A slew of scandals highlighting some of Silicon Valley’s less admirable traits such as its seemingly pervasive “bro culture” has opened a can of worms that for a long time needed opening. Now venture capitalists and others in the Valley are looking for ways to get rid of those creepy creatures altogether.

Yet even amid the apologies and the outrage, or perhaps because of them, new examples of sexual harassment and discrimination continue to bubble up — most recently at Tesla Inc.

Former Tesla engineer AJ Vandermeyden was fired by Tesla after the company said her claims of sexual harassment and sexism were false. Her story became public last February, but perhaps given the mounting criticism of men behaving badly, more female employees at Tesla have joined Vandermeyden in saying the company can be a difficult place to work if you are a woman.

According to a story published by The Guardian Wednesday, one female employee at Tesla described the factory floor as a “predator zone” and a number of employees said they had experienced catcalling. Perhaps worse than that, Vandermeyden said that when she took her complaints to staff regarding such harassment, she was met with retaliation.

Far from joining the apology parade, though, Tesla has stuck to its guns, saying Vandermeyden had been treated fairly, and even given preferential treatment. The company called her attack a “miscarriage of justice.”

Susan Fowler, the former Uber Technologies Inc. engineer who described in a blog post a year of sexual discrimination and sexism at Uber, described another way that companies seek to tamp down such complaints in a way that favors them: forced arbitration. This limits what employees can do if they want to take action after they have been the victim of something such as sexual harassment. In her list of what companies can do better, she also said companies should implement zero-tolerance policies toward unlawful and inappropriate behavior.  

Meanwhile, a number of people are now seeking to salvage something positive from the despicable truth. This includes a “code of conduct” to be drafted by 30 VCs. The draft will be presented to the National Venture Capital Association by Sept. 30, according to The Information. Investor Reid Hoffman has already written a “Decency Pledge” for VCs that has been met with praise.

In addition, a group of VCs and entrepreneurs just released a policy template for sexual harassment in TechCrunch. The template espouses a “zero-tolerance” stance on sexual misconduct.

Yet the issue isn’t so easily solved because not all the players are on the same page. One female VC, Brittany Laughlin of Lattice Ventures, said the industry must be careful not to set the bar too high regarding what men can and can’t do or say, lest fear “paralyze progress.”

Image: Johnny Silvercloud via Flickr