Tech Conference Anti-Harassment Boilerplate Policy

[matt_arnold]

I like my interest groups full of women, and I can't imagine chasing them out of the group which is supposed to be about the common interests, not a dating site. I want an environment in which they can be confident that they are meeting friends, not getting a lot of pressure or big expectations

Comments

[jeffreyab]

How would you apply it to ConFusion? I think the language we use dates back to the 1980's, at least last time I looked.

[matt_arnold]

I would make pretty much the same changes to the verbiage for ConFusion.

[zoethe]

Speaking from personal observation and NOT as a board member, I thnk the fact that there are so many women at PenguiCon is one of the reasons we apparently have a low harassment rate. Women aren't some rare creature at which to gawk, nor are they isolated. The sheer number of women in corsets or short skirts or garb makes it clear that they are doing it for themselves and not as some bid for male companionship. And the couple of times I've seen some guy try to make an unwelcome invasion into a woman's personal space, people have stepped into the conversation before it got to the point of harassment. So I think women at penguicon feel empowered and comfortable.

That's not to say we should ever feel smug or think we are insulated from the possibility. But I do think we start from a position of relative strength.

[darksunlight]

I'm gonna second Zoethe here. The women themselves are the biggest deterrant to sexual harassment. Being geeks themselves, they understand the level of bluntness needed to get an idea through to another geek.

As one of the guys who goes there and flirts, it's actually really nice to be around girls who are very obvious in their wishes, especially as a guy who doesn't pick up on them well.

[toni_rey]

Since I am not an attendee, my comments come from a true outsider, nonetheless I feel my comments valid

[matt_arnold]

My recommendations didn't remove all restrictions on speaking. The policy bans "unwelcome sexual attention". Do you agree this would include complementing a stranger on her breasts?

In both cases, the wrong policy implies "the customer is always right". We know from years of experience that only most of them are right.

We had a guy who wanted quiet, but reserved a room on the official party floor despite repeated warnings and offers to help get a room on the official quiet floor. He complained, and even called the cops on the room parties and attempted to get them all shut down. It went to the point that the hotel, with the help of the police, had to kick him out. He was not in an unsafe or uncomfortable environment, but he told us he felt unsafe and uncomfortable. He was a raving lunatic with a massive sense of personal entitlement. I don't want an unstable fruitcake like him to be able to wave in our face a policy guaranteeing his feelingsI want to protect the ability of participants in a panel discussion, not just to have this or

[nicegeek]

I agree with Matt here. To be effective, any policy about kicking people out of a con needs to have clear, objective boundary lines about what is acceptable, and "It would offend a reasonable woman" is a very fuzzy test, especially given the diversity of opinions and views at a con. The Civil Rights Act was written to apply to employment situations, not private social functions, so it's not the right standard to apply.

[matt_arnold]

It would be a waste of breath for our policies to say to a future offender "don't do what would offend a reasonable woman". Think about who that is and whether they will come to the right conclusion about what we want. Plus it doesn't tell our staff a policy they can all agree on, as far as enforcement. If we write out a list of behaviors, rather than outcomes in your feelings, that will get results. We don't want to declare our attendees the guardians of each other's feelings, since if they have to be told and forced, they're not going to understand.

[rmeidaking]

The women who attend Penguicon tend to come armed with weapons that they know how to use. A man who makes an unwanted advance at Penguicon is gambling with his child-fathering future - and I think most of them know that. I used to wonder about SF cons - and why I didn't hear of more of these kinds of issues - until I figured out just what percentage of the women had had martial arts training. That's really the solution to keeping your daughter safe: teach her to fight back.

[rmeidaking]

Regarding what is 'offensive' - everyone has a different threshold. Really. There is no place where *someone* won't be offended, either by too much or too little of any given thing