Kicking off the GNU Assembly

Thank you for this. YES. We people on the autistic spectrum seem "weird" sometimes for the neurotypicals.

The poor hygiene thing is a colorful anecdote/hearsay that demonstrates that perceived weirdness. Please do have in mind that here in Brasil, as a rule, people do SHOWER EVERY DAY. Maybe twice a day on hot days and/or on hotter venues. It's considered impolite and improper not to do so. Copious amounts of soap and shampoo. So, once it was told to me, personally, by a couple that supposedly hosted him during some event in Rio: "we offered him towels, soap and shampoo, he never showered and he smelled really bad."

So, I asked of them: "did you explain this to him, and said that it was a social imperative required, and a 'sine qua non' condition of his stay?" and they answered me "no, we just shoved the towel and shower stuff on his hands". I answered "do you know how stupid you were? When you are dealing with a foreign (and possibly autistic) person, you have to be open, explicit, and honest to the fullest extent. Next time you just say to him 'Hi, Richard, this is my home. We Brazilians have an ultra-high hygiene standard, and as a condition of your stay you'll have to shower every day before leaving the house, and this includes washing your hair thoroughly with shampoo and conditioner, and before going to bed. I know it may seem stupid and even unsanitary from your perspective, but this way you will eliminate a point of contention that many people around won't bring up directly with you but will certainly be commenting on when you're not around.' -- and lay out to him every single other rule for living, even temporarily, under your roof. This is not rocket science, it's even simpler than the alternative!"

The "abuse" and "sexual harassment" accusations might even come from the same kind of misunderstandings... things that could be dealt with easily. If people were to properly lower their guard, and stop relying on idiotic "social cues".

BEAR IN MIND that I am NOT AFFIRMING that RMS is a saint and that he was right on each and every case. We all can be abusive sometimes. But, given the gravity of the claims, I too would like to see SOME firm evidence that he acted (sistematically, no less!) in a way that could be described as "abusive" and "harassing", and both of those include "maliciously".

> He can, indeed, be "creepy." He commits no crimes, and backs off when told. He's presumably autistic. I understand why many women feel uncomfortable around him.

> BUT THAT'S NOT A GODDAMN CRIME.
> Richard doesn't understand many common social cues but as far as I can tell has ALWAYS respected stated boundaries.

> The whole point of Richard Stallman is he's weird, sometimes "creepy," disagreeable, socially challenged, Asperger's-y, and simultaneously brilliant and perfectly suited to what he does best.

He may be perfectly suited to what he does best. But if he's creepy and socially challenged and many women feel uncomfortable around him, what he does best is not lead a group of people.

I found evidence quite easy to find: https://twitter.com/quince/status/1172290838505738240?lan... for example.

> [...] a video of a talk by Marianne Corvellec at LibrePlanet [...]
> I strongly encourage everyone to see for themselves [...]
> https://media.libreplanet.org/u/libreplanet/m/the-gnu-phi...

Thank you, I had not watched the video before. The audio isn't always intelligible and only some participants are visible. The recording can only tell us one angle of what happened in one instance, but I suspect different people are seeing very different things in this video.

I see a respectful and enthusiastic conversation between two persons on the meaning of "ethics" in English vs. "éthique" in French. (With occasional participation of a third person outside the video.) The conversation remains very friendly, judging from the continuous smiles and courteous tone. As someone interested in i18n, I'm particularly happy to notice a high level of intercultural awareness, in that all the participants explicitly remark how their reading of a message originating from another culture and language is liable to misinterpretation, and therefore they have to defer to the examination of the matter by a native speaker.

The beginning of the conversation is interrupted by someone who feels compelled to make sure that everyone exits the room at once. After a reassurance from the FSF that the room can be used beyond the initially allotted time, the presenter tells the audience that they are free to either leave or stay.

You personally witnessed a possible incident of sexual harassment. Your failure to recognize it as such does not mean it did not happen. You don't mention whether you made any effort to ascertain if the woman subjected to the unwanted request for sex felt comfortable or safe afterwards so it isn't possible to say whether this particular incident was harassement. Regardless, plenty of other women have said that Stallman's behaviour made them feel uncomfortable or unsafe.

For reference, here is a plain english explanation of sexual harrassment[1] (as defined by UK law) which makes it clear that it's the perception or feelings of the person being harrassed that matters, and not the intent of the harrasser. Nor does harassement require a persistent or repeated pattern of behaviour to any one person.

I appreciate that laws are different in different countries and I believe the US law is considerably weaker but as a community we should be striving for something _much_ better than the bare minimum requred by the law of any one country if we want our community to a welcoming and safe space.

I think what you probably should have done is:

1. Challenged Stallman's behaviour (something like 'not cool, Richard' might be a reasonable, non-confrontational start).
2. Asked Stallman to leave the room (you can't do the next step while he's still in earshot).
3. Checked that the woman felt safe and comfortable. In this case, offering alternate accommodation arrangements would have been sensible.

[1] https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/law-and-courts/discrimi...