[AusNOG] Sexual Harassment at AUSNOG Industry Events

[Giles Pollock]

Jesus.... It is nearly 2019, we are (should be) better than this. It's hard
enough to balance the tech industry as a whole, so more power to rubbing
out the troublemakers causing this trouble. Everyone should have the right
to be safe from harassment when doing their jobs.

On Sun, 30 Sep. 2018, 11:23 Bevan Slattery, <bevan at slattery.net.au> wrote:

> ***NOT FOR REPUBLICATION***
>
>
>
> Hi everyone,
>
>
>
> I am writing this email to everyone here because there is a problem within
> our industry and it needs to end.
>
>
>
> Last week at a strategy off-site for one of my businesses we were speaking
> to a new (young female) starter about possibly coming to PTC this year.  We
> spoke about how insanely busy it is and that it’s a great experience unlike
> almost anything else.  Then near the end of the conversation we ended up in
> a dark place speaking about past issues around sexual harassment and that I
> have zero tolerance with such activity.  We were speaking about empowering
> our women team members to say “no”, to make sure “people know it’s just not
> acceptable regardless of the position of power the person doing it is –
> customer or other”.  Confident women that say “no” who don’t tolerate that
> behaviour seems like the solution.  Then the conversation went darker.
>
>
>
> I was given examples of sexual harassment at this years AUSNOG.  At Ausnog
> my staff were directly targeted with inappropriate messages, inappropriate
> approaches and to my shock sexual assault.  People thinking it is somewhat
> acceptable to walk up to my staff and grope them.  I’m not going to go into
> emotions or what I felt or where my head went.  I am going to short cut
> this and help the industry get a ****ing compass.
>
>
>
>    - When my staff give you their phone number – it is their work phone
>    number, not an offer for you to flirt with them and try to get them or send
>    inappropriate pictures
>    - When my staff give you their work email address – it is their work
>    email address, not an offer for you to flirt or harass them
>    - If you harass my staff they will tell you, they will escalate to me
>    and I will talk to your CEO and raise a direct complaint for action
>    - If you sexually assault my staff they will tell you, they will
>    immediately raise it to the event coordinator to seek your expulsion from
>    the event, they will raise it to me, I will raise it to your CEO and seek
>    to have you rubbed out of our industry for good
>
>
>
> From the discussion this behaviour does NOT just happen at AUSNOG.  It is
> still happening at other industry events (PTC/ITW etc.) and usually when
> alcohol and a sense of power is involved.  It’s really simple.  If you
> can’t control yourself when drinking, don’t drink.  But I’ve had enough of
> arming my female staff with tactics on how to manage the inappropriate
> behaviour of others only to find out this stuff still continues.  If this
> has happened to you by my staff, the same applies.
>
>
>
> I am going to write letters to the CEO’s of every company whose team
> members sexually harassed/assaulted my staff and notify them they have
> either bad actors or a bad culture.  I’m not naming names this time around,
> just arming them with the knowledge their organisation has had a problem in
> the past and needs to re-educate some of their staff around appropriate
> behaviour.  Moving forward I will be naming names to the CEO’s.
>
>
>
> If you want to stay in this industry then pull your head in and treat
> everyone appropriately and if this industry doesn’t want to become the next
> #metoo meme then the industry leaders need to commit to wiping these grubs
> out, regardless of position/organisation.  I’m sure other leaders feel the
> same way.  The rot stops.
>
>
>
> [b]
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> AusNOG mailing list
> AusNOG at lists.ausnog.net
> http://lists.ausnog.net/mailman/listinfo/ausnog
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.ausnog.net/pipermail/ausnog/attachments/20180930/027151dd/attachment.html>