Based on assessments of about 1,200 men and 200 women, those men determined that skilled programmers have no interest in people—they are fundamentally antisocial. Those evaluations held significant sway and were adopted by numerous firms over many years.
The consequence is that seeking out antisocial traits leads to hiring many more men than women. No data supports the idea that antisocial men outperform women in computing. Yet this bias persists.
PWT: How deeply rooted is the tech sector's pattern of excluding women?
EC: It's systemic. Misconduct has been accepted and treated as normal for decades. Moreover, there's a limited perception of who qualifies for technical roles. Women in tech repeatedly find themselves as the sole female in the room.
PWT: What were the most shocking examples you uncovered of how women in tech were treated?
EC: The party and social culture truly stunned me. Over two years, I spoke with dozens of people either involved in the sex party scene or excluded because of it. I was taken aback. It had much less to do with sex and far more with power—and that power dynamic is completely skewed.
PWT: Which stories from women in tech surprised you the most?
EC: One of the biggest surprises was that they weren't shocked by what Susan Fowler (the former Uber engineer who publicly detailed sexual harassment at the ride-hailing company last year) wrote. This is their everyday reality.
PWT: After the Vanity Fair excerpt, you faced criticism from some in the tech industry for revealing the secret sex parties.
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EC: I realize this is uncharted territory and may make people uneasy, but meaningful change rarely happens without discomfort. These narratives must be shared; otherwise, the culture of suppressing women continues.
PWT: You've been trolled on Twitter, as many women in tech have. Did you face other forms of harassment?
EC: As a journalist, I've certainly encountered situations that made me uncomfortable. But I'm sure it doesn't match what women in tech endure daily simply because they are so heavily outnumbered. I spoke with female engineers at Uber who received invitations to strip clubs and bondage clubs in the middle of the day. The middle of the day! And often they attended because that's what everyone did—it was necessary to fit in and be accepted.
PWT: What are the odds that Silicon Valley genuinely reforms how it treats women?
EC: I'm optimistic because I see strong examples. The same people who aim to transform the world—pushing the boundaries of space exploration, designing floating ocean communities, and building self-driving cars—can accomplish this. Change must originate from leadership, and CEOs need to make inclusion an explicit focus and priority, communicating that to everyone in the organization so they also prioritize it.
PWT: You have three young sons, to whom you dedicate the book. What does this mean for them?
EC: When the work got tough—because reporting on sexism isn't easy—I would look at my boys and think, 'I'm doing this for them.' I genuinely believe their lives will be better in a more equitable world.
More importantly, Silicon Valley shapes what we see, read, how we shop, communicate, and relate to one another. This isn't just tech's issue—it's society's issue. This industry influences humanity more than perhaps any other. And the same industry that changed the world can change this behavior.
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