I am a person who lived in the house mentioned in the article. I witnessed firsthand everything as it happened.
FIRST. You should know that journalist DECLINED to investigate this story. She reached out to the accused person asking for a comment and, when faced with evidence that went against her narrative, said “Clearly, everything is more complicated than I thought. But I am on a deadline—will be publishing this tomorrow”.
SECOND. You should know that anyone who lived in the house will tell you that the house co-lead used the sexual misconduct accusations for blackmail. She went on to accuse of sexual misconduct multiple people who didn’t side with her (INCLUDING ACCUSING ONE GAY PERSON OF ASSAULTING A FEMALE. WHICH FEMALE SAID HE DIDN’T DO). Was she terrified of her male co-lead? Apparently not, because in the months that followed this story (and before the article got published), she would constantly ask the accused person for “favors”, including throwing her birthday in his house. There are at least 3 people that have heard her say: “Get me the lease by Friday at Midnight or I will go to the press, lawyers, and the police with these accusations.” HER BLACKMAIL HAS BEEN RECORDED TOO (can be shared here upon request).
As for the ex, they clearly had a messy breakup. I took these accusations seriously at first, especially given tnat initial allegations involved an underage girl. When the underage female got contacted to confirm this, SHE WAS OUTRAGED BECAUSE THEY NEVER HAD ANY INTERCOURSE AND THE EX OF the ACCUSED GUY USED HER NAME IN A STORY AGAINST HER WILL.
Please do not doxx other victims, ESPECIALLY when they are underage.
Rochelle Shen was the only person to step into the situation. The rest of the housemates showed an extremely poor understanding of sexual violence and rationalized away serious acts of abuse and rape. The perpetrator used “messy breakup” as a way to rationalize away acts of domestic abuse. The perpetrator called his other victims to blackmail them into silence. The housemates ignored many other warning signs and red flags from this guy, including assaults and gropings of multiple unrelated women.
Without Rochelle Shen, there would still be a serial predator owning the lease of a group house full of young and underage women. She is a hero.
Rochelle spent the first few months of allegations saying that her house co-founder ex is a pathological liar. She only changed this narrative after an argument with people in the house, completely manipulating the narrative and saying that people turned on her because she is a victim of sexual misconduct. When [redacted], founder of Neighborhood, tried to coordinate this situation, she threatened him with allegations too.
To be clear—another woman already mentioned in the article has been lied to by Rochelle too.
I am in contact with the victims. They report Rochelle as consistently supporting them and calling out rapists and rape apologists at the house. She was the only person who actively got the perpetrator off the lease and out of the house—not naval-gazing into a Google doc of expected value calculations and asking the victims to be quieter about speaking out.
Comments like gated’s are precisely why Silicon Valley is such a misogynistic place: why women are afraid to speak up and why women cannot defend other woman without getting reputationally slaughtered.
gated’s comment is precisely the rape apologism that makes it very hard to hold predators accountable for sexual violence.
You also notice the conflation of rape/sexual assault with a bunch of random made-up infractions to distract from the issue.
I am not apologetic of sexual misconduct. I also have been supporting a number of victims through similar situations. Which is why I can not take it when people use sexual allegations for their own gain.
At the time the situation was happening, the house formed a council that asked both Rochelle and her male co-lead to step down ( she mishandled the coordination of the allegations). The male co-lead stepped down in favor of the council. Rochelle refused to step down. Instead, she launched a campaign of threats against people in the house, reminding everyone she had “political connections”.
INCLUDING ACCUSING ONE GAY PERSON OF ASSAULTING A FEMALE. WHICH FEMALE SAID HE DIDN’T DO
When the underage female got contacted to confirm this, SHE WAS OUTRAGED BECAUSE THEY NEVER HAD ANY INTERCOURSE AND THE EX OF the ACCUSED GUY USED HER NAME IN A STORY AGAINST HER WILL.
Would any of these females be willing publicly say so?
Also, what was communication in this group house / social group like; when the co-head accused people of sexual assault, is it safe for me to assume that there’s a record of that accusation?
HER BLACKMAIL HAS BEEN RECORDED TOO (can be shared here upon request).
By blackmail, do you mean saying “Get me the lease by Friday at Midnight or I will go to the press, lawyers, and the police with these accusations.” or something else?
(If people aren’t willing to talk about this publicly, but anyone who knows me can confirm or disconfirm any of this, please reach out to me!)
I will reach out to them to ask. For the underaged girl—she understandably asked everyone to leave her out of this situation, but there are screenshots from communication with her and her brother which can be shared privately (if they agree to this)
Would any of these females be willing publicly say so?
