I'm so sorry this happened — it's absolutely unacceptable. An EA that does this is not an EA I want to be a part of; an EA with Fran Lorenz is. Much love and thanks for speaking out.
One of the bravest things I‘ve read. Additionally to being brave in big ways, also in lots of little ways, like 100s of small situations that required bravery. I have very deep respect for you. Thank you for writing this.
(You’re also just an amazing writer, which I‘m grateful for.)
This is a great piece, and I think your observations about the culture in many of these spaces are spot-on. I don't have a huge amount of experience with EA organizations, but when it comes to broader "EA-aligned" cultural spaces, the idea that a certain amount of obvious misogyny and dysfunctional behavior has to be tolerated in order to not alienate the "genius free-thinkers" is something you definitely come across all the time.
Frances, this was a truly shocking and heartbreaking read. I’m dismayed and so, so sorry for what you went through. I felt sick reading about how badly this was handled for so long.
I don’t have anything especially wise to say, but I wanted to send you support, care, and anger on your behalf. What happened to you was awful, and the way you were treated afterward sounds deeply unfair and dehumanising.
We’ve only exchanged a few lines online, so I know I’m just a light internet acquaintance, but if there is any practical way I can help or support you, please let me know.
Thank you for writing this with so much clarity and courage. You deserved and deserve so much better. Nobody should have to go through this.
That was truly devastating to read, but thank you for writing it. I'm a really big fan of everything you write. I'm deeply involved in EA, and you feel like a genuinely unique voice on the movement to me. In your posts, you wrestle with EA ideas and themes with an honesty, sensitivity, humor, and warmth that I simply don't find anywhere else. And if I can say this, reading you can even make that parts of me that I'd instinctively written off as disconnected from EA — or unable to contribute to it — feel like they actually belong. I understand if the difficult experiences you've had may have left you discouraged about the community, but it would be a real loss for me, and I suspect for many others, if you step away from EA or from writing about it the way you do
Thank you Sergio, this is such an incredibly kind thing to say, wow. I’m so glad that my writing could do that and I definitely hope to continue writing.
Hey Frances, I’m so sorry you had to go through all this. I’m impressed and grateful that you’ve shared your experience. I hope that it leads to positive changes at CEA, in EA more broadly, and just generally in the world because it’s good when these stories are brought to light.
I miss working with you all the time. When you were here, and after you left, I elected to listen to the women around you and not try to inquire about what happened or reach out with uninformed and unsolicited offers to help. But now that it’s out in the open, I hope you know that I’m here for you if there’s anything I can do to support you.
Thank you so much Arthur, I miss the team so much!!! Really appreciate the kind offer and btw I totally think that was the right call, I was really overwhelmed when I first left so it was good to have time to just sit with what had happened on my own.
Frances, this was absolutely heartbreaking to read, and I’m so sorry you had to go through all of this. I’ve always been a Frances fan with your thoughtfulness and honesty, and I’ve always thought you were so cool every time we interacted or I read something of yours. I’m angry and upset for you, and I’m genuinely thankful that you posted this, as I believe (or rather, strongly hope) that it will lead to positive changes. Thank you for sharing.
That’s so nice Mariah, huge thank you :’) And same here, absolutely loved every time we got to chat or hang out. I really hope I’ll see you again soon!!
I’m really sorry all of these things happened to you- what you’ve said here echoes my experiences in EA adjacent communities and it really is upsetting to see how unserious the issue of sexual misconduct is handled throughout this ecosystem.
Thank you so much for writing this. It must have been incredibly difficult, so I'm very grateful you decided to share it with us. I have not personally experienced anything like this, but the casual sexism (and racism) I've seen from EAs online, and the many institutional failures that never get corrected, make me unfortunately not very surprised (and they were also a huge factor in me leaving the movement). I hope it changes, I hope EA becomes less hierarchical and integrates itself with the wider social justice movement, and I hope things like this never happen again.
Again, thank you for sharing. I really hope the healing process goes well.
Edit: It's hours later and I'm still thinking about it. I cried for the first time this year and I'm just so angry. I think I will change my blog's name and distance myself from EA further. If there's anything you need, anything at all, feel free to reach out.
Thank you for the incredibly kind reply Bob. Apart from this whole ordeal, the casual sexism and racism, and some of the strange or bad institutional decisions, have always been the most exhausting part of EA over the years. It makes a lot of sense to me that this would heavily influence your decision to leave, and I'm sorry you had to but I'm glad you made that choice for yourself. I've been extremely active in the community both professionally, online, and in-person for so many years now that I've gotten to see a lot of the good and a lot of the bad. I also hope EA can catch up to the wider social justice movement. I know many individuals are there, but it seems to be severely lagging at a wider cultural and institutional level. Maybe not compared to something like the tech industry, but EA is supposed to be a philanthropic movement about doing good.
Anyways, thank you for the kind offer of support. I'm doing much better these days. I'm sorry to hear this had such a strong emotional impact but thank you for reading and I'm honored that you'd share your reaction with me and I'm sending lots of appreciation and good wishes your way (and thank you for your substack writing!!)
I'm so sorry this happened — it's absolutely unacceptable. An EA that does this is not an EA I want to be a part of; an EA with Fran Lorenz is. Much love and thanks for speaking out.
Thank you Dylan, this truly means a lot <3
One of the bravest things I‘ve read. Additionally to being brave in big ways, also in lots of little ways, like 100s of small situations that required bravery. I have very deep respect for you. Thank you for writing this.
(You’re also just an amazing writer, which I‘m grateful for.)
