For me, part of this issue is that much of the stuff that the "some prominent feminist bloggers" bleat about as horrific and traumatizing conduct, well, in my view just isn't.
If this is what was reported to Grothe, and Grothe immediately acted to boot the guy out, then didn't he do plenty to address the situation? And, this is the one specific instance raised. We have lots of generalized allegations, like Watson's allegation that she was repeatedly groped, but since this is the only reported incident, what else is Grothe to think?I generally don’t take the time to fact correct every random person who misrepresents what I say, because it’s a herculean task, but I’m surprised to find, after all the positive back and forth between us, that DJ went and said this:
All we knew about was that someone was removed from the speaker reception because he wasn’t permitted to be there, and was apparently drunk. In her blog post and in further comments, Ashley says she didn’t feel like the harassment was worth reporting to JREF staff or hotel staff at the time, nor did she nor anyone else mention it in one of the TAM attendee surveys.
No, absolutely not true, and an abhorrent misrepresentation of what happened.
From the man who reported the incident:
…he was rude and talking to several ladies with inappropriate language. I told you [DJ] about him and you took immediate action and talked to the gentleman and you took him from the room.
At that time, DJ only knew what I told him and he acted immediately and did the right thing. There is a chance that DJ does not remember this because he only knew that the guy was rude, drunk and needed to leave. DJ did not stop to think about it – he just took action.
I had been told it was already reported, because it was reported and dealt with by DJ, I didn’t know a second report was necessary.
And, look at what was actually reported: "he was rude and talking to several ladies with inappropriate language." Well, la-dee-frickin'-da. A guy was rude and used "inappropriate" language. What did he say? Fuck? Shit? Cunt? What? Enough with the general language. Ashley Miller here is outraged by the atrocious misrepresentation here -- that's not all that happened -- she didn't report anything, because she thought some man was taking care of it. But, now she's pissed that DJ Grothe has the temerity to think that what actually was reported to him was what actually is alleged to have happened. And, even now, in the article linked, Ashley Miller does NOT specify what the drunk British guy said.
I hope someone who is involved in this discussion directly will ask her. What the fuck did the British guy say? Did he ask for sexual favors? Was he joking? Was it merely "inappropriate" or was it threatening?
If this event was such a serious issue, Ashley, why did you leave it to others to report it, an event that you claim makes you feel "unsafe?" It's your responsibility, Ashley. Grow up. You left it to some guy to handle the matter for you, and now you're pissed that Grothe received only that one piece of information, which wasn't even a report of "harassment" because all it was was a report of some inappropriate language by a drunk guy.
And, stop it with the outrage on your part about the misrepresentation. You did, clearly, not feel it was important enough for you to report yourself. You sat back, and let someone else do it. You relied on some guy to handle it. Next time, when someone says something you don't like, tell that person directly that you don't like it. If they persist, call the organizer of the event and the proprietor of the facility in which the event is located, and if necessary, the police. Until you're willing to do that, you're not taking the issue seriously enough to expect others to do so for you.
