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This year, I cancelled my PyCon talk. It was supposed to happen today around 3:30 Eastern. It was hard to do because I love PyCon and speaking there (this would have been the second time) but I did it because of how they handled Datacamp's sponsorship of the conference. 1/x
If you're not familiar, Datacamp's CEO sexually harassed and assaulted one of the company's employees at a company event. The company investigated and decided to give him a slap on the wrist datacamp.com/community/blog… 2/x
The CEO is stepping aside indefinitely and issued an apology, although it managed to lump such a gross misuse of power into a "mistake along the way" and he's neither resigned nor been fired. Disappointing, sure, but hardly surprising in a tech company datacamp.com/community/blog… 3/x
The (now former) Datacamp employee involved came forward publicly; as did instructors who had been applying pressure on the management team to do something; at least one instructor on Twitter encouraged students to stop using the platform. 4/x
I was pretty sure I'd talked to Datacamp reps at previous PyCons, and I had faith that they'd make a strong statement against this behavior by the CEO and the inaction of the company. This was the statement pycon.blogspot.com/2019/04/an-upd… 5/x
In essence, they said they couldn't really do much because the bad behavior didn't happen at PyCon, there's no policy to address this type of situation, & the sponsorship money Datacamp gave them will be donated to a charity that advocates for women and reinforcing their CoC 6/x
This to me just was not enough. I spend hours preparing talks and traveling to talks; they aren't part of my day job at all, either. As much as I love Python, the community and sharing my work, I couldn't ignore this 7/x
I've been working in the Bay Area in tech for a decade, and I've been on the receiving end of this bad behavior from powerful men more than once. More frequently I've experienced the constant stream for aggression and disrespect that enables those extreme infractions. 8/x
At first this made me sad and disappointed (just like the PyCon blog post). Now I'm just fed up and pissed off, not just at the men who do this, but the way that other organizations in this ecosystem provide cover by not stepping up even if there's no policy for that. 9/x
The PyCon blog post said that hands were tied because existing policy & contracts didn't cover this situation. However, the PSF both runs the conference and sets the rules. Swift action could have been taken to set future policy even if removing DC wasn't feasible this yr 10/x
Also, c'mon everyone, it's not like nothing like this has ever happened before in a tech company and sparked public outrage. Why this policy wasn't set proactively, just for CYA reasons, IDK 11/x
No one was forced to make a statement that didn't mention the instructors standing up for the ex employee who was the victim in this scenario, or some words for the victim herself, or using the passive wording, "an incident where one of their employees was sexually harassed" 12/x
Again, I love Python and the community around it, but this kind of non-committal unforced error reminds me that the safety & dignity of me and my fellow women is not a given anywhere. It breaks my heart a little, TBH 13/x
When I cancelled a week ago, I got a kind note from the Chair and an offer to refund any expenses I'd incurred. It was a nice gesture, but just not enough. I would have preferred at least a strong statement & unequivocal support of the victim in this situation 14/x
I also feel bad for the Datacamp employees who have to show up at the conference who may not have had any involvement in this. One guy's actions are having an impact on a lot of people; I think actions like this should have consequences 15/x
Again, this made me really sad, but I just couldn't invest my time and effort in an organization that, when push comes to shove, does not support women. I hope that changes soon /end
