Hm, I think that maybe it explains this tendency. However, I don't think that a big proportion of people in the community being located in one country should be an excuse for forgetting about cultural diversity here, and treating everybody as if they came from the same background. I don't know exact numbers, but I think that this "majority" is rather 70%, not close to 98%. Also, if we want to expand EA it's super important for it to be welcoming, and I think the tendency to ignore cultural diversity (i.e. by requesting everybody to adopt US-adjusted norms and shaming people who don't/are confused/behave not according to those norms as their culture has different way of expression) makes expansion unnecessarily difficult.
Yup, it was. And the situation definitely should be investigated in depth, and the culture changed, such as similar things don't happen in the future.
I just want to draw attention to the fact, that dating culture is very different in the UK/US and, for example Italy or India. And I think the culture you are born into, not EA membership is a primary factor shaping human romantic and sexual behavior, so the EA dating culture varies heavily between the countries. I think that "finding a way of preventing sexual misconduct" is overall a god damn responsibility of every community builder, but, seriously it is because it was always important to prevent such things, not because of recent events.
Now, what happened can be probably a good feedback or wake up call. But:
It is a good feedback for everybody involved in the UK/US community, as it is the culture which allowed such events.
It should be a good wake up call for everybody outside those countries, who so far didn't think about prevention measures...
...but those prevention measures should be adjusted to your culture and needs of your community members. Solving local problem using remedies coming from entirely other culture (i.e. Anglo- Saxon culture) and shaming people for not liking those remedies will just cause problems, and, let's say it gently - we have some very visible examples of serious fuck-ups which such approach caused in the past.
Also, if we focus on "EA culture" instead of "EA Anglo-Saxon culture" here, we end up ignoring some serious nuances I think.
I think that Community Health Team has some type of contact form on their website, which also can be anonymous? It may be worth drawing their attention to what you say here and your comments above - and it may also help to clarify your questions!
To be frank, if the rules were very detailed and very different from my usual behavior patterns I would have trouble following them. My brain, you see, simply works on autopilot a huge proportion of time. If there are just a couple of rules which would require me to alter my behavior, sure, I will remember about them and do my best to follow. If there are too many - it will be just super hard for me to memorize it and could make me super anxious that I'll break some rule because I forgot it!
Thank you for your perspective! Could you please tell if being able to ask somebody designated what actual social rules are in case you have any doubts would help?
Also, from what I understand you believe that the current reactions systems during EA conferences are very harsh when it comes to punishing somebody who did not behave according to social rules. For example, they would ban the rule breaker from any events without giving space for them to explain the reason for their behavior. Could you please let me know why would you perceive them as that harsh?
I have an opinion that such systems are usually not that strict, and give space for some mistakes - but I may be mistaken, or right only about reaction systems I've heard about.
Hm, I think that maybe it explains this tendency. However, I don't think that a big proportion of people in the community being located in one country should be an excuse for forgetting about cultural diversity here, and treating everybody as if they came from the same background.
I don't know exact numbers, but I think that this "majority" is rather 70%, not close to 98%. Also, if we want to expand EA it's super important for it to be welcoming, and I think the tendency to ignore cultural diversity (i.e. by requesting everybody to adopt US-adjusted norms and shaming people who don't/are confused/behave not according to those norms as their culture has different way of expression) makes expansion unnecessarily difficult.
Yup, it was. And the situation definitely should be investigated in depth, and the culture changed, such as similar things don't happen in the future.
I just want to draw attention to the fact, that dating culture is very different in the UK/US and, for example Italy or India. And I think the culture you are born into, not EA membership is a primary factor shaping human romantic and sexual behavior, so the EA dating culture varies heavily between the countries. I think that "finding a way of preventing sexual misconduct" is overall a god damn responsibility of every community builder, but, seriously it is because it was always important to prevent such things, not because of recent events.
Now, what happened can be probably a good feedback or wake up call. But:
I think that Community Health Team has some type of contact form on their website, which also can be anonymous? It may be worth drawing their attention to what you say here and your comments above - and it may also help to clarify your questions!
To be frank, if the rules were very detailed and very different from my usual behavior patterns I would have trouble following them. My brain, you see, simply works on autopilot a huge proportion of time. If there are just a couple of rules which would require me to alter my behavior, sure, I will remember about them and do my best to follow. If there are too many - it will be just super hard for me to memorize it and could make me super anxious that I'll break some rule because I forgot it!
Thank you for your perspective! Could you please tell if being able to ask somebody designated what actual social rules are in case you have any doubts would help?
Also, from what I understand you believe that the current reactions systems during EA conferences are very harsh when it comes to punishing somebody who did not behave according to social rules. For example, they would ban the rule breaker from any events without giving space for them to explain the reason for their behavior. Could you please let me know why would you perceive them as that harsh?
I have an opinion that such systems are usually not that strict, and give space for some mistakes - but I may be mistaken, or right only about reaction systems I've heard about.