(This might be a rambly comment but these are thoughts that plopped out of me after reading the article, particularly after reading the quote by Julia Wise, “How do you figure out what is a community problem versus what is a Bay Area problem or sex problem or something else?”)
I generally think sexual harassment in EA is just extremely more complicated because of how intertwined we all are, and how much we would be willing to put aside (e.g. bad feelings in interpersonal relationships) for optimizing working for “the greater good” (e.g. let’s not ruin this person’s career)
This “intertwinement” leads to many complicated things. If you report someone, they might be reprimanded in some form, either subtly or in a big way. Then depending on how they were reprimanded, you’d figure out a way how to deal with them in case you see them again since they’re in the EA community, after all. And if they’re banned, but online, you can be emotionally mature, but I don’t think those feelings go away easily for everyone.
And if you choose not to report (e.g. because it was too “small” to be a report, because they’re friends with your friend, because they’re working in an environment near you), they’ll still be there in the community, attend events, etc. and you just have to deal with them. And if you have a hard time “dealing with them” then that burden seems to be on you. Maybe some people say it’s because, “well we’re EAs, this is what we believe in, so be emotionally mature, and put this aside...”
This also applies to not just sexual harassment, but let’s say, negative interactions with someone. If someone is disliked, that can have ramifications depending on who is disliked. E.g. Alice had negative interactions with Bob. Alice is friends with Carol. Carol has to work with Bob. Alice ends up being connected to Bob in that way, Carol can’t do much because she’s working with Bob, bip bam boom, negative feelings for Alice, but for the sake of being emotionally mature, Alice sucks it up.
And this might be true outside of EA too (I think it is) but it gets complicated when putting the issue aside, or letting go, gets mixed with the fundamental philosophy of EA, or even rationality. It’s kinda the Broken Windows Theory to me, subtly ignoring, downsizing, or casting aside these kinds of things… ultimately blowing up in exposés like this one, or to people bitterly/sadly leaving the community… and I do get somewhat sad too when people just go like “okay if they don’t wanna be here then okay, we’re filtering them out.”
(This might be a rambly comment but these are thoughts that plopped out of me after reading the article, particularly after reading the quote by Julia Wise, “How do you figure out what is a community problem versus what is a Bay Area problem or sex problem or something else?”)
I generally think sexual harassment in EA is just extremely more complicated because of how intertwined we all are, and how much we would be willing to put aside (e.g. bad feelings in interpersonal relationships) for optimizing working for “the greater good” (e.g. let’s not ruin this person’s career)
This “intertwinement” leads to many complicated things. If you report someone, they might be reprimanded in some form, either subtly or in a big way. Then depending on how they were reprimanded, you’d figure out a way how to deal with them in case you see them again since they’re in the EA community, after all. And if they’re banned, but online, you can be emotionally mature, but I don’t think those feelings go away easily for everyone.
And if you choose not to report (e.g. because it was too “small” to be a report, because they’re friends with your friend, because they’re working in an environment near you), they’ll still be there in the community, attend events, etc. and you just have to deal with them. And if you have a hard time “dealing with them” then that burden seems to be on you. Maybe some people say it’s because, “well we’re EAs, this is what we believe in, so be emotionally mature, and put this aside...”
This also applies to not just sexual harassment, but let’s say, negative interactions with someone. If someone is disliked, that can have ramifications depending on who is disliked. E.g. Alice had negative interactions with Bob. Alice is friends with Carol. Carol has to work with Bob. Alice ends up being connected to Bob in that way, Carol can’t do much because she’s working with Bob, bip bam boom, negative feelings for Alice, but for the sake of being emotionally mature, Alice sucks it up.
And this might be true outside of EA too (I think it is) but it gets complicated when putting the issue aside, or letting go, gets mixed with the fundamental philosophy of EA, or even rationality. It’s kinda the Broken Windows Theory to me, subtly ignoring, downsizing, or casting aside these kinds of things… ultimately blowing up in exposés like this one, or to people bitterly/sadly leaving the community… and I do get somewhat sad too when people just go like “okay if they don’t wanna be here then okay, we’re filtering them out.”