McMurdo bans alcohol after harassment claims
apnews.com
apnews.com
> the NSF told the AP the changes involving alcohol were related to morale and welfare at the base, and were not aimed at preventing sexual harassment or assault
> “Alcohol can obviously blur the lines of consent, there’s that issue at play, but overwhelmingly, sexual assault has occurred even when neither party has been consuming alcohol, as was the case with me,” Sorensen said. “So it’s definitely not going to eliminate the problem.”
> “For example, my incident took place during work hours, at a job site, no alcohol involved, and was corroborated and reported through official channels,” Barquist wrote
So two separate victims saying their assaults were nothing to do with alcohol, and the NSF also saying their changes to alcohol aren't due to the harassment claims.
No offense to those who still drink alcohol (I can't for reasons not related to addiction) but the fact that this low-dose poison is still the world's most consumed psychoactive substance alongside caffeine while LLMs are available on our phones, (pseudo)self-driving cars are on the roads, virtual meetings on our computers, and reusable rockets in space feels almost anachronistic. I wish alcohol would go the way of the cigarette.
But all this is not to say that it is solely responsible for the behavior of those men in Antarctica.
What does this have to do with alcohol? Were their employers drunk ?
The AP sent the NSF a detailed list of questions about its investigation in early June and has continued to correspond since, including asking for any planned changes to address sexual harassment and assault. The NSF never listed any planned changes to alcohol policies.
“Because these changes are related to morale and welfare and not sexual assault/harassment prevention, we did not mention this program initiative in our previous response,” the NSF said in a statement.
Second hand source, but I know a biologist who worked on the Kerguelen for two years (on pingouins colonies). It's basically the same as the international Antarctica base. The stories he told me about the rampant alcoholism, the orgies, the lax attitude... He had to go out regularly during the 'summer', when the winds allowed it, to get film back and install new film/clean cameras (it was in the early 90s). It was impossible to go alone, too dangerous, but it was really hard to find personnel to accompany him the first year because missing on alcohol was hard for most people. His second year a woman who didn't know about the activities stayed on the base during the 6 'no contact' months, and her only escape was getting out as much as possible on outside mission (which he appreciated as he collected enough data to come back instead of doing his 3rd year).
Hard to take the ape out of the human.
These scientists are supposed to be some of the greatest people in their fields, working in the most desired jobs, in a unique beautiful place which costs normal people the price of a car to even visit briefly.
And what do they do with their special privileged time in this amazing place?
Sexually harass women.
Throw them in the goddamn frozen ocean.
The problem with people abusing other people is people abusing other people.
You feeling free to express this judgemental attitude about anyone else drinking or doing anything that isn't harming anyone else (you only have an assertion that it leads to harm, and not even the unavoidable form like with drunk driving), is an example of people abusing other people not unlike the rapist.
The alcohol problem they are trying to address is only one of fine tuning, a gentle steering adjustment that hardly affects access to alcohol at all.
I would joke in jest about what we should do with them before we throw them in. But since getting banned from Reddit for joking about choking a rabid dog. I realize it may crass and un-funny to a lot of folks. But the word chum, comes to mind.
Can't be further from the truth. My gf was in academia, it's full of predators, their hierarchical system almost pushes for it if you ask me. Young aspiring phd student attend international science conference full of 40+ incels that promise her the world type of deal. Their lifestyle also select for weird type of personalities, very often asocial/sociopath, a lot of "dreamers" leave the field quite early when they notice the trend
Disgusting people are everywhere, science is a field that allows a few people to control your future like almost no other fields, most specialities are very small worlds in which everything works on personal recommendation basis, word of mouth, &c.
In the end you have the perfect combination of power (of the hierarchy), admiration (of aspirational researchers), "sacrifice are needed" mentality, these places are borderline cult like sometimes
Regardless, it doesn't matter how "stir crazy" one is going from being stuck indoors, the appropriate response is never to rape women.
> These scientists
> The U.S. Antarctic Program deploys roughly 3,000 people to Antarctica every year, mostly during the austral summer from October through February. These participants include: scientists who conduct research; support staff who operate and maintain the U.S. research stations and vessels; members of the military and other federal agencies; artists and writers who use art to broaden public awareness of Antarctica; and members of the media who report on Antarctic science.