I am permanently done with Arisia
I’m writing this post because I want to have something to direct folks to when I inevitably get questions. I’ve been volunteering & attending Arisia for so long, I know it’ll take a while before it’s clear that I’m no longer part of it. I can no longer see a path to a healthy future for Arisia.
I will not be continuing my work with the Arisia convention or corporation; I haven’t been on staff for a while, and I have resigned all of my corporate committees. I hoped to have a positive impact with my remaining efforts, and in the past week, it has become painfully clear that I am wasting my time. I gave myself a week to see if I felt differently, or to see if action would be taken. Nothing has changed.
It’s been two years of endless, thankless, and ultimately, fruitless work since shit publicly hit the fan for Arisia in October of 2018. I have to walk away -- as nearly every single other person I care about who volunteered for Arisia has also walked away. I hope they can understand why I stayed, and fought as long as I did. I feel like the person who keeps hanging out with the abusive asshole, claiming that “they’ll change! They can hear reason; sometimes they listen to me!” I’ve been in too many abusive relationships where I thought “I need to stay and keep trying to help this person”, when really, I’m just unable to see they don’t want my help -- or anyone’s help. You can’t change someone who doesn’t want to change.
Arisia needs to fundamentally change, and abandon its status quo. It’s had many opportunities to do so, and I am finally convinced that Arisia is not going to make the necessary changes to improve. I have grasped at every chance that I thought might make a difference, and read & replied to emails and messages when I really didn’t have the energy left to do so. I do not see any evidence that there is real change coming.
For me, the non-apology posted to twitter earlier this month ( https://twitter.com/arisia/status/1324137241229381632), and the negative impact it had on my friends who care about Arisia (but who are already too burned out to give any more) and the complete lack of a response from Arisia in regards to that… I refuse to be associated with this kind of behavior any longer. I did everything I could, internally, to get staff to take that harm seriously, but I shouldn’t be the only person who is speaking up this vehemently (& I was), and it’s been made clear to me that nothing else will be done. My appeals were shot down. There won’t be another apology, even though they said there would be ( https://twitter.com/arisia/status/1324178695469338624)
You can see more replies to the thread here, but some tweets were deleted & accounts locked, so it’s hard to find them all.
https://twitter.com/arisia/status/1324177828888354817
https://twitter.com/arisia/status/1324179736768225281
https://twitter.com/arisia/status/1324179598905614336
https://twitter.com/arisia/status/1324135163018813442
It’s been two fucking years, and Arisia still doesn’t know how to make amends for their mistakes, harmful actions, or inaction. We’ve had so many people show up to try, and so many of them have had to stop doing this work because it is impossible. I wish I didn’t have to. But I need to focus on putting my energy into projects that will do better than this. This entry was originally posted at https://minkrose.dreamwidth.org/1210148.html. You can comment there using OpenID, or on this entry.
I will not be continuing my work with the Arisia convention or corporation; I haven’t been on staff for a while, and I have resigned all of my corporate committees. I hoped to have a positive impact with my remaining efforts, and in the past week, it has become painfully clear that I am wasting my time. I gave myself a week to see if I felt differently, or to see if action would be taken. Nothing has changed.
It’s been two years of endless, thankless, and ultimately, fruitless work since shit publicly hit the fan for Arisia in October of 2018. I have to walk away -- as nearly every single other person I care about who volunteered for Arisia has also walked away. I hope they can understand why I stayed, and fought as long as I did. I feel like the person who keeps hanging out with the abusive asshole, claiming that “they’ll change! They can hear reason; sometimes they listen to me!” I’ve been in too many abusive relationships where I thought “I need to stay and keep trying to help this person”, when really, I’m just unable to see they don’t want my help -- or anyone’s help. You can’t change someone who doesn’t want to change.
Arisia needs to fundamentally change, and abandon its status quo. It’s had many opportunities to do so, and I am finally convinced that Arisia is not going to make the necessary changes to improve. I have grasped at every chance that I thought might make a difference, and read & replied to emails and messages when I really didn’t have the energy left to do so. I do not see any evidence that there is real change coming.
For me, the non-apology posted to twitter earlier this month ( https://twitter.com/arisia/status/1324137241229381632), and the negative impact it had on my friends who care about Arisia (but who are already too burned out to give any more) and the complete lack of a response from Arisia in regards to that… I refuse to be associated with this kind of behavior any longer. I did everything I could, internally, to get staff to take that harm seriously, but I shouldn’t be the only person who is speaking up this vehemently (& I was), and it’s been made clear to me that nothing else will be done. My appeals were shot down. There won’t be another apology, even though they said there would be ( https://twitter.com/arisia/status/1324178695469338624)
You can see more replies to the thread here, but some tweets were deleted & accounts locked, so it’s hard to find them all.
https://twitter.com/arisia/status/1324177828888354817
https://twitter.com/arisia/status/1324179736768225281
https://twitter.com/arisia/status/1324179598905614336
https://twitter.com/arisia/status/1324135163018813442
It’s been two fucking years, and Arisia still doesn’t know how to make amends for their mistakes, harmful actions, or inaction. We’ve had so many people show up to try, and so many of them have had to stop doing this work because it is impossible. I wish I didn’t have to. But I need to focus on putting my energy into projects that will do better than this. This entry was originally posted at https://minkrose.dreamwidth.org/1210148.html. You can comment there using OpenID, or on this entry.