Women who applied to work at Bill Gates' office asked about 'sexual histories': report
Billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is pictured at an interview with AFP in Berlin on January 27, 2015 (AFP)

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that women who applied to work at Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates' private office were asked sexually explicit questions that included queries about their sexual histories and pornography.

According to the Journal, the questions were asked by a security firm and seemed intended to determine if the applicants would be susceptible to blackmail.

"Some female job candidates were asked whether they ever had extramarital affairs, what kind of pornography they preferred or if they had nude photographs of themselves on their phones," the publication writes. "Female candidates sometimes were asked whether they had ever 'danced for dollars'... One of the candidates was asked whether she had ever contracted a sexually transmitted disease."

None of the male applicants for jobs at Gates' office who spoke with the Journal said that they were ever asked such questions, although the paper writes it's possible other male candidates were asked about their sex lives.

A spokesperson for Gates' office said they were not aware that applicants were being subjected to such questioning and emphasized that "this line of questioning would be unacceptable and a violation of Gates Ventures’ agreement with the contractor."

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