On Wednesday, Mic published an extensive report on leaked internal emails from Apple employees that discussed the "sexist, toxic work environment" at the company. The anchor of the story, and the incident that apparently sparked an internal email thread among 12 employees, was an account by "Danielle" (a pseudonym), who started a recent workday with what Mic says was "her male coworkers publicly joking about rape". Antoine Dodson of the "Bed Intruder Song" Image: Gizmodo, Photos: Apple/YouTube
From Mic:
Danielle is an engineer at Apple — and like many of the women in the company, she works on a male-dominated team. On a Tuesday morning in July, when men on her team began to joke that an office intruder was coming to rape everybody, Danielle decided to speak out about what she described as the "very toxic atmosphere" created by jokes about violent sexual assault.
But the internal office chat-log of the incident in question, obtained by Gizmodo, reveals more detail about the specific incident that Mic describes as "publicly joking about rape". A team member had referenced the "Bed Intruder Song" — a popular internet meme since 2010 that set a dance tune to a local TV interview about a house intruder who allegedly tried to rape the sister of the meme's star, Antoine Dodson. The video has been viewed 133 million times on YouTube and the song hit number 89 on the Billboard 100 charts when it was released.
"Could do without having songs referencing sexual assault mentioned," replied Danielle. "Especially joking about it. -_-." The other employee who made the comment apologised. The following exchange was censored by a source who said it included sensitive Apple code information. We have redacted any identifying information.
As Mic includes in its story, Danielle emailed Apple CEO Tim Cook the next day. Here's the full text of that email with identifying information redacted. The text of the office chat log, shown above, was also included.
Mr. Cook,
I have been the only woman on the [redacted] Team in the [redacted] organisation under [redacted]. [Redacted] is the head of that team, with 30+ people. I have attempted to change this, by trying to alter the recruiting methods, and improve the culture.
Except, yesterday, I was greeted with rape jokes in our work chat.
[Text of the chatlog]
In case you aren't familiar with the song, the lyrics are like so:He's climbin in your windows
He's snatchin your people up
Tryna rape em so y'all need to
Hide your kids, hide your wife
Hide your kids, hide your wife
Hide your kids, hide your wife
And hide your husband cuz they're rapin everybody out here
I do not feel safe at a company that tolerates individuals who make rape jokes. [Redacted] I feel *incredibly* unsafe at Apple now. I have tried to escalate to my manager several times that the culture was toxic, yet nothing has appeared to change.
Rape jokes in work chat is basically where I completely draw the limit. I would prefer not for folks to make fun of something, which for me personally has caused me *incredible* trauma, having actually been sexually assaulted in the past.
The engineer subsequently was given a month off work, but on her return, forwarded her email to Cook to her entire team with the added message:
So as far as I can tell , nothing of any serious consequence has happened within the last month.
Apparently, I'm supposed to return to work as normal? Nothing changes? I had a month off due to PTSD triggers, and business as usual.
Lovely.
Of course, Danielle's story is just one incident detailed by Mic, which says it obtained 50 pages of emails from current and former Apple employees. And the emails certainly appear to show Apple has a problem with how women are treated in the workplace. Among the incidents detailed by Mic include a woman who said she sat in a meeting with dozen men who "stereotyped women as being nags". She was later told by a male manager to smile as he walked past. Another woman said she was given the option of staying in her position, which Apple allegedly admitted was in a hostile environment, or take a lower paying, lower ranking job. A male employee said he was constantly referred to as emotional and on his "Man Period".
This is a statement used to push the fact that women while menstruating are emotional and cannot be depended on to do work or be rational while in this state. Therefore if I was a man on my period then I was seen as inferior and an emotional mess just like most women are once a month.
Danielle has not responded to Gizmodo's emails. A source on her team told Gizmodo that, while the other incidents in Mic's story might be "somewhat accurate... to use this incident as 'the cherry on top' is a total misrepresentation of the incident itself".
In an earlier email, the source defended the reference to the Bed Intruder song and said now "everybody is acting like the office is filled with landmines".
