Friday, January 30, 2015

Starting a Dialogue on Sexual Harassment in Libraries

"the conversation starts here...
ALA Chicago Midwinter Meeting"
Here is an example of how librarians feel about sexual harassment of librarians and how it is a topic many wish to avoid.  "[S]exual harassment and misogyny [is] rampant it is in the [librarian] profession." "Sometimes, worse than the harassment is the pushback from peers for speaking out about our experiences."

I recently tweeted quotes from this, prompting others to tweet and retweet about it, including the author, including how ALA Midwinter will not be discussing the issue (#TeamHarpy), so this clearly hits a raw nerve.  

For a blog called "Sexual Harassment of Librarians," this is a must and I hope to "get that conversation flowing" with these excerpts:

by Lisa Rabey
American Libraries
10 June 2014

[Elided.]

And yet, here I am in a new profession that is predominantly female and on some levels, the sexism and misogyny is a lot worse than during the dot-com boom.

Since the beginning of my library career, I’ve been very public about sexual harassment and misogyny and how rampant it is in the profession. The more I and others write, promote, and talk about the library world’s dirty laundry, the more our detractors come out to rebut and shame us for speaking out.

Sometimes, worse than the harassment is the pushback from peers for speaking out about our experiences.

[Elided.]

We need to stop turning a blind eye. We should stop shaming people for speaking out against the indifferences they see at local institutions and at national levels. We have to stop using the word “diversity” as our motto if we’re not willing to really work on making our profession diverse.

We need to stop claiming that libraries are progressive unless we really want to be progressive.

[Elided.]

And be vocal. Be persistent. Be brave. And most of all, get that conversation flowing.


NOTE ADDED 2 FEBRUARY 2015:

I changed the graphic from the ALA Midwinter 2015 logo to one showing the ALA saying "the conversation starts here...," and that is entirely relevant to the point to "get that conversation flowing."  That is exactly what I am doing on this new blog called, "Sexual Harassment of Librarians."

Also, I add the following notice:
© Copyright 1997-2014, American Library Association 
The American Library Association is providing information and services on the web in furtherance of its non-profit and tax-exempt status.  Permission to use, copy and distribute documents delivered from this website and related graphics is hereby granted for private, non-commercial and education purposes only, provided that the above copyright notice appears with the following notice: This document may be reprinted and distributed for non-commercial and educational purposes only, and not for resale.  No resale use may be made of material on this website at any time.  All other rights reserved.

NOTE ADDED 25 FEBRUARY 2015:

DMCA (link) complaint, presumably by Lisa Rabey, has been successful.  I was trying to "be vocal.  Be persistent.  Be brave.  And most of all, get that conversation flowing."  So I am acting accordingly to remove most of the content.  (Librarians getting others to remove content.  Hmmm.   On sexual harassment of librarians, no less.  Hmmm.  By a librarian being sued for claiming without evidence that another librarian is a sexual harasser.  Hmmm.)

I still urge you all to read all of what Lisa Rabey said about the pervasive sexual harassment within librarianship (link).

And I'm still building this resource that I know for a fact is already helping at least one sexually harassed librarian who specifically praised this new resource despite Lisa Rabey's DMCA statement (link).


NOTE ADDED 28 MARCH 2015:

Warning: Lisa Rabey has admitted she lied (link) about a certain librarian being a "sexual predator."  She destroyed the career of that librarian.  The article of hers that I extensively quoted above has been roundly criticized as follows: "One of the vigilantes was then given a platform in the American Libraries magazine."  See:


Also, I wrote the following:




URL of this page:

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