[Noisebridge-discuss] How we deal w/ gendered violence at Noisebridge, or: Believe Women.

Matt Arcidy marcidy at gmail.com
Fri Sep 21 10:42:54 UTC 2018


I'll be explict and explain from a survivors' position.

This behavior will not be tolerated.  It puts anyone who has
experienced abuse into a defensive mode, including experiencing PTSD
symptoms such as anxiety or flashbacks, as it demostrates that a
predator is being harbored at Noisebridge.

Having been a victim of child abuse, I will be actively calling this
out *as abusive behavior*, subject to safe space policy.  If you were
not aware of this impact on abuse survivors, you now are.

You do not know who in the space will be effected by this apologism,
and it is as callous as off-hand remarks about anything else covered
by safe-space.

That includes on this list, on slack, in the space, or any other
physical or digital medium associated with Noisebridge.

These issues are not the place to display your logical acumen.

Thanks,
Matt
On Fri, Sep 21, 2018 at 3:01 AM Rebecca Valentine <beka at gothdyke.mom> wrote:
>
> Hey folx. So recently a person was asked to leave Noisebridge because of concerns that people had about them, namely, that they had been arrested in 2016 for violating a restraining order meant to prevent domestic violence. There was some discussion about this that took a form that I feel compelled to comment on because of a broader pattern. No one person is responsible, it's a collective mood created by dozens of little, seemingly sensible, things which cumulative suck, and that's why I'm writing this.
>
> In particular, there is a not insignificant tendency for space-guardian issues at Noisebridge to be treated with different amounts of skepticism, incredulity, etc. depending on whether or not the matter at hand is one that is broadly construed in our society as being violence towards women. Issues like rape or domestic violence are treated with skepticism and an instinctual need to ask if the accused is being treated fairly or not, especially if the accuser is a woman. Asking someone to leave for these things becomes an arduous process because often, someone in #space-guardians will feel compelled to litigate a case to ensure Justice is done. In contrast, extremely trivial matters, including things as simple as treating Noisebridge as a place to get public internal terminal access, is something that we can kick someone out for, and the conversation in #space-guardians rarely, if ever, turns to asking if this is justified and is this a big risk for overstepping things.
>
> These are broad strokes patterns, but by my recollection, in the two years I've been coming to Noisebridge, all-but-one-or-so rape/DV/sexual-harassment issue has been subject to this hyper-focused scrutiny. This includes one case where the aggressor confessed on his blog of his own volition, and in spite of this the trustworthiness of the victim was brought into question. This is in parallel with multiple cases of violence towards men which were addressed and were accepted with no questions as to the veracity of the people reporting the matters.
>
> I will say in no uncertain terms that this is *fucking garbage*. When we do this, we are making it very difficult to address violence against women, and creating a space where this kind of gendered violence is tolerated. We're telling people, in very clear words, that we care more about stupid shit like people sitting at a Chrome machine all day that someone committing literal rape, and that Noisebridge is not safe. Not only because there are possibly dangerous people here, but because if anything *does* happen, that people will not only do nothing to fix it but that they will actively obstruct efforts to do something.
>
> *The natural consequence of this is that victims of these forms of violence, but especially women, will not feel safe at Noisebridge, and will not come to Noisebridge out of a completely justified concern for their physical safety.*
>
> I understand that there is a desire to avoid "Drama", as people often take to calling these issues. You just want to come and hack, not deal with all of this community drama bullshit. But the people who are pushed out of Noisebridge because they cannot be here safely *also* just want to come and hack, but they *can't*. When approximately half the world would feel unwelcome, unsafe, and potentially endangered, by being in Noisebridge, you can't say honestly that Noisebridge is a place where people can just Come And Hack. They empirically cannot. *You* can come and hack, because you're not affected. If you truly want to have a space which is safe and welcoming and which makes it so that as many people to Come And Hack as possible, you have to commit to making Noisebridge a space where people's safety is actually a concern.
>
> - beka
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