Compassion for women
As a queer, pansexual, cis, Jewish man I am very cognizant of the issues that I, and people in my community face on a daily basis. I created Tooters as a safe space for “everyone under the rainbow”, which includes allies. Part of that group, one whose needs and feelings are often ignored, are women.
There are many women @ tooters.org I consider friends, and I genuinely care about their safety, and well-being. This same level of compassion also extends to every woman on the fediverse, many of whom I have also befriended. As I’ve learned lately, I could be doing a lot more to specifically prove those words for this demographic, and today I am seeking to do just that.
Part of ensuring I create a safe space here for women involves proactively moderating to ensure they feel comfortable, and protected. I can promise you I take every single moderation report extremely seriously, but what if issues are not reported? A fear of persecution, or other prevalent problems means far too often a true need for intervention isn’t granted when it is needed most.
I am also not ignorant to the fact that many women simply don’t feel comfortable seeking support from a cis male when it comes to sensitive topics like this. Many of you are already familiar with my Spanish moderator @sandy@tooters.org who is a woman, and a PoC. She and I both want to take a more hands on approach to mitigating the barriers to helping women, and allowing them to help themselves on the fediverse.
There are two parts to our initial steps in this process. The first is taking me out of the equation. Feel like you would only rather talk to another woman about the issues you are having? Sandra will be your only point of contact, and she is able to take administrative action against accounts so that a man never becomes involved.
The second part is focused on fear of retribution, persecution. Rather than reach out via a DM that is tied to your account, we have setup an email address care@tooters.org which you can correspond with anonymously. Until you want corrective action taken by Sandy, everything you share in those emails can remain anonymous if you use a throwaway email address and name. If you decide you would like me in the message chain you can request that, otherwise it stays between you and her.
This is not only for community members of tooters.org either. We are extending this offering to every woman on the fediverse who would like a safe mediator when dealing with such highly personable, and sensitive conversations. We are doing this because we care. Because women, being part of society, means their issues are everyone’s issues. If everyone could more fully realize that we would be in a much better place than we are today.
The goal is to help women, and we welcome all feedback in shaping this goal into a more suitable offering. ❤️