I think this a really important point about the dynamic of criticism toward emotionally raw posts. I see the reactions to this post as illustrative of the very problem that the OP is describing about using LessWrong jedi mindtricks to ignore boundaries and frankly to rationalize harrassment. In this case, a member of the community has shared their personal experiences and reactions to toxic behavior, and a significant number of people seem to be responding with criticisms of the intellectual merit of the post, as if the post were a logic exercise and not a situation which is uncomfortable and threatening for real people.
I don’t mean to imply that we as a community should never engage in a more detached dialogue about the causes and possible solutions to the sexual harassment and misogyny described. However, I feel really uncomfortable when I read comments saying that expressing anger is useless or that the author should have done more to describe different possible interpretations of their experience or ways in which their experience may not be representative of everyone’s. I wish I could believe that this forum is a place where I could describe my own experiences without fearing that people will treat feelings of sadness or anger as some kind of prompt for a rationalist debate.
On that note, inspired by Keerthana’s bravery in sharing, I will mention my own experiences as a woman in EA. I am not a well-known member of the community or a frequent forum poster, but I am using an alternate account because of what I described in the paragraph above. I have experienced quite a bit of casual misogyny in interactions in EA spaces. I have walked away from a handful of conversations at EA events feeling that people have dismissed my ideas, mansplained topics about which I am knowledgable, or aggressively interrupted and silenced others. I sometimes read forum posts that make concerns about gender-based violence or community health feel like a footnote. I am thankful that this describes a minority of my experiences, but unfortunately it’s enough to make me wary when participating in EA events.
I think this a really important point about the dynamic of criticism toward emotionally raw posts. I see the reactions to this post as illustrative of the very problem that the OP is describing about using LessWrong jedi mindtricks to ignore boundaries and frankly to rationalize harrassment. In this case, a member of the community has shared their personal experiences and reactions to toxic behavior, and a significant number of people seem to be responding with criticisms of the intellectual merit of the post, as if the post were a logic exercise and not a situation which is uncomfortable and threatening for real people.
I don’t mean to imply that we as a community should never engage in a more detached dialogue about the causes and possible solutions to the sexual harassment and misogyny described. However, I feel really uncomfortable when I read comments saying that expressing anger is useless or that the author should have done more to describe different possible interpretations of their experience or ways in which their experience may not be representative of everyone’s. I wish I could believe that this forum is a place where I could describe my own experiences without fearing that people will treat feelings of sadness or anger as some kind of prompt for a rationalist debate.
On that note, inspired by Keerthana’s bravery in sharing, I will mention my own experiences as a woman in EA. I am not a well-known member of the community or a frequent forum poster, but I am using an alternate account because of what I described in the paragraph above. I have experienced quite a bit of casual misogyny in interactions in EA spaces. I have walked away from a handful of conversations at EA events feeling that people have dismissed my ideas, mansplained topics about which I am knowledgable, or aggressively interrupted and silenced others. I sometimes read forum posts that make concerns about gender-based violence or community health feel like a footnote. I am thankful that this describes a minority of my experiences, but unfortunately it’s enough to make me wary when participating in EA events.