Aurora: DEFCON: Why conference harassment matters

But the problem isn't with attraction. The problem is with *behaviour*. Essentially all people are able to be attracted to someone, and nevertheless treat the same people with respect.

The atmosphere should *demand* this, when it does, essentially everyone conforms. There's a *reason* it's fairly rare that a male will grab the ass of his female boss, but fairly common that he'll grab the ass of some random female in a bar. The reason is that he thinks he'll get away with it, because the social setting considers it "acceptible", or if not, then atleast close enough that nothing is likely to happen to him.

The problem isn't that he's unable to control himself. The problem is that he doesn't think he *needs* to in a given situation.

Technical conferences should have an atmosphere where people are aware that they need to behave.

That simple, and that difficult.