Outrage as Reddit users start a fund for 'victims of feminism' in retaliation against female Silicon Valley worker who was fired for tweeting 'big dongles' joke



Reddit users unite for Feminist Victims Fund - designed to send donations to men oppressed by feminism

Adria Richards tweeted a picture of two conference attendees who joked about a 'big dongle'

She was dismissed by her employer, SendGrid, for the way she handled the matter

One of the men, known only as Mr Hank, was also fired from his job at PlayHaven



A donation campaign supporting the man whose crude joke led to the the firing of a female developer who tweeted about it is stirring controversy across the internet.

Adria Richards was fired last week from her job at SendGrid - developers of a cloud-based e-mail system - after she overheard the joke from a couple of developers sitting behind her at the PyCon Conference in Santa Clara, California.

She said the men had made a remark concerning 'big dongles' - a device that plugs into a computer - but Richards maintains the men were using it in a sexual manner.



Campaign: The Feminist Victim's Fund has been established to give donations to men like the developer whose crude joke led to the the firing of a female developer who tweeted about

She tweeted a photo of the two men with the message: 'Not cool. Jokes about forking repo's in a sexual way and "big" dongles. Right behind me #pycon'

The joke teller, known only as 'Mr Hank,' was also dismissed from his job at PlayHaven as a result of Richards' tweet.

But now, a group of Reddit users have founded the Feminist Victims Fund, designed to help men like Mr Hank and others they deem to be oppressed under the 'tyranny' of feminism.

The fund appeared on the subreddit TheRedPill, which is designed to show its visitors 'how to live, find success and happiness in an era of feminism.'

A post in TheRedPill reads: 'Feminism has caused some serious changes to our culture, to our society, and to our lives. We focus on some that are affected more than others, and we give back.'

Adria Richards was fired from her job at tech company SendGrid after sending this tweet alleging sexual innuendos from several men at a California conference

Donation: The campaign has set a goal of $1,000 for Mr Hank

'Our goal is to encourage men to speak out, to be men, to not fear oppression and enjoy their freedom of speech. Unfortunately in today's climate, being a man has become a financial liability. Say the wrong thing in the wrong place and you can find your entire life ruined. Destroyed.'



The campaign has set a goal of $1,000 for Mr Hank and donations are collected using digital currency BitCoin.

Richards' tweet last week garnered the attention of the conference organizers, who immediately reacted to deal with the situation.



The chair of the conference, Jesse Noller, said 'We pulled all the individuals aside. We got all sides of the story. They said she was right, and they were very apologetic.'

When blogging about her ordeal on her website But You're A Girl , Richards had this to say.

SendGrid is a popular cloud-based e-mail company that works with Pinterest, Foursquare and Spotify (among other Silicon Valley companies)

Richards also blogged about the incident on her website But You're A Girl, detailing the specific encounter she had with the men at the PyCon Conference

'Have you ever had a group of men sitting right behind you making joke that caused you to feel uncomfortable? Well, that just happened this week but instead of shrinking down in my seat, I did something about it.'



It was Richards manner in dealing with the situation that led to her firing, according to SendGrid CEO Jim Franklin.

'Her decision to tweet the comments and photographs of the people who made the comments crossed the line,' Franklin wrote on the site for SendGrid. 'Publicly shaming the offenders - and bystanders - was not the appropriate way to handle the situation.'



Andy Yang, the CEO of PlayHaven, did not mention the employee's name but came down hard on his actions.

Richards attended the popular SXSW conference in Austin, TX earlier this month

Gender equality has become a hot-button issue in Silicon Valley, especially on the heels of Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg's 'Lean In'

'PlayHaven had an employee who was identified as making inappropriate comments at PyCon, and as a company that is dedicated to gender equality and values honorable behavior, we conducted a thorough investigation. The result of this investigation led to the unfortunate outcome of having to let this employee go.'



The second man in the photo, who is also employed by PlayHaven, is reportedly still with the company.



According to Richards, she was sparked into action by a photo of a young girl, a 'young coder,' that appeared on screen during the PyCon Conference.