Genuinely shocking how poorly this was handled. Pisses me off every time you tell it. Much love and respect Frances <3
This is a great piece, and I think your observations about the culture in many of these spaces are spot-on. I don't have a huge amount of experience with EA organizations, but when it comes to broader "EA-aligned" cultural spaces, the idea that a certain amount of obvious misogyny and dysfunctional behavior has to be tolerated in order to not alienate the "genius free-thinkers" is something you definitely come across all the time.
Frances, this was a truly shocking and heartbreaking read. I’m dismayed and so, so sorry for what you went through. I felt sick reading about how badly this was handled for so long.
I don’t have anything especially wise to say, but I wanted to send you support, care, and anger on your behalf. What happened to you was awful, and the way you were treated afterward sounds deeply unfair and dehumanising.
We’ve only exchanged a few lines online, so I know I’m just a light internet acquaintance, but if there is any practical way I can help or support you, please let me know.
Thank you for writing this with so much clarity and courage. You deserved and deserve so much better. Nobody should have to go through this.
Thanks so much for the kind response Manuel, you’ve always been so supportive of my writing and it’s greatly appreciated by me <3
That was truly devastating to read, but thank you for writing it. I'm a really big fan of everything you write. I'm deeply involved in EA, and you feel like a genuinely unique voice on the movement to me. In your posts, you wrestle with EA ideas and themes with an honesty, sensitivity, humor, and warmth that I simply don't find anywhere else. And if I can say this, reading you can even make that parts of me that I'd instinctively written off as disconnected from EA — or unable to contribute to it — feel like they actually belong. I understand if the difficult experiences you've had may have left you discouraged about the community, but it would be a real loss for me, and I suspect for many others, if you step away from EA or from writing about it the way you do
Thank you Sergio, this is such an incredibly kind thing to say, wow. I’m so glad that my writing could do that and I definitely hope to continue writing.
Hey Frances, I’m so sorry you had to go through all this. I’m impressed and grateful that you’ve shared your experience. I hope that it leads to positive changes at CEA, in EA more broadly, and just generally in the world because it’s good when these stories are brought to light.
I miss working with you all the time. When you were here, and after you left, I elected to listen to the women around you and not try to inquire about what happened or reach out with uninformed and unsolicited offers to help. But now that it’s out in the open, I hope you know that I’m here for you if there’s anything I can do to support you.
Thank you so much Arthur, I miss the team so much!!! Really appreciate the kind offer and btw I totally think that was the right call, I was really overwhelmed when I first left so it was good to have time to just sit with what had happened on my own.
> perpetrators of harm are rarely, if ever, reliable narrators of their own intent.
> Quite frankly, at this point, I couldn’t care less about what he “meant.” I care about the facts of what he did and wrote.
This is a really important point and beautifully articulated.
I’m sorry to hear this happened to you. I hope you’ve landed on your feet.
Frances, this was absolutely heartbreaking to read, and I’m so sorry you had to go through all of this. I’ve always been a Frances fan with your thoughtfulness and honesty, and I’ve always thought you were so cool every time we interacted or I read something of yours. I’m angry and upset for you, and I’m genuinely thankful that you posted this, as I believe (or rather, strongly hope) that it will lead to positive changes. Thank you for sharing.
That’s so nice Mariah, huge thank you :’) And same here, absolutely loved every time we got to chat or hang out. I really hope I’ll see you again soon!!
I’m really sorry all of these things happened to you- what you’ve said here echoes my experiences in EA adjacent communities and it really is upsetting to see how unserious the issue of sexual misconduct is handled throughout this ecosystem.
thank you Ivy and I’m so sorry for all that you’ve experienced <3 I really wish it wasn’t like this
me too <3
Reading this finally got me to make a Substack account and publish something on my own, too. Baby steps. Thank you.
Thank you so much for writing this. It must have been incredibly difficult, so I'm very grateful you decided to share it with us. I have not personally experienced anything like this, but the casual sexism (and racism) I've seen from EAs online, and the many institutional failures that never get corrected, make me unfortunately not very surprised (and they were also a huge factor in me leaving the movement). I hope it changes, I hope EA becomes less hierarchical and integrates itself with the wider social justice movement, and I hope things like this never happen again.
Again, thank you for sharing. I really hope the healing process goes well.
Edit: It's hours later and I'm still thinking about it. I cried for the first time this year and I'm just so angry. I think I will change my blog's name and distance myself from EA further. If there's anything you need, anything at all, feel free to reach out.
Thank you for the incredibly kind reply Bob. Apart from this whole ordeal, the casual sexism and racism, and some of the strange or bad institutional decisions, have always been the most exhausting part of EA over the years. It makes a lot of sense to me that this would heavily influence your decision to leave, and I'm sorry you had to but I'm glad you made that choice for yourself. I've been extremely active in the community both professionally, online, and in-person for so many years now that I've gotten to see a lot of the good and a lot of the bad. I also hope EA can catch up to the wider social justice movement. I know many individuals are there, but it seems to be severely lagging at a wider cultural and institutional level. Maybe not compared to something like the tech industry, but EA is supposed to be a philanthropic movement about doing good.
Anyways, thank you for the kind offer of support. I'm doing much better these days. I'm sorry to hear this had such a strong emotional impact but thank you for reading and I'm honored that you'd share your reaction with me and I'm sending lots of appreciation and good wishes your way (and thank you for your substack writing!!)
I'm very glad to hear that you're doing better. Thanks for writing too, I hope we get to enjoy it for many more years. All the best!
https://rebeccarbibbs.substack.com/p/its-long-past-time-for-us-society?r=5dsiiv&utm_medium=ios