"First of all, when it came out, news outlets across the US played this ridiculous Bed Intruder song in the news," the person said. "It appeared in Tosh.0 and is a well-known meme, specifically for the 'Hide yo kids, hide yo wife, hide yo husbands' aspect, less so about rape."
An Apple spokesman told Gizmodo that Cook did not personally give Danielle a month off but that the email could have started an "H.R. process".
Another Apple PR rep later sent Gizmodo the following statement:
Apple is committed to treating everyone with dignity and respect. When we receive complaints or hear that employees are concerned about their work environment, we take it very seriously and we investigate claims thoroughly. If we find behaviour to be at odds with our values, we take action. Out of respect for the privacy of our employees, we do not discuss specific matters or their resolution.
Comments
... yeah, that's not a rape joke. That's a joke about a popular YouTube video.
Yep, I was thinking the same thing while reading the story. While I'm totally against any acceptance of rape, I was more surprised that the song itself, which I hadn't seen until this story, (sorry, I don't get out much) has 133 million views? The entire song is a satire about rape, certainly not cool, yet 133 million people have watched it, and...it actually charted on Billboard. It appears to me that the "culture" problem regarding women isn't at Apple, its everywhere. In any office these days, I think its just best to shutup and write code, that way I offend no one, well except the poor bugger that has to test my code.
And on that note, read the full lyrics, the last line is "hide your husband". It's pretty much equal opportunity, ie: not only directed at women.
I'd like to know what the woman in question expected to happen in the month off (a month off because of a joke? Jesus wept) did she expect to come in and find all the guys fired and replaced by women (which in itself would be a sexist act)? Hell, how does she know that all the guys in the office weren't taken into a HR meeting and torn a new one?
You know, this isn't a sexist act either. Over the years I can recall being told to "cheer up" or "smile, it's not that bad" and similar lines by both male and female management. Especially when working in a customer facing job. Sometimes it's a joke, sometimes it's a prompt (ie: "you're looking gloomy whats up?"), sometimes it's "you're scaring away customers, try to smile".
Agreed on all counts skrybe. I understand she has suffered, and I don't want to diminish that, we all have varying tolerance to what is construed as "going to far". She was certainly within her rights to ask this to stop. But thats what annoys me a little, they did. We have all seen jokes go too far (look at Trump!), and in this case, as soon as it escalated above her threshold, they were warned, apologies were made and its back to work. Forgiveness can certainly go a long way to disarming a problem, as long as it was an isolated incident, but now this has risen to a point of absurd, and the working environment would be nothing short of tense. Good points on the sexism, I too have faced that from management (like we can be happy 24/7). Ive always found electronic/software companies terribly "male" orientated. I wish there were more women, I really do. In my opinion (false) a lot of women I talk to simply aren't interested in it (and after working with male geek engineers for the last 30 years I can see why ;) ).
Cheers
Exactly, that's my thoughts. Yes it's horrible that she's been in that situation but the people involved didn't know (one would assume) and immediately apologized. If we get to the point where there is no "first mistake" no one will talk to anyone. It'd be a bland and unenjoyable world :(
Maybe, this isn't the only case in which case they deserve to cop a load of flack. But yeah, this article doesn't indicate that.
I guess we were different, we actually had a decent male/female ratio where I worked in IT. Not 1:1 but it was growing. About 1:3 by the time I left.
Ive been contracting from home/coffee shops for a few years now, and dont often get a chance to see the IT staff onsite, so its great to hear that ratio is changing. :)
lovely. what a bunch of oxygen thieves.
I would argue the precious girl with hurt feelings appears to be the oxygen thief.
Taking a month off work because of that?
Typical entitled attitude of todays young.
I've got 3 older ladies (45+) in the office - constantly asking me to clean their pool etc.
I had one allude to the fact i wouldnt make it out of a dark alley after a christmas party.
I work in the government.
That is far worse than a group commenting on a meme, yet do i get time off? Do i feel like i need time off? No.
Clearly looking for a reason to serve apple with papers.
Wow, People man .
Maybe we should all live as hermits , evenly spaced around the globe .
