steven t. piantadosi Profile picture
computational cognitive science he/him

Dec 10, 2019, 14 tweets

At the end of her #NeurIPS2019 talk on how we come to know about the world, @celestekidd takes a moment to comment on the "climate for men" that #MeToo has created and what people don't know about it. @NeurIPSConf @WomenInCogSci #WiML2019 @AnnOlivarius @ucberkely @BerkeleyPsych

In science and tech, "people believe that men are being fired for subtle comments or minor jokes, or just plain kindness or cordial behavior. This perception makes people very nervous. What I want to say today to all of the men in the room is that you have been misled."

"The truth is this: it takes an incredible--truly immense--amount of mistreatment before women complain. No woman in tech wants to file a complaint because they know the consequences of doing so. The most likely outcome---by far---is that they will be retaliated against."

"Complainants face retaliation in 75% of cases across all sectors, according to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission."

Yesterday:

"What this means is that when you hear about a case---like something in the news or at your institution--your priors should tell you that it’s very likely that some unusually bad behavior happened."

"Offenders almost universally apologize for a minor infraction... They lie by omission. These apologies for minor things mislead people into believing that the accused person is being unfairly persecuted for the minor misstep, and makes those reporting seem unreasonable ... "

"Minor apologies lead people to falsely believe that their own careers could be ended for a similarly minor infraction. This is not true. It is unfair to other men."

"It harms the climate for everyone. For men, who are afraid to interact with women colleagues and train women students. And for women, who miss out on those professional interactions."

"You don’t need to fear being attacked for minor comments and misunderstandings, because that’s not what’s happening. That is a myth that those who have genuinely abused people ... would like you to believe."

"You deserve to benefit from the innovations and ideas of the women at your institutions. We deserve to be interacted with as equal colleagues. We need each other to innovate and thrive."

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