I feel pretty unsure about this. I think the backlash towards believing women has been somewhat successful in at least leftist spaces in at least getting people to say that treating unverified accusations as credible is good and desirable and important.
In EA, not all of it is a leftist space, and some parts of it have their own backlash against leftist influence. Moreover, in any group, including leftist groups that should in principle be on board with “believe women”, the principle and practice don’t necessarily line up. I think it’s easy to fall into a trap of being outraged at the stories you’ve been told about women not being believed, but to fail to apply those lessons to cases closer to home where you don’t know the truth and you do know the inconvenient details and you have some investment in protecting the status quo.
So, does EA systematically “believe women”? Do we doubt claims of sexual assault with impunity? I think probably anyone who posted doubt on the Forum would get a bunch of pushback. However, that doesn’t tell us much about how these claims are handled in private, or what the practical consequences are.
I feel pretty unsure about this. I think the backlash towards believing women has been somewhat successful in at least leftist spaces in at least getting people to say that treating unverified accusations as credible is good and desirable and important.
In EA, not all of it is a leftist space, and some parts of it have their own backlash against leftist influence. Moreover, in any group, including leftist groups that should in principle be on board with “believe women”, the principle and practice don’t necessarily line up. I think it’s easy to fall into a trap of being outraged at the stories you’ve been told about women not being believed, but to fail to apply those lessons to cases closer to home where you don’t know the truth and you do know the inconvenient details and you have some investment in protecting the status quo.
So, does EA systematically “believe women”? Do we doubt claims of sexual assault with impunity? I think probably anyone who posted doubt on the Forum would get a bunch of pushback. However, that doesn’t tell us much about how these claims are handled in private, or what the practical consequences are.