And only communicate by inoffensive stick figure drawings sent by gender neutral carrier pigeons .
If you are stupid enough not to realise that, for some people, referencing a song that had true quotes about an attempted rape may cause them to be offended or traumatised in the workplace, then you may not survive a modern workplace..
It's real male privilege to say, how dare you be offended when we raise such a sensitive matter in such an insensitive way.
Can't tell if trolling or not. In any event they apologised immediately afterward and said they wouldn't do it again. Sounds like people are just looking to crucify others for the sake of it.
My comment was not aimed at the propensity of the response from Apple, but the way this article was framed and some of the very insensitive comments in response.
This the way this article has put in quotes "rape joke" itself is troublesome.
because there is no "rape joke" in any of the chat logs. In fact there is no mention of rape or rape jokes by anyone except the woman - who seems to be on a personal vendetta
Even though it's a stretch to call it a rape joke given rape isn't mentioned, they apologised. Thus not a toxic culture.
Replied to the wrong comment, sorry.
Last edited 16/09/16 1:58 pmIf something can be aired internationally on TV, iTunes, YouTube and numerous other media streams without being pulled, it should survive being referenced in a workplace.
I'm not disputing that it's poor taste, but for someone to complain about that to the CEO of a large company like Apple is bloody mental - the complainer sounds like the toxic element in her team.
In the chat logs when she pointed out that she was offended she refused to accept any apology. Clearly it's more about getting some form of benefit out of it, rather than correcting the behaviour of her peers.
Some true victim blaming there. I don't think PTSD is just "about getting some benefit out of it.
Who's victim blaming? I'm making an assessment based on the information provided.
If someone does something that offends me, I tell them. If they apologies, they now know their boundaries and the situation is resolved. If they do it repeatedly it becomes an HR issue (and then they would be the toxic entity).
In this case, the woman (the one you have labelled "victim"), has not accepted an apology, and has immediately escalated the situation the the CEO of a company worth (ballpark) $650,000,000,000.
It seems we have different scales for what constitutes acceptable behaviour.
So she is the victim of a reference to a publicly available charted song that makes vague references to something that is offensive... She requires a month to get over the shock of it all and expects Tim Cook to fire the team, hire all woman and welcome her back to her desk in person. Jesus the poor thing I hope she survives being so victimised!
Those guys where truly trying to apologise and she kept on nailing the subject. Its a pathetic attempt at getting attention.
@dunkyboy - You sir are drawing a bow as long as the 'victim' with this comment.
What happened to people? Next they will ban gender identities to stave off upsetting that dont prescribe to the norm.
Last edited 25/10/16 2:12 pmIs that because males are never raped? Seems legit, can’t recall a single case of males being raped in history, nope never, not a single case.
You seem to be dismissing the fact that more males are raped than females. I think I need to create a safe space for all my male colleagues, I don’t think they can possible consider a day without coming across a popular meme that may trigger some event.
It's rare and under reported. There's a stigma for men to admit that another man forced them to do such a thing.
Anyhow, John Hopoate wasn't convicted but sticking his fingers into the anuses of his opponents during a broadcast rugby league match is rape.
Coincidentally, the Bedside Intruder star claims he was raped:
https://web.archive.org/web/20110818083732/http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504464_162-20014008-504464.html
It would seem that modern 'morality' comes down to a single principle: consent. That is, the only reason to (or not to) act in a certain way is whether you decide it is OK. The important thing with this way of thinking is autonomy - and thus sexual assault is about the worst thing that can happen, and why it is taken so seriously. Of course, such assault is serious under all moral frameworks, but I think it is most central in the idol of autonomy central to modern secular humanism. Just my 2c!
Last edited 16/09/16 12:34 pmReading those logs of that woman who claims her PTSD was triggered by someone referencing a pop culture meme just made me feel that she was someone who's miserable inside.
EDIT: Updated clarity, I appreciate the feedback @shaunock.
Last edited 16/09/16 1:00 pmDid you actually read the article?
She didn't get PTSD from the joke, rather from a previous traumatic experience with sexual assault.
