Elevatorgate vs Boragate: a heartening response to a bad situation
In comparing Elevatorgate to Boragate, it's clear that the scientific writing community has something going for it that the atheist/skeptic community does not. I don't think I'm qualified to parse the minutia to speculate what that thing or things may be, but just to lay out the basics:
Elevatorgate Boragate Harasser was some random schmuck at a conferenceHarasser was one of the--if not the--most highly regarded in the fieldIncident happened after both parties had been drinking At least one of the incidents happened after both parties had been drinkingVictim coming forward was met with anger and disbelief Victims coming forward were believed and not attackedHarasser attempted to justify actionsHarasser admitted actions immediately and admitted they were wrongHarasser fought and continues to fight for self and others to continue harassing unimpededHarasser resigned from positions of influence/authority and is not attempting to direct how others are allowed to feel, react, or make changes in response to the revelations Victim and supporters were targets for rape and death threats and slander onlineVictims and supporters created a space to process (#ripplesofdoubt) and were not harassed or impeded from thatIncident created months-long initial dust-up Timeline between reveal of first incident and people writing "aftermath" posts < one weekFight against reform in the community is ongoingCommunity has agreed that changes are needed and is starting to work on them. Victims are STILL facing threats, harassment, and slander years laterComparison N/A due to recentness of event
None of this is to say that Science has it all figured out. There are constantly incidents of obvious and ridiculous bias coming to light through academia and writing communities, and incidents of obvious bigotry such as the Biology Online/Sci Am/DN Lee incident that precipated Bora's first victim deciding to name him. These are all anecdotal (but documented), and don't even begin to touch the actual studies that reveal and confirm (over and over) institutionalized bias. So I am not trying to paint Science as a happy playground of objectivity, b/c anyone with a modicum of self-scrutiny can tell you that notion is a narcissist fantasy. Mainly I want to draw attention to things like the fact that Hannah Waters is not drowning in rape threats and that neither Bora nor the few people who initially attempted to excuse his behavior are arguing that the status quo is right and the victims' expectations were wrong. These are very basic aspects of respectful behavior, and it makes the atheist/skeptic reaction to Elevatorgate look all the more poorly.