A man at a Flashbelt session included some racy content in his preso. Different accounts can be found here (more offensive), and here (less offensive). Most of the people in the room were men, and many laughed. Some of the women there–as well as the conference organizer–were first to complain that the content was unprofessional and objectified women.
So the Flash community has a controversy on its hands, just as the Rails community did a month or two ago. Was it wrong? I dunno. Here are some related questions that might help you decide:
If the room held only men, would a presentation like this be wrong? That is, is the harm here how men’s worst impulses are being reinforced?
If the room held mostly women, would it be wrong? Did the upset women’s discomfort stem mainly from the fact that they feel professionally precarious? If they didn’t feel precarious, would they still be upset?
If the controversial content was geared to please adult women rather than mimbos, would it be wrong? Is sexual content itself objectionable, because women in general have lower tolerance for crudity than men in general…or does the harm come from the nature of the content (which, presumably, objectifies or demeans women).
If the animations showed gay men frolicking, would it be wrong? See last questions.
If the preso showed off excellent work in the porn industry, would it be wrong? Should there be a “professional” interest in these productions or should they be taboo? Likewise, if someone was doing interactives for an anti-affirmative action group? Or a group that advocated athiesm and blasphemed Christ? What would be “professionally” acceptable content at a conference?
If conference organizers liked something in a playground but ruled it out for a session, would that be wrong? In a creative industry, people often make their reputations and get picked for talks on the basis on their creativity. It’s not all banner ads and bank wizards. So what range of personal expression should be acceptable? Are some expressions one thing in a playground, another at a conference?
If a manager decided against hiring someone because of something in their playground, would it be wrong? Following up on last questions: Or should “professional” standards be applied thoroughly to creative professionals, and the mimbo presenter be canned?
[Edited Sunday 6.14.09: Clarifications added to italicized questions. Description of preso vaguer because of conflicting reports.]
First, I wasn’t there, so I can only go by descriptions written by others.
If those are even close to accurate, it’s not a question of “wrong” but of “appropriate”
Sounds to me, that regardless of audience, the keynote would not be and was not appropriate or professional. About the only time I would have felt that appropriate, I still had “teen” in my age.
It’s not a guys vs. gals thing. Many of the questions you ask above make me feel as though you’re missing that point. There’s a general level of what is considered appropriate in polite and/or professional company in the US.
I’ve seen some amazingly creative things done with Flash. Sounds like this keynote eschewed all that and simply tried to shock to cover up for what was a fairly content-lean presentation. Don’t confuse shock with creativity.
IMHO, shock only has value if you in the under 21 set. #getoffmylawn :)
Posted by Pete on June 12th, 2009.
“There’s a general level of what is considered appropriate in polite and/or professional company in the US.” If that is true, then this controversy will not have legs, and everyone will agree to condemn the preso. If the controversy has legs, however, then it’ll be clear that my confusion is shared by others. We’ll see.
Posted by matt on June 12th, 2009.
There’s an amazing about of wrong information going around here.
There were no naked women in the presentation. Yes, he used a simple Flash drawing tool to draw a penis, and this was in the context of his talk where he explained the tendency of internet users to draw penises if you give them a drawing tool.
Later in the talk he invited an audience member up to use the drawing tool (a woman, btw) who just drew some random lines and stuff instead of actually drawing something, and yes, one of her doodles looked quite a bit like a penis, which Hoss noticed and commented that “he’d been upstaged!” by it. The talk contained plenty of juvenile behavior, but I’m not sure I’d call it sexist.
Even the “orgasm” thing at the end was barely PG-13 - it was just a 3d image of a woman’s face getting excited when you moved your mouse.
Posting (and re-posting) these inaccurate ideas only hurts our community, please think about editing your post.
Posted by Geoff on June 12th, 2009.
Bottom line is if it was offensive to any attendees then it was inappropriate. Where I work we can be written up for anything said that someone interprets as offensive. Obviously when speaking in public it’s always best to leans towards caution in your content. Right or not—that’s the way it is.
Posted by John Holmes on June 12th, 2009.
Edit what exactly, Geoff? I wrote “naked woman” because the paper said the preso contained “a close-up of a woman’s lower half, her legs spread (wearing stilettos, of course) and her shaved vagina visible through some see-thru panties that say ‘drink me,’ with Hoss’s Photoshopped, upward-looking face placed below it.” If this is inaccurate, I’ll delete the word “naked.” Other than that, why charge me with other people’s alleged inaccuracies?
Don’t jump on me here–this post is pretty open-ended and sympathetic, especially compared to the Twitter pile-on. I’m honestly torn between the need to make the most people comfortable and the need for open expression in a field–which, unlike the Rails community which just had a similar controversy–depends directly on creativity.
Posted by matt on June 12th, 2009.
Results are in: Pete was right. The controversy seems to be over, and the offender nearly universally condemned. So there must be a fairly recognized standard operating in the Flash community, and it’s pretty much the one “John Holmes” describes: be prudent, give no offense, don’t get yourself fired or your boss sued.
Posted by matt on June 13th, 2009.
Hey, I’m asking around to find out if this is true…. Hoss named himself that to boast about the size of his penis? Like he’s hung like a hoss?
Posted by SuzieOnStilts on June 22nd, 2009.