I am not aware of any recent egregious issues and I don't think code4lib
is a hotbed of misogynist behavior, certainly not compared to more
mainstream tech conferences or something notorious like DefCon. Having a
policy in place (which was my only request in that original email, and
which we now have, yay!) is a good idea regardless of whether any
individual incident in the past meets anyone's individual criteria for
harassment. It protects conference organizers legally, it gives us an
agreed upon way to respond if incidents do arise, and having such a policy
is a proven way to make conferences more welcoming to women and gender
minorities.
I am not comfortable discussing my individual experience in public more
than I already have. I have acted as a lightning rod for these kinds of
discussions in the past and I am not interested in playing that role again.
I am not comfortable discussing specific incidents that have been related
to me in confidence, and I am REALLY not interested in rehashing more
public incidents, I think that would be a train wreck. As for what has
happened that we're trying to address: Sometimes people make thougtless
jokes. Sometimes people say alienating things without meaning to. Sometimes
people do things they might later wish they hadn't done, because they were
drunk, or having a good time, or never knew a certain word carried a
certain connotation for some people. These things are not really
news-worthy individually. I would prefer instead to put energy into knowing
how to respond to problematic behavior in the moment, how to discuss
questions of privilege and inclusiveness without creating hostility, and
how to make library technology more inclusive in general.
Bess
On Dec 18, 2012, at 5:16 PM, Michele R Combs <[email protected]> wrote:
Much better to do it that way than on the list, IMHO. Then the list can
get back to code :)
It's possible that the ratio of idiots at a code4lib function is
comparable to the ratio of idiots anywhere else (e.g., an ALA conference or
SAA function or, heck, your basic office party). In that case, I submit
that no special method of attack or treatment is required -- just the same
approach used when one encounter jerks in any other area of one's life.
Michele
________________________________________
From: Code for Libraries [[email protected]] on behalf of
Jonathan Rochkind [[email protected]]
Sent: Tuesday, December 18, 2012 7:14 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] Question abt the code4libwomen idea
...Is this a good idea, or just a disaster trainwreck lying in wait? If
it's a good idea, we could easily set up a wiki page where people can
easily anonymously describe incidents (again, what I'm going for is NOT
calling specific people out, but just giving us an idea of what it is
that has happened that we're trying to stop from happening, you know?)...
