My personal experience is that tech conferences tend to encourage cliquish and hierarchal (based on popularity and tech-sphere influence) behavior which feels dehumanizing.

I think there is a common thread with my observation to sexual harassment at conferences. When people relate to each other on a human (rather than hierarchal level), people tend to respect each other more.

edit

Women also bring greater social cohesion to groups.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/09/100930143339.ht...

The fact that women are sexually harassed could be solved by having more women at conferences.