Closing shop
The FT reports that the Presidents Club is disbanding.
The Presidents Club has decided to close after a Financial Times report detailing sexual harassment and groping of women at a fundraising dinner it organised.
The group said late on Wednesday that “the trustees have decided that the Presidents Club will not host any further fundraising events”. Remaining funds held by the trust will be distributed to children’s charities and “it will then be closed.”
A man who helped organise a men-only charity dinner, where hostesses were allegedly groped, has quit the Department for Education board.
David Meller quit his non-executive role after claims about the event by an undercover FT reporter.
Charities are refusing donations from the Presidents Club Charity Dinner, at London’s Dorchester Hotel.
Everyone is shocked, shocked.
In a statement, the Presidents Club said: “The organisers are appalled by the allegations of bad behaviour at the event asserted by the Financial Times reporters. Such behaviour is totally unacceptable.
“The allegations will be investigated fully and promptly and appropriate action taken.”
A spokesman for the Artista agency, which recruited the hostesses, said: “I was not aware of any claims of sexual harassment but the kind of behaviour alleged is completely unacceptable.
“I am checking with the staff and any complaints will be dealt with promptly and fairly.”
But what about that nondisclosure agreement?
I think they doth protest waaaay to much.
If the Artista agency is unaware of any complaints, that seems to me likely that they have an atmosphere not conducive to allowing women to feel free to speak out. It would be hard for me to imagine this many young women could be treated so atrociously, and absolutely none of them had a problem with it.
To Hell with “charity”. I say they’re lying.
Unaware of complaints? Probably. Unaware of the exact nature of an annual event for which you are recruiting young attractive women and telling them what kind of underwear to show up in? Don’t make me laugh.
Meanwhile, in Silicon Valley, sex parties are apparently a regular feature in the lives of the great and the grand. There’s a book coming out next month about this scene, which has been written up in various publications including this article from Fortune (should be subscription-free — I got there via Google).
Of course, what business people choose to do with their bodies is their own … uh, business. But as the article explains, it’s a bit of a conundrum for women entrepreneurs. Like the exclusive country clubs of yesteryear (and, in some communities, not-so-yesteryear), a lot of business gets discussed at these events, and certainly networking. So if they don’t attend these events, then they’re a step behind their male peers. Of course, if they do attend — and attending means participating — then it’s just too difficult for the men to see them as anything other than sluts.
There’s also the hilarious self-absorbed mythmaking justifications for it. You see, they’re not just rich horny dudes enjoying the traditional privileges of rich dudes, as generation after generation has. They’re “shattering the paradigm of conventional sexual morality,” you see. Oh, dudes. Duuuuudes. You did not invent the concept of rich guys fucking lots of women. Have some historical perspective — even a very recent one. As the author notes, nothing that happens at these parties would have been out of place at a Playboy Mansion event in the 70s.
@2 and 4,
Oh, I’m sure the agency noted any complaints they received. That’s how they know which women aren’t compliant enough to be hired back next year.
Re my @5, here’s a better article — actually an excerpt/adaptation from the upcoming book. Sorry if I’m threadjacking.
I suspect that the Artista pimps could do with some serious scrutiny too. So teddibly shocked by ‘unacceptable’ behavior that they’d stage-managed for money.