[AusNOG] Sexual Harassment at AUSNOG Industry Events

[Paul Wilkins]

To say "everyone knows it's wrong" belies the fact that sexual harassment
is endemic in this industry, and I see no reason to suggest other than
Ausnog membership is representative of the industry. When these issues
can't be discussed, it perpetuates such misunderstandings as:

1 - sexual harassment needs to be criminal to be wrong
2 - a police response resolves Ausnog's fiduciary responsibilities
3 - responsibility for creating a non hostile environment is the sole remit
of HR
4 - you have to be aware you're harassing someone for it to be harassment
5 - suppressing general discussion of a general problem is a legitimate
exercise of governance powers (such as a Stop Thread notice)

Let's not forget that the mailing list is used to advertise Ausnog events.
If the mailing list can be used to advertise Ausnog events, then it should
be fair enough to discuss any culture of harassment at these events. Unless
the corporate position is that you can stray from purely technical
conversation, but only when it promotes the Ausnog brand (such as
advertising events), and not where it might cause damage to the Ausnog
brand (such as raising the question of harassment at these events)?

A Stop Thread suggests Ausnog has broken governance around sexual
harassment, and that the focus needs to shift from a posture where
protecting the reputation of the organisation is paramount, to creating a
framework to ensure people are aware of conduct expected of them, and if
there's a breach of conduct, to ensure the problem is addressed and won't
happen again rather than swept under the carpet. It also goes to creating
an environment where people are comfortable there won't be adverse
consequences for raising or discussing legitimate concerns.

Kind regards

Paul Wilkins


On Tue, 2 Oct 2018 at 08:59, Karen Hargreave <karen at iamunique.net.au> wrote:

> Hi guys,
>
> I will preface my comment with:
> I haven't been to any IT events for a year or so, but I doubt things have
> changed that much in this amount of time.
>
> Ok, that said...
> I used to go along to supplier lead launches where a lot of different
> vendors would come and display their shiney new toys. As a female it was an
> interesting place for me to go to. You attend, get nibbles, drinks etc. the
> vendors in an effort to get more attention would hire "promo girls". You
> know, those cute little girls that leave nothing to the imagination as to
> what they didn't eat for lunch in barely there short shorts and crop tops.
> At least the colours would match the vendors colours.
>
> Then, try being a female at one of these things. While I was never
> harassed (would probably put someone on the floor if they had tried), I was
> ignored. The other person I was with (a male) and I would listen to what
> was being said, then when it was time to ask some questions, if I actually
> managed to get a word in, the person answering would more often than not
> look at the other person when they talked instead of the person who asked
> the question.
>
> How is this relevant? For harassment to end, equality must happen and that
> unfortunately is quite a way off.
>
> For the guys commenting on this thread, I applaude you. It seems that a
> respectable number of folks do not like what has happened. For some of you,
> it is even the case that you simply can't understand why people would do
> things like that in the first place for it to need a conversation. People
> who do the right thing often think most people think they way they do
> because to behave differently is just wrong. Thankfully by speaking up you
> are able to demonstrate to everyone how decent people think and behave and
> hopefully be an example for others to follow.
>
>
>
> Sent from my iPad
>
> On 1 Oct 2018, at 10:36 pm, Noel Butler <noel.butler at ausics.net> wrote:
>
>
> On 01/10/2018 13:26, Peter Tonoli wrote:
>
> To keep on charter, perhaps we need to look at preventing these issues  in
> future?
>
> Looking at the AusNOG website, and the AusNOG 2018 conference sites -
>  they appear, through my cursory look, to be devoid of a code of  conduct,
> or similar. Perhaps, as a community, a good start would be  implementing a
> Code of Conduct - an example I can think of is Linux  Australia's, at
> https://linux.conf.au/attend/code-of-conduct/ .
>
> Cheers,
> Peter.
>
>
>
>
> This is a network operators list for discussion of network operations, not
> HR related material. This entire thread is outside the charter, and to
> continue after being told to stop shows complete and utter lack of respect
> for David and the others who run ausnog, or are we all going to be
> selective about what parts of the charter we think should be enforced.
>
> I also think it was a fair call to STOP THREAD it, since serious criminal
> offence accusations have been made, and as ausnog have done in the past
> with posts that have legal potentials.
>
> There should have been only one report made, and that should have been to
> the police so the mongrels responsible have their day in court and suffer
> the consequences of their actions. This list is not that place.
>
>
>
> --
>
> Kind Regards,
>
> Noel Butler
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