09:49
18 May
A recent Twitter thread on why more women don’t get involved in poker highlighted some horrendous incidents, with poker pro and TV host Natalie Hof Ramos revealing she was almost raped at an EPT event.
(1)I experienced sexual harassment at wsop, even pregnant. And there was nobody speaking up except myself. I got almost raped working at ept monaco. It is everywhere. I am happy that there are women out there who never experienced this. But…
— Natalie Hof Ramos (@HofNatalie) May 8, 2022
A toxic environment has long been pointed to as the main reason more women don’t play, or don’t return to the live poker environment, and Ebony Kenney was another to list some of the horrendous behaviour she has experienced over the years.
1) Some snapshots of “fun”moments for me since I started playing poker, a thread:
It’s 2004: The first time I stepped into a poker room & it was at the Sands Casino in Atlantic City. By that time, I had been playing poker w/my bf & his friends for almost 2 yrs & I was OBSESSED.
— Ebony Kenney | Poker & Purposeful Pleasure (@Ebony_Kenney) May 8, 2022
That list included calling out Daniel Negreanu for openly staring at her non-stop:
“2008/09. It’s my 1st $10k! I sit down at Foxwoods & who is directly on my left? None other than @RealKidPoker. An orbit or two goes around before I realize he’s blatantly staring at me nonstop when he’s not in a hand. I turn to say something to him bc I was uncomfortable. He just says, “Yeah I’m staring,” & never stopped. My stint in this tourney was short lived as I didn’t know how to fold aces. The sting of busting the tournament was overshadowed by the relief I felt of not having someone directly next to me openly gape at me the entire time.”
Some of the verbal abuse Kenney has had to put up with includes:
– “go back to the kitchen where you belong. I can’t wait to take all of your money & watch you cry like the little girl you are”
– “You’re a fucking cunt… what are you going to do about it?”
– “Ooooh whoever knocks her out gets to take her home as a bounty.” …and she also related experiences of physical and sexual abuse…
“2016. I’m standing in @gardenscasino, waiting for a seat, when some guy comes up and pokes my ass. He turns to me and says with a nonchalant shrug, “Had to. Black girl.” I’m so uncomfortable & a guy that was near me just says, “I can’t blame him.” Again, I’m in shock. I leave. These are only a handful of my experiences at the poker table. I’ve frankly lost count at how many comments I’ve heard about rape, whether or not some woman that walks by the table is fuckable, and what they would do to her. And these are comments made IN FRONT OF ME.”
13) I always think about how many women players we’ve lost due to sexist comments, sexual harassment, etc. Being rude is one thing. Being disgusting, abusive, violent, & harassing is another. And this idea that women have to deal with this if they want to play poker is absurd.
— Ebony Kenney | Poker & Purposeful Pleasure (@Ebony_Kenney) May 8, 2022
Meanwhile, Daniel Negreanu was studiously avoiding Kenney’s “staring incident” claim, and instead listing his take on why women still only account for about 5% of poker players…
The 5 most common reasons why more women don’t play poker that I’ve gathered via reading countless tweets:
1. Gender Pay Gap
2. Raising Children
3. Antiquated Cultural Norms
4. Unpleasant experiences
5. Biological differences
Have I missed any?
— Daniel Negreanu (@RealKidPoker) May 8, 2022
Natalie Hof Ramos, meanwhile, was explaining what she did in response to her experiences:
“Because of this experience and uncomfortable situations in the poker world my friend @mila_monroe33 and I created the @Herzdamen where we support and study with each other. If you want to join, reach out to us. Our next group call is this Thursday in English w/ @daraokearney.” Kenney’s thoughts on how the poker community might change for the better, includes “stop telling men who stick up for us that they are white knighting” or “she’s not gonna fuck you bro.”
Kenney ends by stating:
“Moving forward, speak up when you see something. And FFS, stop saying not all men. We fucking know it’s not all men or we would never leave the house. I want this game to be fun for everyone so we can all be miserable together because of variance. Not because of how we’re treated.”
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