These are double-standard all the way. She was doxed by [name removed by moderator]. Now that everyone knows she is not a victim and can say as much, you want to silence this?
Mod here. Please don’t share any conversations without consent from all parties involved. It’s fine to share if you get consent but please censor the names.
There is a blacklist that will list anybody who tells the truth about this as being “complicit in attacks”. The house co-lead credibly threatens anybody who tells the truth about this with being added to the blacklist, for which there is no due process. Anybody can be marred, without recourse, potentially forever. The blacklist is not robust to bad actors.
Sexual misconduct shouldn’t be treated lightly. As we shouldn’t treat lightly people who blackmail others for personal gain. I think EA community should consider creating a list of people who use social movements for their own gain—in this case Rochelle Shen.
Rochelle Shen is thankfully harsh on sexual misconduct. The other residents of the house did not investigate the issue, showed a poor understanding of sexual violence, and gave the perpetrator a free pass.
I seriously doubt that you were someone who lived in the house.
Would love for you to hear any more rumors you might have “heard” about me.
EDIT: I find it interesting that the mods chose to lock this thread after deleting J_J’s reply addressing and invalidating most of the above accusations, but kept the accusations themselves up. It introduces doubt in the readers about my credibility, but silenced the response reinforcing my credibility.
These points that u/gated brought up just further prove the Time article’s point about reputational retaliation. First, none of those accusations about my likeability as a female leader have anything to do with the initial issue of dealing with a potential serial predator in the house. Secondly, they’re also just wrong, and hint at the much deeper issue of victim intimidation tactics that these particular EAs’ were so eager to pursue against me. Third, don’t randomly name drop community leaders as siding with the accused—that person is supportive of healthy community sexual assault policies and I can’t imagine they’d be happy to be associated with your response.
This all merits a deeper discussion about EA culture. I’m currently thinking about how best to open this conversation.
I find it interesting that the mods chose to lock this thread after deleting J_J’s reply addressing and invalidating most of the above accusations, but kept the accusations themselves up.
I just double-checked, we didn’t delete any comment in this thread, all deleted comments were deleted by their author.
I am a person who lived in the house mentioned in the article. I witnessed firsthand everything as it
happened.
FIRST. You should know that journalist DECLINED to investigate this story. She reached out to the
accused person asking for a comment and, when faced with evidence that went against her narrative,
said “Clearly, everything is more complicated than I thought. But I am on a deadline—will be
publishing this tomorrow”.
SECOND. You should know that anyone who lived in the house will tell you that the house co-lead used the sexual misconduct accusations for blackmail. She went on to accuse of sexual misconduct multiple people who didn’t side with her (INCLUDING ACCUSING ONE GAY PERSON OF ASSAULTING A FEMALE. WHICH FEMALE SAID HE DIDN’T DO). Was she terrified of her male co-lead? Apparently not, because in the months that followed this story (and before the article got published), she would constantly ask the accused person for “favors”, including throwing her birthday in his house. There are at least 3 people that have heard her say: “Get me the lease by Friday at Midnight or I will go to the press, lawyers, and the police with these accusations.” HER BLACKMAIL HAS BEEN RECORDED TOO (can be shared here upon request).
As for the ex, they clearly had a messy breakup. I took these accusations seriously at first, especially given tnat initial allegations involved an underage girl. When the underage female got contacted to confirm this, SHE WAS OUTRAGED BECAUSE THEY NEVER HAD ANY INTERCOURSE AND THE EX OF the ACCUSED GUY USED HER NAME IN A STORY AGAINST HER WILL.
Mod here. It seems like this thread has devolved into a debate about what a non-EA house leader did at a non-EA house. I’m locking the thread.
I was also involved in the situation.
Please do not doxx other victims, ESPECIALLY when they are underage.
Rochelle Shen was the only person to step into the situation. The rest of the housemates showed an extremely poor understanding of sexual violence and rationalized away serious acts of abuse and rape. The perpetrator used “messy breakup” as a way to rationalize away acts of domestic abuse. The perpetrator called his other victims to blackmail them into silence. The housemates ignored many other warning signs and red flags from this guy, including assaults and gropings of multiple unrelated women.
Without Rochelle Shen, there would still be a serial predator owning the lease of a group house full of young and underage women. She is a hero.
Rochelle spent the first few months of allegations saying that her house co-founder ex is a pathological liar. She only changed this narrative after an argument with people in the house, completely manipulating the narrative and saying that people turned on her because she is a victim of sexual misconduct. When [redacted], founder of Neighborhood, tried to coordinate this situation, she threatened him with allegations too.
