[Noisebridge-discuss] Cynthia and "Asian" Reference
Peter Werner
germpore at sonic.net
Fri Feb 3 07:49:31 UTC 2012
Probably opening up a can of worms here, but –
Modifications? Well, for starters, the "geek feminists" have some of
the most over-the-top policies against display of "sexual imagery"
this side of Catherine MacKinnon. I happen to be one of those people
who find this and other aspects of the "geek feminist" anti-harassment
policy to amount to censorship, and if taken at it's word, it would
pretty much preclude NB from hosting Arse Electronica among other
events, and in my estimation, that would not be a good thing.
In other words, I don't think it's a policy that should be adopted
wholesale and uncritically. I'm not even sure if it's a particularly
good model policy. That said, I do think some sort of policy on
harassment and violence should be in place, but it should be kept
simple and not excessively ideological. The descriptions I'm hearing
of the behavior that started this discussion sound like somebody is
clearly violating other people's boundaries, and it's the kind of
thing that any community that wishes to remain functional needs to put
its foot down about in whatever way achieves the best balance of being
effective without being heavy-handed.
Which, yes, means some agreed-upon set of "rules", which is a concept
I gather a lot of people in spaces like this don't like. But it
certainly beats the hell out of having strong personalities impose
their own rules by sheer force of will. (Social Contract 101 here.) Or
veering off into the opposite extreme of heavy-handed rules (eg,
aspects of the "geek feminist" policy) because "no rules" was tried
and didn't work.
For what it's worth,
Peter Werner
On Feb 1, 2012, at 4:49 PM, Tao Neuendorffer Flaherty wrote:
> Here is an example of conference anti-harassment policy:
> http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/wiki/Conference_anti-harassment/Policy
> How could it be modified to work with Noisebridge?
>
> It's important for people in Noisebridge to feel safe from each
> other. My first day there, watching Hackers, I was attacked from
> behind by a large robot rushing in from the other room. That hurt a
> lot, and was not excellent.
>
> We need to be excellent to each other, which involves responding to
> destructive attitudes and behavior.
>
> Peace,
> Tao Flaherty
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