[H-GEN] Room Bookings Update

[Jacinta Richardson]

Res wrote:

> This is a problem, who decides what is objectionable? What offends one may 
> not another, it is up to the viewer of said content, so long as the content
> does not blatantly break laws it should not be an issue, just look at the 
> arguments with relation to this with that twit idiot senator Conroy.

This argument comes up a lot.  "I don't find it offensive, that random person
over there doesn't find it offensive; why should I care that you're offended?"
People don't usually choose to be offended.  They either are, or are not.
Telling them that they aren't offended, or shouldn't be offended, is ineffective.

In my opinion anything which can be seen as objectifying people (including
scantily-clad anime girls) is objectionable *at a technical meeting*.  I quite
like anime, I have some anime posters up in my house including of a girl wearing
a much too short skirt; but I'd never show such on my desktop at a technical
meeting; it's inappropriate.  This is not to say you can't have pictures of
people, but think about the intent of the pictures.  There's a big difference
between a happy shot of your family, or a cute picture of your baby/child than
of a teenage girl failing to sufficiently hold her very short skirt down on a
windy day... or of a naked or effectively naked woman or man or group of people.

It's about inclusiveness.  Images of soft porn (yet alone harder porn) make
people who don't enjoy porn; or don't enjoy that sort of porn feel excluded.  It
can make your meeting feel like a locker room rather than a meeting of equals.
Note that "the internet is for porn" is _not_ an appropriate response to this
concern.  Regardless of whether you enjoy porn, showing porn at technical
presentations changes the tone of the event.  It typically says "we're all
white, heterosexual, hot-blooded males here; and if you aren't then you're not
really one of us, even if we usually pretend you are".  Showing more naked men
for balance doesn't help either.  We've all felt like outsiders at some time or
another, but it's your choice as to whether you need to make the minorities in
our midst feel more like outsiders than usual.

Since I'm rarely in Brisbane I haven't made it to a HUMBUG meet.  I'm not
accusing anyone there of showing such material.  I have only been at two events
(both in Melbourne) where this has happened, the first was in 2000 or earlier
and noone else seemed to see it as an issue.  The second caused a huge uproar.
Yet it still happens, for example at SLUG last year in November a speaker showed
the thumbnails of his talk briefly while getting ready.  One of the organisers
spotted something that was unsuitable and privately asked the speaker to not
show that slide.  When about to reach that slide, the speaker asked the audience
if there were any "prudes" in the audience.  Despite some being willing to
accept the sneered title, he said it would be easier to show the image and go
onwards so he did so (it was of naked female elves).  A number of the audience
left in protest, and he was banned from future events.

All the best,

	J

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