BayCon 2015

It's human nature to separate ourselves into groups of "us" and "them". The empathy and ethical behavior that we apply to members of our group often don't get extended to those outside of it. Globally, this shown through such examples like genocide in Germany, Rwanda, and Cambodia, here in the United States through the treatment of slaves and Native Americans, and locally by how fans of one sports team treat fans of the visiting team at a home game. The days of slavery and the Indian Wars are over, but we still have an enormous problem here with a division into "us" and "them": how men treat women. While many men have learned to empathize with women, mixed among them are others who harass, physically or sexually abuse, and even murder women. How can we get misogynists to learn to empathize with women? The ones who can help the most are probably the people who are already inside the misogynists' circle of trust: other men. So the keys are to convince men they need to step up, to explain to them how to recognize statements and acts of misogyny, and then to teach them what to say and to do. Just how do we go about with this convincing, explaining, and teaching? The panelists discuss these difficult points, and raise concrete examples of dudes fighting misogyny.