As a somewhat separate point: fwiw, I’m a woman and I’ve not experienced this general toxicity in EA myself. Obviously I am not challenging your experience—there are lots of EA sub-communities and it makes sense that some could be awful, others fine. But it’s worth adding this nuance, I think (e.g., from what I’ve heard, Bay Area EA circles are particularly incestuous wrt work/life overlap stuff).
To add another data point, I have witnessed some of what has been described in here and worse. The only thing I’ve never seen is a woman getting a position while sexually involved with a man, except for monogamous couples like Bill & Melinda Gates. The opposite seems much more often the case in poly-circles, where talented women are unfairly excluded from career opportunities because male decision-makers in the orgs don’t want to get in trouble.
Yes, it seems difficult and also important to say:
-you and your friends have had multiple bad experiences
-the EA community should work to become safer and better
-women reading this post shouldn’t feel worried to attend an EA event; lots of women in EA haven’t had these same experiences (especially women living in different cities or countries from you)
Kirsten, how many incidents of harassment would need to be reported to warrant your worry? How many is too many that it is no longer worth risking your safety?
women reading this post shouldn’t feel worried to attend an EA event; lots of women in EA haven’t had these same experiences
You’re defeating the point of my post. Women need to be on the look out when engaging with EA if they don’t want to be exploited, at least in SF and NYC. Among them:
Not be drinking or using psychedelics without a trusted girlfriend to look after you and make sure you get home ok
Avoiding putting yourself in a position of dependence on a bad male actor
Cutting off friendships with bad male actors, and letting your girlfriends in EA know what’s up
For a community that is so alarmist for 5 or 1 or 0.1 percentage of X-risk from AI, giving a wide berth for sexual harassment is utterly hypocritical. Kathleen Forth’s suicide is not enough. The anonymous reports I linked is not enough. My own narration is not enough. You can make an evaluation of your own safety and risk tolerance ( assuming your gender here based on your post but feel free to correct me), but please let other women decide for themselves how much risk is acceptable and what dynamic is worth engaging with.
I feel a little conflicted, because on the one hand I want to respect and make space for you reporting your own experience. On the other hand, you are actually making concrete suggestions that I don’t agree with—suggestions that would make my life, as a woman in EA, worse. So I don’t know how to respond.
For context about me, I do know of several instances of sexual harassment in EA, some of which were handled better than others. I also know of instances of sexual harassment at my former university, and my former church, and my workplace.
As a somewhat separate point: fwiw, I’m a woman and I’ve not experienced this general toxicity in EA myself. Obviously I am not challenging your experience—there are lots of EA sub-communities and it makes sense that some could be awful, others fine. But it’s worth adding this nuance, I think (e.g., from what I’ve heard, Bay Area EA circles are particularly incestuous wrt work/life overlap stuff).
To add another data point, I have witnessed some of what has been described in here and worse. The only thing I’ve never seen is a woman getting a position while sexually involved with a man, except for monogamous couples like Bill & Melinda Gates. The opposite seems much more often the case in poly-circles, where talented women are unfairly excluded from career opportunities because male decision-makers in the orgs don’t want to get in trouble.
Could you clarify what this means in this context?
For sure. Your experience does not need to negate that of mine and my friends. :)
Yes, it seems difficult and also important to say:
-you and your friends have had multiple bad experiences
-the EA community should work to become safer and better
-women reading this post shouldn’t feel worried to attend an EA event; lots of women in EA haven’t had these same experiences (especially women living in different cities or countries from you)
Kirsten, how many incidents of harassment would need to be reported to warrant your worry? How many is too many that it is no longer worth risking your safety?
You’re defeating the point of my post. Women need to be on the look out when engaging with EA if they don’t want to be exploited, at least in SF and NYC. Among them:
Not be drinking or using psychedelics without a trusted girlfriend to look after you and make sure you get home ok
Avoiding putting yourself in a position of dependence on a bad male actor
Cutting off friendships with bad male actors, and letting your girlfriends in EA know what’s up
For a community that is so alarmist for 5 or 1 or 0.1 percentage of X-risk from AI, giving a wide berth for sexual harassment is utterly hypocritical. Kathleen Forth’s suicide is not enough. The anonymous reports I linked is not enough. My own narration is not enough. You can make an evaluation of your own safety and risk tolerance ( assuming your gender here based on your post but feel free to correct me), but please let other women decide for themselves how much risk is acceptable and what dynamic is worth engaging with.
I feel a little conflicted, because on the one hand I want to respect and make space for you reporting your own experience. On the other hand, you are actually making concrete suggestions that I don’t agree with—suggestions that would make my life, as a woman in EA, worse. So I don’t know how to respond.
For context about me, I do know of several instances of sexual harassment in EA, some of which were handled better than others. I also know of instances of sexual harassment at my former university, and my former church, and my workplace.