EMILY CHANG

This lengthy piece of journalism chronicles deeds and misdeeds against women in administration, electrical engineering, software programmers, games and venture capitalism, all in Silicon Valley. When each set of acts occurred is not always in the text. The book lacks an index and a bibliography.
A value of the text is in ANTITRUST analyses. Author-Chang outlines the market and some forces affecting technology. An obvious “barrier to entry” is the adolescent male manias discouraging technology, innovation and competition. Most persons and businesses in the first paragraph hold and promote after hours sex gatherings – cuddle puddles – compelled sex because women have to join (not be a voyeur) or be absent. Women were degraded or dismissed whether they were involved (easy reputation) or not present (not one of the boys).
Little incidents can trigger antitrust analyses. Women were not excluded because they had abilities but because they had standards and scruples. This party coercion and settings approach criminality. Indeed, before there were Antitrust Laws in the nineteenth century, competitors frequently committed crimes against each other to gain advantage and to suppress businesses of competitors. Silicon Valley seems no different.
Brotopia becomes much more interesting when reading takes the subject beyond specific incidents into a comprehensive understanding of the greater picture.