Re: In Defense of Adria Richards and Call-out Culture

Interesting article over at The Daily Dot. It's in reference to the donglegate incident and the fallout that followed. A lot of what's happened, I'm sure anyone would agree, was overblown. Then again that's par for the course I guess when one involves the public at large - you never know how they'll react.

I have to admit that I get where the author is coming from; you see, anything that can be construed as a social putdown by one party does result in negative emotions, in most cases anger. Anger has been shown to follow social rejection, and admonishing someone for their actions does qualify. We don't know where someone's from and how he is in daily life, and so caution is advisable when dealing with strangers.

But here's the thing: Adria Richards did not try to approach two grown men in a public place with a neutral manner to mention how she can overhear a conversation that could reflect badly on the latter. The two men were presumably well-educated, well-adjusted and hard-working individuals; they're not your typical alley rapists. Talking to them in a way that did not generate feelings of rejection or belittlement would not, I think, have caused any problems. Assuming as the author did that women who call out others will get raped and/or murdered is a gross oversimplification and doing so sabotages the friendly, civil interaction that we should expect of each other.

And this is a true thing; in the Social Psychology online course I'm taking the concepts of confirmation bias and self-fulfilling prophecies were discussed. Rory Miller also has a lot to say about the topic in his blog. You're holding this idea in your head about how these interactions are going to go, you're going to be looking for the things that confirm your thinking. And you're going to be acting without realizing it, in a manner that will guarantee that the idea in your head will prove true. 

Aside from the above, I'm going to follow Mr. Miller's lead and shut up; I wasn't there, and these events don't really impact me in any personal way. But here's something to think about: if we grant that women should be allowed the prerogative to upload pictures of men to shame them when they act in a sexist manner, where is the oversight? We have multiple layers of security and monitoring and accountability for almost everything in our lives, where are all those for this?

And how is uploading call-out shots different from uploading creepshots? The latter is about promoting lust, the former about promoting outrage. Aside from that, what's the difference?