Funnily enough I did read the article hence the comment. The point that I'm trying to make is that she claims that she her PTSD triggered from the joke.
While I can empathise with her situation, from the logs presented she is the toxic element in the team.
It's interesting that while it may seem like an overreaction to an isolated incident, if you take into account what could possibly be years of unresolved trauma being present it doesn't seem like that after all.
It could have been the straw that broke the camels back, so to speak. I know I've snapped at curt remarks after suffering years of bullying at school. It may be "over the top" but emotional trauma tends to build under the surface until it is finally released in one reaction.
A month later, after she returned from her break she sent another email about the issue to the CEO and her colleagues. It seems it wasn't a one-time over-reaction and is instead a part of her over-inflated sense of self-importance.
It doesn't take much to trigger a PTSD attack. Hearing the word rape and seeing men laughing may be enough to trigger a panic attack.
And no.. you can not empathise with her situation at all.
It doesn't say what her "PTSD" was caused by.
"Rape jokes in work chat is basically where I completely draw the limit. I would prefer not for folks to make fun of something, which for me personally has caused me *incredible* trauma, having actually been sexually assaulted in the past. "
That is literally copied and pasted from the article.
I "literally" didn't see that even though I read through it twice.
Maybe you did see it but interpreted it figuratively.
Guy makes a pop culture reference, unintentionally upsetting someone. He immediately, and contritely apologises. That's where the story should end.
some people just want to make mountains out of molehills
Why would this make someone feel "incredibly unsafe" at work. Thinking distasteful jokes are funny isn't the same as wanting to do those distasteful things. Weird logic. Sounds like a typical SJW nonsense.
I had a female colleague send me a drawing of a penis with hairy balls using the new iOS 10 messaging feature yesterday. I thought it was funny, but I guarantee I would be fired by now if sent a hand drawing of a fanny to a female colleague - irrespective of the context. People just need to stop being so fricken precious about everything.
I should clarify that I'm not suggesting sending drawing of genitals to co-workers should be "standard work banter". We are friends and she guessed (correctly) that I wouldn't be offended.
Last edited 16/09/16 12:47 pmBut what you don't know is that a co-worker saw a reflection of your phone screen in the window and inadvertently saw an mirror-inverted penis - which kind of looked like a lion to them. Unknown to you, that coworker was once attacked by a lion and barely survived, and they secretly have PTSD, which you have now inadvertently triggered.
You are so insensitive!
These insensitive idiots in the posts above me obviously don't understand trauma in the slightest. It's not making mountains out of molehills, its about being reminded of an extremely traumatizing incident in a persons life and being scared of it happening again.
You try being in her shoes after what she would have gone through.
It's just immature to joke about rape anyway. That's what knobjockeys on 4chan do.
My rights stop where your feeling start hey
Righto buddy, go back to your mums basement and keep batting off to 4chan
You mentioned 4chan - a deplorable site that makes constant rape jokes, i can no longer feelsafe on this site, my PTSD is triggered.
Why do you think making rape jokes by association to a site or a song is ok??
or am i just being a troublemaker, like the person mentioned in the article
You sir are an asshole and troll.
IM not wrong tho
Totally right! If mentioning a pop culture reference (not even with quotes) is evil so is mention a website and DETAILING the rape jokes.
Get off your high horse!
Common sense doesn't make someone an asshole and a troll.
This sarcastic quip making light of someone's PTSD was both offensive and trolling.
To me it appeared he wasn't making light of real PTSD, he was making light of the fact she claimed her PTSD was triggered by what appears to be an innocuous joke.
Visiting a website at your own accord and having PTSD triggered is completely different to the workplace.
I feel like I'm having to teach you basic morals, holy shit.
you mentioning the website is what triggered me, kinda like the woman being triggered by the mention of song lyrics.
Cool story mate.
But you should be able to see what he is getting at. What if you offered this woman an ice cream and she burst into tears because she'd been eating an ice cream when she was attacked? And would anyone be expected to know this woman had been raped? I'm sure it's not something she went around telling anybody.
