Cultural critique 5: trauma is an aggravating factor

In this piece, I discuss the sexual harassment I experienced at the Centre for Effective Altruism, the organisation's response, the outcomes of two independent legal reviews, and the final settlement. In the second part of this piece, I make cultural critiques of CEA and EA more broadly.

Everything shared here reflects my own experience and perspective. I have anonymised the perpetrator, but I reference specific leadership roles where I believe this to be appropriate and necessary.

Trigger warnings: non-specific reference of rape and specific discussion of sexual harassment

TL;DR (One-page summary)

After I was raped (outside of and unrelated to work), a colleague at CEA wrote and circulated a document that included a sexualised description of my rape, speculation about my mental health, and commentary on my personal life, all without my consent. Several senior leaders, including the CEO and the now-former COO, received this document and took no safeguarding action for approximately nine months. I was never officially informed of its existence; I only learned about it informally through one of the recipients.

After I filed a harassment report, the incident was independently investigated and determined to be harassment. Despite this, I was denied access to the document [...]

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Outline:

(00:47) TL;DR (One-page summary)

(03:38) A more detailed account

(03:42) The sexual harassment incident

(06:42) The investigation

(10:38) The appeal and final report

(14:02) Public accountability versus internal processes

(16:59) The final settlement agreement

(18:54) I still think there is a lot of good in effective altruism

(20:33) Various cultural reflections

(20:50) 1) Sexual harassment is not the natural result of an open and high-trust culture, it is the natural result of misogyny.

(22:46) 2) The danger of EAs fixation on intent and why he didnt mean it is not good enough.

(24:11) 3) Cowardice and deference at CEA.

(26:30) 4) Women in EA are often encouraged to try and settle things informally or to trust their organisations -- another abuse of high-trust culture.

(28:45) 5) A harmful misunderstanding of trauma and mitigating vs. aggravating factors.

(30:27) 6) I have encountered so many EAs who believe it is easy for victims to speak publicly, or to share their experiences with other community members. And thus, if they arent regularly hearing from victims, harassment must be rare.

(33:02) To any women who have faced something similar

(34:40) Acknowledgements

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First published:
February 27th, 2026

Source:
https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/XxXnPoGQ2eKsQx3FE/cea-s-response-to-sexual-harassment

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.