I think the onus needs to be placed on the people who are abusing their power. There are ways to do this. If the community acknowledges that this isn’t ok, there can be a shift in the broader culture. People need to be aware these power dynamics exist and speak out against people who abuse them and I don’t mean the person on the receiving end of the abuse of power, but their colleagues.
Some concrete steps I can think of moving forward would be:
a) Workplace training on power dynamics and professional boundaries. b) An external source where complaints can be made where the people receiving the complaints do not have connections to the EA community such as personal friendships/collegial relationships.
I’m not sure if this answers your question at all, but I am enjoying this discussion and appreciate the way you are approaching our conversation. Thanks!
Edit: I want to make it crystal clear here that I’m not talking about sexual misconduct at this point, or denying that actual power differentials are a huge problem in EA. I’m learning that the forum requires a clearer writing style that I’m still new at.
The concrete steps you mentioned make sense to me, although my weakly held view is that people with less power caring too much about power differentials is an even bigger problem than actual power differentials. Maybe more workshops about overcoming imposter syndrome would help? I think epistemics would be weaker in the community if we don’t make a large effort to encourage people to be as assertive as I am in the face of power imbalances, but maybe that’s a price I’m willing to pay if it means more diversity? A lot depends on how tractable different interventions are, and ultimately I just care about getting people’s voices heard. I also appreciate how you’ve approached this conversation! I hadn’t said anything controversial on the forum before this weekend, and this has been much less scary than I expected.
(Sorry you are getting downvotes as soon as you affirm that commenting on the forum is less scary than you expected. The irony is real and hopefully you can laugh at it.)
Don’t worry I am. I imagine it was hard to tell I wasn’t denying that power differentials are a serious problem in their own right for someone who hasn’t spent a lot of time critiquing powerful men, or has and hasn’t had the positive response I have. I also think the fact that I was no longer talking about sexual misconduct specifically was lost in the comment thread. I’m glad I said it, because I found the feedback useful. Thanks for checking in!
I think the onus needs to be placed on the people who are abusing their power. There are ways to do this. If the community acknowledges that this isn’t ok, there can be a shift in the broader culture. People need to be aware these power dynamics exist and speak out against people who abuse them and I don’t mean the person on the receiving end of the abuse of power, but their colleagues.
Some concrete steps I can think of moving forward would be:
a) Workplace training on power dynamics and professional boundaries.
b) An external source where complaints can be made where the people receiving the complaints do not have connections to the EA community such as personal friendships/collegial relationships.
I’m not sure if this answers your question at all, but I am enjoying this discussion and appreciate the way you are approaching our conversation. Thanks!
Edit: I want to make it crystal clear here that I’m not talking about sexual misconduct at this point, or denying that actual power differentials are a huge problem in EA. I’m learning that the forum requires a clearer writing style that I’m still new at.
The concrete steps you mentioned make sense to me, although my weakly held view is that people with less power caring too much about power differentials is an even bigger problem than actual power differentials. Maybe more workshops about overcoming imposter syndrome would help? I think epistemics would be weaker in the community if we don’t make a large effort to encourage people to be as assertive as I am in the face of power imbalances, but maybe that’s a price I’m willing to pay if it means more diversity? A lot depends on how tractable different interventions are, and ultimately I just care about getting people’s voices heard. I also appreciate how you’ve approached this conversation! I hadn’t said anything controversial on the forum before this weekend, and this has been much less scary than I expected.
(Sorry you are getting downvotes as soon as you affirm that commenting on the forum is less scary than you expected. The irony is real and hopefully you can laugh at it.)
Don’t worry I am. I imagine it was hard to tell I wasn’t denying that power differentials are a serious problem in their own right for someone who hasn’t spent a lot of time critiquing powerful men, or has and hasn’t had the positive response I have. I also think the fact that I was no longer talking about sexual misconduct specifically was lost in the comment thread. I’m glad I said it, because I found the feedback useful. Thanks for checking in!