At the end of the day, you can't not tell jokes just because someone might be offended. The only rider I'd put on that is that it is very difficult to understand the context simply by reading the chat. We make far worse jokes where I work, which is a female dominated workplace, but it is also a very happy environment so the levity is always understood.
However, if this was not a happy work environment, then it is possible that what reads like a joke is actually a thinly veiled threat, very specifically designed to upset one employee. And even that could be for all kinds of reasons we don't understand. She could be very bad at her job and they might be deliberately trying to pressure her into leaving? Because if it comes down to the fact that the people she works with are just arseholes, why wouldn't she quit? Ultimately, whatever the reason, life's too short to put up with that and the best thing anyone can do is just walk away, even if it means the bullies win.
It's not a rape joke, it's a reference to a pop culture meme. If are unable to discern the difference between those then I'm sorry for you - but your lack of understanding neither makes me an idiot nor insensitive.
Don't go starting a flame war because you have a different opinion to others. Nothing here has been personally aimed at you.
Yeah, a pop reference that is all about an attempted rape. What a bullshit exercise in semantics.
You don't think people are going to get personally offended when you make light of rape?
The pop reference is more a caricature of Antoine Dodson than it is about rape. That's just my opinion, though.
The saddest thing I find about this whole situation is both parties being completely unable to resolve the misunderstanding/faux pas like rational adults. The article did mention the woman having PTSD, and while I personally don't think that's a reason to dismiss her handling of the situation, it should be enough to warrant some form of assisted arbitration between the co-workers.
So let me get this straight.
Man makes reference to a meme.
Woman is offended by it, complains.
Man apologises.
Woman continues to complain.
Man apologises yet again.
Woman continues to complain.
Woman is given time off and returns to work to find no change in the workplace and complains yet again.
All she wants is to be treated equally guys.
This has nothing to do with being a woman or equality. This is an HR issue and could just have easily been a male.
Sounds like she is the toxic member of the team. If she can't get jokes, dobs to the CEO and takes a month off work, she's going to be a undesirable part of any team. Good riddance to her as she's a toxic wacko.
There wasn't ever a "rape joke", but one inferred by association and only by the complainant.
It reminds me of that time when a scandal was caused by the man who described an inner city problem as a "black hole" (referring to cos blowouts) and was criticised for being racist because the offended party didn't know what a black hole was and didn't understand the metaphor.
The offence is all in the mind of the offended. You can't do anything about that except apologise, which the person did.
Last edited 16/09/16 1:49 pm"Victim blaming" is wrong and it's a problem but that doesn't give victims a license to frame everyone as a guilty oppressor regardless of the actual circumstances. That's just as harmful to them as those around them.
Whether it's a rape joke or just a rape reference, the whole song and pop reference is regarding an attempted rape. There's no denying that. Really whether its a joke or a reference, the issue is not the point. Is the flippancy that such a reference is made at work that can be offensive.
You can't just say, it was just referencing a meme. The meme came from a news quote that was about rape. Separating those two facts is nonsense.
Excuse me, the reference that was made had nothing to do with rape, only to two lines of lyrics, stripped off all that context to which you are referring.
If I quoted:
"Boredom's not a burden
Anyone should bear."
Because I thought it fit with the sentiment I wanted to express, would you think it would be right for a person to complain because they were offended by the idea of anal fisting? Because those are some lyrics to Tool's "Stinkfist"
How about if I said "To be or not to be" because I was feeling theatrical? (Shakespeare, Hamlet)
Given your logic a person who had problems with suicide could say this was an aggressive, offensive statement. With the direction of your thinking, even someone who's father had died could say that was offensive and aggressive because of the subject of the rest of the play.
We really have to deal with what is ACTUALLY said and not what we think was intended by implications and tenuous second hand connections.
Last edited 16/09/16 2:20 pmYou're knuckle deep in this one.
...and the owner of a new found respect.
Keep digging.
How will she ever watch the news, or go to a movie, of watch TV shows, or read the newspaper? Does she plan to live in an isolation chamber for the rest of her life?