To be clear—another woman already mentioned in the article has been lied to by Rochelle too.
I am in contact with the victims. They report Rochelle as consistently supporting them and calling out rapists and rape apologists at the house. She was the only person who actively got the perpetrator off the lease and out of the house—not naval-gazing into a Google doc of expected value calculations and asking the victims to be quieter about speaking out.
Done! Their name was already shared on spreadsheet shared here
Rochelle Shen brought this person into the thread and should remove them from the thread.
Witch-hunting RS was precisely why the perpetrator was able to continue (and is still continuing) predating on young women in the Bay Area.
Then why did she continue organizing events with him in the months after the story? It is not just the house that can confirm it.
Comments like gated’s are precisely why Silicon Valley is such a misogynistic place: why women are afraid to speak up and why women cannot defend other woman without getting reputationally slaughtered.
gated’s comment is precisely the rape apologism that makes it very hard to hold predators accountable for sexual violence.
You also notice the conflation of rape/sexual assault with a bunch of random made-up infractions to distract from the issue.
I am not apologetic of sexual misconduct. I also have been supporting a number of victims through similar situations. Which is why I can not take it when people use sexual allegations for their own gain.
How then should RS have handled the issue? Do enlighten me.
At the time the situation was happening, the house formed a council that asked both Rochelle and her male co-lead to step down ( she mishandled the coordination of the allegations). The male co-lead stepped down in favor of the council. Rochelle refused to step down. Instead, she launched a campaign of threats against people in the house, reminding everyone she had “political connections”.
Would any of these females be willing publicly say so?
Also, what was communication in this group house / social group like; when the co-head accused people of sexual assault, is it safe for me to assume that there’s a record of that accusation?
By blackmail, do you mean saying “Get me the lease by Friday at Midnight or I will go to the press, lawyers, and the police with these accusations.” or something else?
(If people aren’t willing to talk about this publicly, but anyone who knows me can confirm or disconfirm any of this, please reach out to me!)
I will reach out to them to ask. For the underaged girl—she understandably asked everyone to leave her out of this situation, but there are screenshots from communication with her and her brother which can be shared privately (if they agree to this)
Mods, please delete this comment. It is doxxing one of the victims and her privacy.
These are double-standard all the way. She was doxed by [name removed by moderator]. Now that everyone knows she is not a victim and can say as much, you want to silence this?
Mod here. Please don’t share any conversations without consent from all parties involved. It’s fine to share if you get consent but please censor the names.
Yes, did not plan to share without consent
I removed a name from this comment after a request to the mod team
There is a blacklist that will list anybody who tells the truth about this as being “complicit in attacks”. The house co-lead credibly threatens anybody who tells the truth about this with being added to the blacklist, for which there is no due process. Anybody can be marred, without recourse, potentially forever. The blacklist is not robust to bad actors.
What happens to people on this blacklist?
One of them recently failed to get investors because those saw them on the list.
Many women are also saved because this is actually the only way we can identify rapists and avoid them.
Sexual misconduct shouldn’t be treated lightly. As we shouldn’t treat lightly people who blackmail others for personal gain. I think EA community should consider creating a list of people who use social movements for their own gain—in this case Rochelle Shen.
Rochelle Shen is thankfully harsh on sexual misconduct. The other residents of the house did not investigate the issue, showed a poor understanding of sexual violence, and gave the perpetrator a free pass.
Why did she laugh the victims off until it was convenient for her?
I seriously doubt that you were someone who lived in the house.
Would love for you to hear any more rumors you might have “heard” about me.
EDIT:
I find it interesting that the mods chose to lock this thread after deleting J_J’s reply addressing and invalidating most of the above accusations, but kept the accusations themselves up. It introduces doubt in the readers about my credibility, but silenced the response reinforcing my credibility.
These points that u/gated brought up just further prove the Time article’s point about reputational retaliation. First, none of those accusations about my likeability as a female leader have anything to do with the initial issue of dealing with a potential serial predator in the house. Secondly, they’re also just wrong, and hint at the much deeper issue of victim intimidation tactics that these particular EAs’ were so eager to pursue against me. Third, don’t randomly name drop community leaders as siding with the accused—that person is supportive of healthy community sexual assault policies and I can’t imagine they’d be happy to be associated with your response.
This all merits a deeper discussion about EA culture. I’m currently thinking about how best to open this conversation.
I just double-checked, we didn’t delete any comment in this thread, all deleted comments were deleted by their author.
Apologies, I should have checked in with her