I think the fact that these issues are more openly discussed in EA than in comparable sectors can skew the discourse. If you don’t regularly attend EA events, it’s easy to think that all of the community health resources suggest an extreme problem with sexual harassment, as opposed to a proactive approach to preventing it. That said, these resources being available can make it more surprising when specific cases are not handled well.
I work in DC. The bar is so low here that it took months of public pressure for one person to see consequences for harassment that led to his staffer committing suicide by lighting herself on fire. In day to day work, it’s normal to get groped by tipsy old men at work events, and dealing with it gracefully is basically part of the job.
This is anecdotal, but something similar happened once at an EA-ish AI policy event (though by a sober, less elderly person). I mentioned it to the organizers in case other people were having issues, and the response was much more helpful and proactive than anything I would have expected in industry.
I would rather have people expect more from this community and be shocked when harassment happens than have people become jaded because other parts of society are willing to put up with worse working conditions.
I should clarify that I wrote this as someone who left a very EA bubble and came back after working in spaces that were remarkably worse. I agree with other commenters that we should aim to be better than the baseline. Regardless of where we fall on general harassment levels, I appreciate the community’s efforts to address issues as they happen.
Personal anecdote: multiple members of the CEA events team called out a vendor for behavior that I didn’t think to report as harassment. They proactively looped in HR and offered to negotiate this person’s exclusion from future event contracts at the venue. I was shocked, given my other recent work experiences.
This response didn’t erase the initial interactions, but it made the rest of the event (and future events) so much better. I want everyone to feel like they are working on a team / in a community that cares about them, even if making resources visible causes some people to think we have an outsized problem with harassment.
I think the fact that these issues are more openly discussed in EA than in comparable sectors can skew the discourse. If you don’t regularly attend EA events, it’s easy to think that all of the community health resources suggest an extreme problem with sexual harassment, as opposed to a proactive approach to preventing it. That said, these resources being available can make it more surprising when specific cases are not handled well.
I work in DC. The bar is so low here that it took months of public pressure for one person to see consequences for harassment that led to his staffer committing suicide by lighting herself on fire. In day to day work, it’s normal to get groped by tipsy old men at work events, and dealing with it gracefully is basically part of the job.
This is anecdotal, but something similar happened once at an EA-ish AI policy event (though by a sober, less elderly person). I mentioned it to the organizers in case other people were having issues, and the response was much more helpful and proactive than anything I would have expected in industry.
I would rather have people expect more from this community and be shocked when harassment happens than have people become jaded because other parts of society are willing to put up with worse working conditions.
I have comments, if you’re interested.
Happy to hear your thoughts.
I should clarify that I wrote this as someone who left a very EA bubble and came back after working in spaces that were remarkably worse. I agree with other commenters that we should aim to be better than the baseline. Regardless of where we fall on general harassment levels, I appreciate the community’s efforts to address issues as they happen.
Personal anecdote: multiple members of the CEA events team called out a vendor for behavior that I didn’t think to report as harassment. They proactively looped in HR and offered to negotiate this person’s exclusion from future event contracts at the venue. I was shocked, given my other recent work experiences.
This response didn’t erase the initial interactions, but it made the rest of the event (and future events) so much better. I want everyone to feel like they are working on a team / in a community that cares about them, even if making resources visible causes some people to think we have an outsized problem with harassment.