level
Did anyone actually detect true enthusiasm in the Secure Ninja girls as they trotted around DEFCON? Did you have a conversation with any of them and get the sense that they work in this field? That they know details of any real aspect of hacker culture? I haven't spoken to anyone who did.
Again, i personally didn't meet them... so i can't speak authoritatively on this subject. Maybe i'm making something overblown here.
I just know that when i see a video like this i'm far more upset at that sort of horseshit at DEFCON than i am about someone streaking naked through a talk or slapping a passed-out drunk in the face with some cock. Sexualizing people for their bodies and not their minds and hiring vapid, uninteresting folk who take up the time and energy of legit people at DEFCON... that'd get a red card from me when nothing else i encounter ever does.
How many people interacted this year with the "Secure Ninjas" around the con space? Unbeknownst to me, they apparently did a short interview in the Lockpick Village with one of my staff...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Um3l47yyCEQ
... i like to think i'm open-minded and accepting of all people, but honestly had i been present and seen them coming, i honestly may have just said "yeah, we really don't have room for you in here right now trying to shoot a piece. please leave."
You can have your yellow card / red card debates and you can argue about whether DEFCON should allow penises on speaker slides or how much public groping is too much and what exactly is consensual or harassment... but frankly, i find a group of people like this to be far more offensive to my tastes than any of the other piddly crap that goes on.
If you check the Secure Ninja site you'll see that they're not just media whores (which could be understood if not tolerated very well) but that they actually try to operate as some sort of training and consulting venture. (Of course, their "trainings" are affiliated with the CEH program and so forth.)
I cannot believe that no one has told them how counter-productive this is. I will actively dissuade friends from any work with them because of this. I will retweet other comments giggling at them because of this. I just don't get it.
And the real kicker is, they probably will just attribute it to "awe, those geek guys are jealous that they can't get hot girls like ours" or something. We get LOADS of hotties (girls and guys) all over us all the time. What pisses us off (or at least pisses me off) to no end is the fact that they seem to have gone out of their way to hire vapid and clueless hotties.
Compare this with the gamer world. True, there are plenty of awful booth babe type shenanigans at E3. But you also have clans like the Frag Dolls. UbiSoft, from what i understand, only hires girls in those roles if they know what they're talking about and can play and compete with others at their level
Did anyone actually detect true enthusiasm in the Secure Ninja girls as they trotted around DEFCON? Did you have a conversation with any of them and get the sense that they work in this field? That they know details of any real aspect of hacker culture? I haven't spoken to anyone who did.
Again, i personally didn't meet them... so i can't speak authoritatively on this subject. Maybe i'm making something overblown here.
I just know that when i see a video like this i'm far more upset at that sort of horseshit at DEFCON than i am about someone streaking naked through a talk or slapping a passed-out drunk in the face with some cock. Sexualizing people for their bodies and not their minds and hiring vapid, uninteresting folk who take up the time and energy of legit people at DEFCON... that'd get a red card from me when nothing else i encounter ever does.
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