This blog is a month old, but I thought I’d share it here anyway. The writer is Arianna Simpson, who is a research scientist, Facebook employee and entrpreneur. ariannasimpson.com Here she describes her attendance, as one of only two women, at a Bitcoin meetup in New York City.

The other night my good friend & fellow cryptoenthusiast Ryan Shea suggested we head to a new Bitcoin meetup neither of us had been to before. I agreed to meet him there, and though the conversation was stimulating, much of the experience was pretty demeaning.

I walk in and a group of people are already sitting at a long table. I say hi and hover for a second, determining where to sit. Entirely uninvited, and before I even have a chance to react, one guy proceeds to grab me by the waist and pull me into an awkward, grope-y side hug next to him on the bench. To reiterate, I’ve never met this man in my life. I try giving him the benefit of the doubt and make some quip about his being a friendly sort, but it gets uncomfortable pretty quickly when he puts his hand on my leg and leaves it there until I squirm uncomfortably.

More: This Is What It’s Like to Be a Woman at a Bitcoin Meetup - Arianna Simpson

It gets worse, as the dudebros (or geeks) there express incredulity that (a) a woman owns bitcoins and (b) a woman can understand efficiency or effectiveness. Basically, she felt like she was at a meat market.