I quoted your comment by number so I can respond to each point you bring up.
(1) I disagree. Calling someone “scary”, accusing them of just wanting to get paid (after years of working for free AND turning down more lucrative requests to speak to the press & investors while I was still trying help CEA and EA overall), being doxxed—and the mods responding to other requests in the forum post while waiting multiple days (3 I believe, but it might have been 4) to respond to my multiple requests from me—none of that can be construed as “kindly” intended. And while my language is at times harsh, expresses frustration, and isn’t the way that EAs speak—at the end of the day, I’ve been trying to help the movement for years before giving up.
(2) Tbh I think I understand your frustration a bit from experiences in my own life, like feeling like I’ve done someone’s dirty work or grunt work and then being pushed aside. That said, feelings being what they are (unreliable, even if if they are sometimes right), I still wonder if a misunderstanding happened about who you spoke to or if there was forgetting rather than willful dishonesty on anyone’s part, but I guess that is between you, them, and decision-makers. Although I’m more interested in the prevalance of sexual assault in EA and how that is handled, I wish you luck in your professional goals.
I think this should be addressed in other ways—“this” being the specific claim you made that CEA forgot. Its pretty hard for me to believe someone forgets four years of passing around accusations
Re: I disagree about emotions. I sometimes find my emotions—eg, anxiety or fear—will alert me to situations that are unsafe before my rational brain catches up.
(3) Having spoken to CEA, being in contact with survivors who have spoken to CEA, and having dealt with this with CEA versus other groups in the bay area—I strongly disagree. But my underlying motive is to get rape to be taken seriously, and to create conditions in which CEA/EA and rape is exposed.
Additionally, when the Time article came out, I stated in the forum things that should be done, eg, policies around consent and bans. I knew very well that CEA wouldn’t hire me when I sent over a proposal, but I had hoped they’d explore the suggestions I made in that proposal with lawyers and experts. I gave them a roadmap to explore with others.
Re Also, publicizing things out of concern for CEA getting pinged for liability seems to me to be putting the cart before the horse.
IMO, after the past four years, the Time article, and the aforementioned points, the hammer that is the law and liability might scare them into action. In my earlier posts as J_J, I said I wanted to “call in” EA. You’ve shown you’re not receptive to being called in—literally, CEA has said it’s unproductive to talk to me. I understand that for many of you, this issue only came to light post-Time article, and my perspective is different because of the length of time and additional information. If the laws around defamation and the way defamation is being handled in the courts post-#metoo were different, I’d share more information. But such as the law is and my understanding of it, I don’t feel comfortable doing so.
Also—I’d imagine that people reading my words think I’m more likely to take accusations at face value because I “care about rape and survivors”, that I’m a bit of a fanatic/activist. I’d like to point out that I’m advocating for investigations of accusations and also advocating for CEA to not do things that could be construed as defamatory to allegations that are not yet investigated or proven in a court of law.
(4) So—see my point 1. Why is it that when you are defensive/reactive, it’s upvoted, and if I am, then it’s used as reasoning to discredit me? Why are huge presumptions/logical leaps made about what I say, those are used to slander/defame me/discredit me? For example, you presumed that the high power person was Vassar. Why is it that every time I point out my education or experience, I’m downvoted to oblivion and then others reading my posts can’t see that anymore?
Why is that I’m downvoted, called names, etc, if I also defend myself? I’d also like to point out that I’m a single individual, and you and the liaisons at CEA are part of a movement that has well-funded orgs backing you—that is why I call this treatment of me bullying. You’re (CEA and EA as a movement) more powerful than I am—and you have much greater power to deescalate—or even just ignore me.
lastly, i would like to point out that you and most in this thread are focusing on clearing EA’s reputation, which includes disavowing that rape brought to your attention is related to EA, and interpreting people calling out or calling in EA on rape as something personal to you/your movement. I think that approach is damaging EA’s reputation further. Being preemptive in fighting rape would be the best way to salvage your reputation and stop the “piling on”—even if you don’t care about rape—show you care about rape/abuse instead of leaning into defensiveness and reactivity. The way it comes across right now (to an admittedly very biased outsider) is that you see yourselves as victims, rather than victims you failed to protect. Changing the focus to them might help.
As an outsider that lives in an area with a high proportion of EA people and where EA is well known—people here generally thought you had a problem with rape even before the Time article.
The people who put those rapists in power and keep them there are the ones to be upset at. If people didn’t support serial rapists, they wouldn’t feel empowered to keep raping.
This isn’t a question for me, it’s a question for community health and CEA. The ball is in their court—it’s up to them to investigate.
The “alternate plan” you speak of is something I’d charge for. It would be weeks of work, and CEA made it clear they’d not pay me. Also, lawyers charge tens of thousands of dollars for investigations with orgs; it’s unrealistic that I should do them for free.
As well—on top of not being paid, I will not accept CEA’s actions potentially costing me money I can’t spare, can’t accept them being emotionally abusive to me, being called a liar—defamation, slander—but most of all, I can’t accept how many upset survivors I’ve spoken to that feel harmed by this movement that’s willing to accept “some rape as long as its’ not more than the average”.