I am not yet convinced that changing the content of conversation in the ways mentioned above is either necessary or sufficient to bring more diverse voices into the community. I offer counterexamples below.
Changing content is not necessary to increase diversity – law schools have become more diverse without changing the content of their discussions. Most US law schools now have roughly 50-50 male-female gender ratios (https://www.enjuris.com/students/law-school-gender-ratio-2017.html) even though the first-year mandatory curriculum often asks students to consider arguments women might find uncomfortable (e.g., what proof should we require raped women to show before we convict the alleged rapist, should battered women acting in self-defense be treated the same as other people acting in self-defense).
Changing content is not sufficient to increase diversity – the Young Adult Fiction Twitter community is intolerant and toxic (often towards members of underrepresented groups) even though it cares deeply about principles similar to those mentioned above (https://www.vulture.com/2017/08/the-toxic-drama-of-ya-twitter.html).
My priors: I am a woman, a POC, and from a developing country, and I suspect I generally have similar opinions as the writers of this post about the topics mentioned under “Example topics.” I also believe that (usually) the best way to fight bad free speech is with good free speech.
I am not yet convinced that changing the content of conversation in the ways mentioned above is either necessary or sufficient to bring more diverse voices into the community. I offer counterexamples below.
Changing content is not necessary to increase diversity – law schools have become more diverse without changing the content of their discussions. Most US law schools now have roughly 50-50 male-female gender ratios (https://www.enjuris.com/students/law-school-gender-ratio-2017.html) even though the first-year mandatory curriculum often asks students to consider arguments women might find uncomfortable (e.g., what proof should we require raped women to show before we convict the alleged rapist, should battered women acting in self-defense be treated the same as other people acting in self-defense).
Changing content is not sufficient to increase diversity – the Young Adult Fiction Twitter community is intolerant and toxic (often towards members of underrepresented groups) even though it cares deeply about principles similar to those mentioned above (https://www.vulture.com/2017/08/the-toxic-drama-of-ya-twitter.html).
My priors: I am a woman, a POC, and from a developing country, and I suspect I generally have similar opinions as the writers of this post about the topics mentioned under “Example topics.” I also believe that (usually) the best way to fight bad free speech is with good free speech.