Why Conference Harassment Matters

blogher.com

19 points·pwg··5 comments

IMO the creeper card thing is pretty bogus. If you are in a threatening situation, handing someone a red card is not going to deescalate anything. Nor is it nonconfrontational. It's basically shifting blame back onto the women, "well if he was such a creep why didn't you call him on it" etc.

Heres a thought: harassment at conferences is a big deal because it is a crime that can have you lead away in handcuffs...

Unfortunately there's a level of harassment that probably isn't worth prosecuting, but that still is a very real problem.

The creeper card system, while imperfect, does provide a kind of a framework to call people out for minor inappropriate behavior which some might find easier than continuously find a good response on the fly.

I was thinking the same thing. My default response to sexual assault would involve the police. And probably a lot of angry yelling.

One thing I notice here is that the author does not mention if she spoke to the staff at the conference at all. If the staff is not made aware of such behavior, there is little they can do about it. I realize that this can be uncomfortable, but, the staff is there to help, and want to prevent such behavior as much, if not even more, than the victim of such behavior.

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