This article munges swinging, kink, and nuveau-hippie sensuality events into one big pile and claims that rich techies are "marginalizing" women, because they can't claim the women are being abused, because they "happen" to be completely in control of themselves and their choices. This is white-knightism shrouded in the pseudo-scandal of sex, with a silicon valley cherry on top.<p>This is a tired old journalistic trope. Take a secretive, not-socially-acceptable topic, and present it to the world, as if exposing some hidden evil lurking behind a corner. Sadly, the truth is a lot more boring than most people will ever realize.<p><i>"Perhaps this culture is just one of the many offshoots of the sexually progressive Bay Area"</i><p>This is a tiny example of what is happening all over the world, in addition to this country. Ignore that the topic's location is the literal epicenter of not only the sexual revolution, but gay liberation and the effective birthplace of hetero BDSM. These events happen _everywhere_. You can find them in North Dakota, in Alaska. This is not in any way new, or weird, or irregular. This is normal. It's not "socially acceptable", but it is normal.<p><i>"It’s worth asking, however, if these sexual adventurers are so progressive, why do these parties seem to lean so heavily toward male-heterosexual fantasies?"</i><p>Welcome to swinging culture, enjoy your cisheteropatriarchy. Again, nothing to do with Silicon Valley. The fact that there are men with lots of money throwing parties has nothing to do with tech. You'll find a different set of men [and women] throwing parties in DC, New York, LA, Paris, Rome, Madrid, Sao Paulo, etc.<p><i>"The party scene is now so pervasive that women entrepreneurs say turning down invitations relegates them to the uncool-kids’ table."</i><p>Oh no, peer pressure!!! We better make an after-school special for the women V.C.s. It's not news that wealthy men have been making deals in strip clubs and private parties for a long time, and breaking those barriers is not easy, but also not some mysterious invisible barrier. People in power should obviously not use these one-sided venues for business, but shaming or banning the events altogether doesn't seem like a healthy answer to this.<p><i>"The problem is that weekend views of women as sex pawns and founder hounders can’t help but affect weekday views of women as colleagues, entrepreneurs, and peers."</i><p>And I agree! But 'orgies' are not what are creating unfair societal expectations and marginalizing women. The real causes are slew of issues that start and end in everyday human activity. If you want to help marginalized women, help them where they are being marginalized every day! Not by shaming a generic amalgamation of parties that all happen to feature the lowering of inhibitions in ways that won't get you invited back to the church social.<p>And by the way, writing an article about a bunch of people who cannot or will not give their names leaves no room for them to offer a rebuttal. This isn't journalism, this is an op-ed hit piece.