We Need to Talk: Harassment and hookups.

As I wrote on Wednesday , I don’t see how there is anything controversial about events having or enforcing policies about harassment. We’ve even started building a list of existing harassment policies at conferences as a resource for event organizers, attendees, and speakers. Unfortunately it does seem like a lot of people do think these policies are a bad idea for our events.

One reason I’ve seen given in opposition to harassment policies is that they are prudish and they inhibit the ability for adults to express their sexuality. Basically they say that these policies have a “chilling”& effect on skeptics and atheists meeting and having sex at conferences. Others argue that not having and enforcing these policies have a “chilling” effect on women attending in large numbers.

Do policies regarding appropriate behavior at events inhibit anyone’s ability for consensual sex at these events? Is it the responsibility for skeptic and atheist event organizers to facilitate or even take in to account the ability of attendees to have sex at their events?