[Noisebridge-discuss] I got groped at noisebridge at hackmeet

Eric W. Rasmussen ewr at majortek.com
Sun Oct 21 02:31:51 UTC 2012


Who was it? Describe them. I will take on this effort. Email me 
personally if needed.

You are correct that this has been an issue in the space. I, for one, 
try to invite more women into the space. Women bring a new prospective. 
I wish there were more children because they do the same.

Noisebridge is a learning establishment. It's not fair that you've 
learned aggression.

I personally apologize for the actions made against you. You can always 
call me to your attention if something disagreeable happens. I regret 
that I may not have been present.

Please don't give up on us. If you want to hand your key to me, I will 
hand it off to another woman and make sure she is safe. Or, I will hold 
it for you upon your return.

Please accept my apology on behalf of the collective.

ewr

On 10/20/2012 07:19 PM, Susan Werner wrote:
> I went to hackmeet today, tried to join in a few conversations, and got told
> to fuck off because I don't already know people. As I was crying and talking
> to someone on the Internet about how these kinds of events are intentionally
> hostile to people who don't already have significant social connections, some
> guy walks by me, and rubs his hand on my right breast, and calmly walks on as
> if nothing happened.
>
> I got groped while I was crying at noisebridge, during an event with lots of
> people at it, and nobody did anything. Nobody spoke a word to me. Nobody
> offered any kind of help whatsoever, and lots of people walked by me, as I was
> there for about half an hour after that happened.
>
> I'm done with noisebridge, done with its community which enables sexual
> assault, done with events which are intentionally hostile to newcomers, done
> with all the bullshit about it being an "anarchist space" where nothing can be
> said about entitled jerks who make the space hostile for others.
>
> Until someone works on the whole "hostility to newcomers" bit of hacker
> culture, harassment will be endemic. As long as newcomers are seen as people to
> be excluded and hazed, no amount of non-harassment policies or codes of conduct
> will do anything substantial.
>
> Kicking out the people who grope isn't enough and won't cause systemic change.
> Change the culture which encourages treating newcomers and outsiders like shit,
> and ignores anything anyone does to newcomers, don't just kick out people who
> further this sort of culture.
>
> Have fun with your hackerspaces and your shitty-ass subculture based on
> exclusion and abuse. I don't even need to talk to people like y'all and I'm not
> going to spend a moment of extra time with a bunch of people who can't even
> look at me after I get groped in front of fifteen people.
>
> I have a key to noisebridge. If anyone wants it, let me know.
>




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