Safe Space

[yeloson]

"There's no such thing as a safe space"

I really hate this phrase, because it's a disingenuous statement.

Let's do an analogy: let's say you work in a factory! Factories are dangerous, accidents can happen!

But you do things like have clear pathways, section off areas for machinery, put up lights and buzzers and warnings when something is moving or active or hot, you make sure to keep things in working order. And, sometimes accidents happen, and then the thing to do is fix the problem so it doesn't happen again.

Now, if we're in a factory and someone is actively making it unsafe, throwing sharp things at other people, you don't go, "Well, there's no such thing as a safe space!"

Mind you, if you want to have the discussion that safe space doesn't mean an uncomfortable, painful and hard to work through space, because of the nature of the work being done there (like processing, talking about really hard shit, etc.) that's fine. But that's sure as hell not the same thing as letting shitty behavior pass through.

Comments

[phi]

Ah, I use the phrase "There's no such thing as a safe space" not to give a pass to shitty behavior but to remind myself to not let my guard down too much. Or, to use your factory analogy, just because there are safety regs and buzzers and warnings, that doesn't mean I don't still need my steel-toe boots.

[daedala]

Is it bad that I'm kind of reminded of the Monty Python's Architect Sketch, with the rotating knives?

[yeloson]

I'm not up on Monty Python... What's the deal?

[daedala]

It's not actually that great. I just remember the part where they're designing a block of flats, and the architect says, "...this is a twelve-storey block combining classical neo-Georgian features with all the advantages of modern design. Uhh, the tenants arrive in the entrance hall here, are carried along the corridor on a conveyor belt in extreme comfort and past murals depicting Mediterranean scenes, towards the rotating knives."

He then explains that "I hadn't, uh, correctly divined your attitude towards your tenants."

Just because nothing can be made perfectly safe doesn't make the rotating knives ok.

(That said? Safety regs for factories are some kind of communist plot or something.)