EA - If you’d like to do something about sexual misconduct and don’t know what to do. by Habiba

Welcome to The Nonlinear Library, where we use Text-to-Speech software to convert the best writing from the Rationalist and EA communities into audio. This is: If you’d like to do something about sexual misconduct and don’t know what to do., published by Habiba on April 30, 2023 on The Effective Altruism Forum.Photo by Andrew MocaFollowing on from posts from women in the community discussing recent events (like this and this) I wanted to provide some specific suggestions for people who want to do something about sexual misconduct and harassment in EA but don’t know where to start. If you find the word useful, you could consider this post a guide to being an “ally”I was inspired to write this after some of my male friends asked what they could do to help and/or were pretty surprised by how well the things they did went down. But it’s hopefully useful advice for everyone, myself included.I’ve written this most with sexual harassment in mind. However, some of the sections are applicable in thinking about sexual assault, violence or even rape.Caveats:The post is not attempting to persuade anyone who isn’t already convinced that it’s worth taking action - I’ll leave that to other posts.It’s just my take on what might be helpful to doNavigating this stuff is tricky - what makes most sense for you to do is going to be very context dependentMy thoughts are fairly focused on the culture and norms I’m most familiar with (I’m a woman of colour, from the UK)SummaryRemember we’re all within the system - One useful frame can be thinking about what actions are the “paths of least resistance” in social situations that lead to harm, and trying to not take those ourselves as a way of trying to change themAct with compassion - In general act as if people in the discussion have a decent chance of having been personally affected. And be extra compassionate as a result.Learn about the issue - You can still be really helpful even if you don’t feel like a world expert on the topic. That said, do carry on learning more, including beyond the EA community, especially before suggesting improvements. This can be either by yourself (there’s some suggestions at the end) or with others (e.g. start a discussion group)Listen to community members empathetically - Be an empathetic listener to people in discussions about sexual misconduct. Both reactively when they raise things with you and proactively by reaching out to people who might feel affected. Consider pausing discussing your opinions and solutions with someone who is upset at least until you’ve done the listening bit first.Support people who tell you about their experience - Listen to and carry on being supportive to someone who shares a story with you about an experience they had. Respect their preferences on confidentiality and autonomy over what to do next. And also look after yourself.Reflect on your own behaviour - Spend a little time reflecting on your own past behaviour and if there is anything you want to do about past actions or change for the future. Check in with someone else if so. This is tough but courageous to do.Interject when you see harmful behaviour - Whether it's happening online or in person interject as an active bystander. Challenge the behaviour and/or look out for the person affectedTake action about people who have harmed others - Take responsibility for doing something about people you interact with who have harmed others, but handle this with care. Consult with friends / experts to work out what to do. Feel free to maintain your own distance even if behaviour isn’t bad enough to face professional repercussionsParticipate in the discussion - When there is community wide discussion about issues like sexual misconduct participate by signal boosting those affected and contributing your own takesContribute to or start community wide initiatives - Contribute to existing projects in the EA space, take actions within your local EA group or workplace and conside...