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Most harassment at tech conferences is male-on-male, and it is not sexual. It is about power and control, and perhaps amusement. Sex, gender, height, choice of
by PieterH 11y ago
Most harassment at tech conferences is male-on-male, and it is not sexual. It is about power and control, and perhaps amusement. Sex, gender, height, choice of programming language: these are ways to create and exploit vulnerability.
Sometimes I don't think psychopaths, sorry, bad actors, care about sex at all, except as a tool for controlling people.
- pvdebbe 11y agoIs making fun (not constantly though) of some bad languages now harassment?
- PieterH 11y agoIf it's used to intimidate and isolate, then yes. Remember school bullies? Same thing yet more subtle and stealthy. Often the model of harassment is indirect. For instance you have a group of people who are happy and working together. A predator arrives and sees opportunity. He sees another guy is protecting and coaching the group. So he slowly undermines and destroys this guy's credibility, provoking him to anger and finally making him leave. Then, the group is exposed and easy to play with. You almost never see it. Even when it happens to you, you can almost not see it. It is so slow, careful, smooth. This is why education of these patterns of stalking, isolation, and attack are so important.