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Probably not HN-relevant... But I find it flabbergasting that in 2026 someone in the management thought it'd be okay to tell female staff to hide, just because

Probably not HN-relevant... But I find it flabbergasting that in 2026 someone in the management thought it'd be okay to tell female staff to hide, just because some delegation demanded it. But for the tech-relevancy angle; They could've asked AI "Would this be fine?". (Untested, presumably the AI would say "Merde! Non!")

kshacker 7d ago
Whether it be corporates, Eiffel Tower management, or religious groups, I guess the new norm is - better to ask for forgiveness. I am Indian origin so full disclosure done. I saw a picture of the group's 93 year old head in ascetic robes, the one who does not see women, have a picture below Eiffel Tower for memories. Sir, what part of asceticism do you teach?
- Haven880 4d ago
  Maybe 93 years of not seeing women and touching one might pose danger to their health? I assume if the old man accidentally bump the lady, the heart would beat so fast and blood rushing away from brain to some place down there which might kill him? Probably staying in cave or all-male monastery would be a wiser choice.
ahofmann 7d ago
To play devils advocate: Isn't it that the management had to choose between two potential problematic decisions? What if the management declined the hindu request and then the hindus made a big fuss about it? Wouldn't people scream "how could they think that discriminating the hindu religion would be a good decision?!?".
- netsharc 7d ago
  "They wanted us to hide female staff" would get French society to support them again..
  - everyday7732 7d ago
    Not even that. Just say "we didn't refuse them entry, they chose not to come because we employ women".
- mingus88 7d ago
  France has a storied history of resisting efforts to impose non-western, extremist beliefs on them You could start with Charlie Hebdo for an idea of how it might be received if a religious extremist group wanted to fuss over hiding French women from the public.
deleted 7d ago
[deleted]
hagbard_c 7d ago
> But I find it flabbergasting that in 2026 someone in the management thought it'd be okay to tell female staff to hide, just because some delegation demanded it You're looking at the results of years of indoctrination related to the intersectional pyramid of oppression. On that pyramid you'll quickly find that people of colour practising an exotic religion end up above female employees so (most likely white, male) management thought it better to risk giving in to the former's request out of fear of being called 'racist' or something related. Sad, stupid, silly and totally not fitting Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité but that's what this type of thinking leads to. As to the answer given by any 'AI' that depends on whether it has been trained to follow the dictats of intersectionality. Unfortunately this seems to be the case [1,2,3] in at least some western models which claim that a woman using violence against a man to prevent a nuclear apocalypse is fine but disagree with a man using violence against a woman for the same purpose, which also refuse to 'misgender' someone to stop the apocalypse, etc. This is not the natural result of ingesting training data but points at a direct effort to instil these values into the model leading to rather crude and easily dismissed results. [1] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2451958824001660 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S245195882... [2] https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-68412620 https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-68412620 [3] https://www.broadview.news/p/in-the-event-of-nuclear-war-please https://www.broadview.news/p/in-the-event-of-nuclear-war-ple...
cholantesh 7d ago
BAPS denies that they made any such request (let alone a _demand_); seems weird that DW omits any mention of this.
- mingus88 7d ago
  I can see why they would say that. I can’t see any reason why the tower management would sideline half of their staff without someone asking them to.

kshacker 7d ago

Whether it be corporates, Eiffel Tower management, or religious groups, I guess the new norm is - better to ask for forgiveness. I am Indian origin so full disclosure done. I saw a picture of the group's 93 year old head in ascetic robes, the one who does not see women, have a picture below Eiffel Tower for memories. Sir, what part of asceticism do you teach?

Haven880 4d ago
Maybe 93 years of not seeing women and touching one might pose danger to their health? I assume if the old man accidentally bump the lady, the heart would beat so fast and blood rushing away from brain to some place down there which might kill him? Probably staying in cave or all-male monastery would be a wiser choice.

ahofmann 7d ago

To play devils advocate: Isn't it that the management had to choose between two potential problematic decisions? What if the management declined the hindu request and then the hindus made a big fuss about it? Wouldn't people scream "how could they think that discriminating the hindu religion would be a good decision?!?".

netsharc 7d ago
"They wanted us to hide female staff" would get French society to support them again..
- everyday7732 7d ago
  Not even that. Just say "we didn't refuse them entry, they chose not to come because we employ women".
mingus88 7d ago
France has a storied history of resisting efforts to impose non-western, extremist beliefs on them You could start with Charlie Hebdo for an idea of how it might be received if a religious extremist group wanted to fuss over hiding French women from the public.

deleted 7d ago

[deleted]

hagbard_c 7d ago

> But I find it flabbergasting that in 2026 someone in the management thought it'd be okay to tell female staff to hide, just because some delegation demanded it You're looking at the results of years of indoctrination related to the intersectional pyramid of oppression. On that pyramid you'll quickly find that people of colour practising an exotic religion end up above female employees so (most likely white, male) management thought it better to risk giving in to the former's request out of fear of being called 'racist' or something related. Sad, stupid, silly and totally not fitting Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité but that's what this type of thinking leads to. As to the answer given by any 'AI' that depends on whether it has been trained to follow the dictats of intersectionality. Unfortunately this seems to be the case [1,2,3] in at least some western models which claim that a woman using violence against a man to prevent a nuclear apocalypse is fine but disagree with a man using violence against a woman for the same purpose, which also refuse to 'misgender' someone to stop the apocalypse, etc. This is not the natural result of ingesting training data but points at a direct effort to instil these values into the model leading to rather crude and easily dismissed results. [1] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2451958824001660 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S245195882... [2] https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-68412620 https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-68412620 [3] https://www.broadview.news/p/in-the-event-of-nuclear-war-please https://www.broadview.news/p/in-the-event-of-nuclear-war-ple...

cholantesh 7d ago

BAPS denies that they made any such request (let alone a _demand_); seems weird that DW omits any mention of this.

mingus88 7d ago
I can see why they would say that. I can’t see any reason why the tower management would sideline half of their staff without someone asking them to.