[Imc-makerspace] [OTI] Story of the Noisebridge anti-harassment policy

[Chris Ritzo]

On Thu 26 Sep 2013 07:22:30 PM EDT, Dan Staples wrote:
> https://plus.google.com/110222380410616419949/posts/5517czLTefa
>
> I personally had no idea the degree to which misogyny had gone unchecked
> at Noisebridge, I had only heard positive things about the space.
> Perhaps that's telling about how uncritical many tech/hacker spaces are
> about sexism and harassment, and how male-dominated they are. We should
> really show these awesome feminist hackers some support.
>
> Dan
>

Thanks for sharing this Dan. I agree about supporting NB in enacting 
the policy, no doubt it's needed. One of the things I loved about 
Makerspace Urbana was that members actively work to make the space a 
safe, welcoming to everyone with direct outreach to kids, families, 
communities of color and people of all gender identities. It takes 
work, struggle, ability to be uncomfortable yourself and engage with 
people who do crap like this, and address it.

Also, I kind of feel like folks who think that consensus spaces don't 
need a structure to enact individual and group accountability, haven't 
really had to deal with situations where people disrespected the space, 
the people in it, or the agreed upon mores of the group. It's a lot 
harder to be accountable to one another in a collective than to simply 
issue platitudes and expect that to magically get people to respect one 
another.

-Chris