An augmented reality startup is being sued for sex discrimination by the very female executive it hired to make it less of a "boy's club," the Guardian reports. When Tannen Campbell was hired by Magic Leap in 2015, the Florida company had no women in leadership roles and its only idea to make its product female-friendly was to release a pink version, according to Forbes. The lawsuit filed by Campbell following her firing in December describes a "macho bullying atmosphere," Business Insider reports. That allegedly includes tolerating sexist and offensive behavior, such as telling new hires to stay away from "Orientals, Old People, and Ovaries" and having the only female character in a centerpiece app "on her knees grovelling at the heroes."
Furthermore, Campbell alleges her efforts to change the culture at Magic Leap were consistently thwarted. The lawsuit states Campbell was asked to put together a presentation on the lack of gender diversity at the company, but it took seven months for Magic Leap's chief executive to show up for the presentation, and he left in the middle of it. Campbell says she and other female employees were ignored when giving input on the design of the product and its marketing. The lawsuit, which also alleges a hostile work environment and retaliation, claims the sexist culture at Magic Leap created a "dysfunctional" workplace and is part of the reason the company has yet to actually release a product despite being valued at billions of dollars. (More sex discrimination stories.)