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

[Liz Henry]

Sai,  I realize you like to construct logical arguments about abstract
principles, but your attempt to act as an ally to an actual person are
really clumsy to the point of being harmful here. Is this the time to
talk about yourself, your identity, to explain to someone what their
identity is, and how they should act? I don't think it is. You know the
word "mansplanation", right? I see your apology is sincere, but it is
buried in a baroquely long email that is mostly about yourself and then
describing Susan, who you don't even know, as a clueless victim. The
arrogance and ignorance is breathtaking.

Meanwhile, much of the NB and Hackmeet communities have already
responded constructively and continue to take positive action.

Several people on the list and in person at the meeting, and the
co-organizers of Hackmeet, have suggested constructive actions to
improve Noisebridge's general climate, and specifically to improve our
stewardship of large events that take place without much (if any)
guidance or oversight by people who actually spend time at the place.
These include:  nametags, clear signage for welcoming new people and for
getting anti-harassment policy somewhere other than a single
announcement, clear identification of organizers/safety crew/
Noisebridge folks (ie people who are good resources), and regular Sunday
mixer/meet and greet/orientation meetings.

However, without even bothering to find that out or read their thoughts
which are already on the list, you jump in to put pressure on Susan to
come up with solutions in a forum she already said she is not
comfortable in. To me, that seemed hostile.  If you are an "ally" you
should not put people on the spot that way.

At and after the meeting on Tuesday, which Susan attended and which
Danny described at length in an email earlier this week, many people
(mostly men who spend time at Noisebridge) had great suggestions for
things they could do, and expressed empathy for Susan and regrets for
the assaulter's actions.  In stark contrast to your clueless emails, the
meeting discussion went well, and was respectful.  It gave me more hope
than I had expected. Afterwards Susan and I hung out to talk with people
about coding projects like her implementation of keccak in an non-endian
architecture and she talked with others about her plans to teach a
solid state electronics class at noisebridge so that we can have a core
population of people who are better at making DC/DC power converters
from common junk.

Then you jumped into the discussion without any information to stir shit
up again, apparently in order to display your own cleverness.

I am partly only bothering to type all this to you and the list to spare
Rachel Lyra from having to do it. (Or whatever her equivalent
head-explody-email would be.)   It isn't really even for you since I
don't expect you to grok this, and understand how typical your response
is (it could fill a bingo card!)  and how *routinely* oppressive. This
song applies well: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6r0MVQANjI

Anyway, why don't you just do whatever it is you do at Noisebridge to
make awesome stuff, and do cool projects, and share resources, as I
intend to continue doing....


Mildly annoyed,


- Liz



-- 

------------------------
Liz Henry
liz at bookmaniac.org
http://bookmaniac.org

"Without models, it's hard to work; without a context, difficult to
evaluate; without peers, nearly impossible to speak." -- Joanna Russ