As a preface, I fully support both of these changes in language. That said, I think it's both important to balance the idea that sure, sometimes people are idiots, with that sexism is a prevalent problem right now at geek conventions, and that it's more than a 'bad and/or drunk apples' problem.
This list is imperfect (I know several public incidents that aren't on here (recent DEFCON years aren't listed, The Amazing Meeting/ElevatorGate and various other skeptic convention incidents aren't on (possibly by design))), but it's at least a start, and hopefully a picture that sexism is an endemic, systematic problem right now in the geek convention world. http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/wiki/Timeline_of_incidents --James PS: I don't know what they are, but I kinda made myself hungry for some drunk apples right now. On Fri, Nov 30, 2012 at 6:34 AM, MJ Ray <m...@phonecoop.coop> wrote: > Esmé Cowles <escow...@ucsd.edu> > > Also, I've seen a number of reports over the last few years of women > > who were harassed at predominately-male tech conferences. Taken > > together, they paint a picture of men (particularly drunken men) > > creating an atmosphere that makes a lot of people feel excluded and > > worry about being harassed or worse. So I think a positive > > statement of values, and the general raising of consciousness of > > these issues, is a good thing. > > I'm a member of software.coop, which helps write library software, > including Koha - we co-hosted KohaCon12 this summer. Like all co-ops, > our core values include equality. I would like to see an > anti-harassment policy for code4lib. > > However, I'm saddened that I seem to be the first to object to the > hand-waving ("number of reports") and prejudice in the above > paragraph. The above problems seem more likely to arise from being > drunk or being idiots than from being men. Please, let's treat all > groups with equal respect and reserve our ire for particular members > when they give us reason to do otherwise. > > The anti-harassment policy should not be developed from a "we need to > kick men into line" standpoint. As such, I suggest > > https://github.com/code4lib/antiharassment-policy/blob/master/code_of_conduct.md > should say "Discriminatory language and imagery (including sexual)" > rather than leading with a special case of "Sexual". > > I also suggest generalising "religion" to "religious beliefs" to avoid > predictable attempts to insult some minorities and claim it's allowed > because they're not formal, organised or state-approved religions. > > Regards, > -- > MJ Ray (slef), member of www.software.coop, a for-more-than-profit co-op. > http://koha-community.org supporter, web and library systems developer. > In My Opinion Only: see http://mjr.towers.org.uk/email.html > Available for hire (including development) at http://www.software.coop/ >