The people concerned apologised, without any qualifying statement to minimise their apology. She should accept that they admitted to making a mistake. If something so innocuous is enough to trigger her PTSD, then I suggest her problems are wider than inappropriate workplace banter and she needs professional help.
To me it seems as if the problem there isn't really just about her or what was in the messages, it's about a weird office culture.
This thing should never had been escalated to the point where a person had to have a month's holiday and we're reading about it on the other side of the planet.
Wow voice of reason.
Everyone has the right to be offended by anything.
Everyone has the right to genuinely apologise for for any offence un-intentionally caused.
A+B should equal shake hands and move on.
It's hard to tell whether "the culture is toxic" in that team due to that one incident or if it's an on-going thing. From this article, it seems like the woman is demanding special snowflake treatment, but we aren't provided with any further "toxic culture" examples. Did the guys know she is a rape victim?
Best not to make jokes, or create a separate chat (maybe another way to chat?) with just your office "friends" and don't utilise the company provided messaging system for non-work topics.
And according to this article, multiple apologies were sent but she refused to acknowledge them, instead went on a rant and then demanded compensation. Sounds like she is unfit for work and needs help.
Like I said, hard to tell whether she was triggered by this one incident or if it was building up. Either way, don't use work chat to make non-work related chat.
"I have attempted to change this, by trying to alter the recruiting methods, and improve the culture." Hire the best person for the job, not the best female (isn't that discrimination?).
And that meme is about a guy cautioning the public of a rapist, how is it a joke about rape itself?
Been in a very similar situation, a staff member went straight to top management, HR and the managing director. The team never recovered.
What was originally a spot fire turned into a raging inferno. It could have all been so easily avoided.
Frankly, this chick just sounds obnoxious as.
If she was badly effected enough by rape, or *real* toxic misogynistic workplace antics in the past, then I could understand why she got upset, but she should understand that a reasonable person should not have expected there was a high chance of what was said upsetting someone.
At very least, she should have accepted his repeated and immediate apologies and moved on.
Also, this is not a rape joke. i.e. Nobody is laughing at this meme because they find rape funny or are indifferent toward it.
The best things are achieved when in a high stress environment, you can joke about anything. I can imagine the pressures at Apple to perform, making jokes gets people through the day. It's a personality clash, this woman is clearly a VERY different humor type than the guy. I don't think it's sexist, i just think the guy likes black humor and the girl obviously doesn't, maybe she likes scrubs or the jokes on modern family, it's nothing to write an email to Tim Cook about. This whole situation reminds me of why PC principle in south park exists, the whole world is turning into a PC nightmare.
Work chat. Seriously?
"Hearing the word rape" It was text.......the didn't have the word rape in it........she heard no one laugh........how do you have any idea he can't empathise with what's happening.................
This is going to be an automatically controversial comment, but where are we going to trace the line? When is it going to be too much? Is there not such a point where the correct response is "toughen up"? I feel we are reaching that same point where we are doing so much to keep our kids in inert, antiseptic environments that we are actually crippling their immune systems by a lack of use. Like bacteria, "offence" is not going anywhere because we are in a planet full of millions of people each with their own sensibilities and experiences that often will rub on the rough edges of other people. Attempting to remove every single potential offending stimuli is as pointless and unfeasible as it is unfair to other people.
Rape is a terrible thing and certainly anybody who knowingly makes light of it or maliciously references it to cause angst or pain deserves to be ousted and penalised. But a joke, referencing a meme, referencing a joke song, vaguely referencing rape? I'm sorry it triggered an old pain, but you oughta toughen up for your own good. Yes, bring it up so people know that you are uncomfortable and will stop, but then strive to move on. The guy in question apologised immediately and repeatedly, and promised not to do it again. And yet, she pushed the matter forward and later expressed disappointment that that coworker hadn't been sanctioned. Seriously? By seeking retribution on mostly innocent parties and attempting to change the world around you into a protective bubble for you alone, you merely are spreading around the pain that was once inflicted on you. That's not healing.
If apple let in on itunes, given what they reject, then surely it constitutes somewhat acceptable office banter?
awaiting @dunkyboy to call me out for being a rapist.
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