#SaferCommunityPledge 2016 #VEDA/VEDALA 16.08.17 | #withcaptions by @paulidin

You know how when something really bad
happens, especially in the public eye,

people talk about it. They get outraged
about it. They want to lift awareness for it.

And then maybe a few days... a week...
a month later...

No matter how much we said we should all
keep talking about this, we stop talking

about this.

Well, I don't want to. Some short years
ago it was disclosed that many youtubers

were taking advantage of their position.
They were being abusive,

they were harassing, they were assaulting.
In a couple cases, they were committing rape.

And these disclosures brought about the
formation of an organization that is now

called Uplift. Uplift! Uplift formed to
combat sexual violence online. As a

part of that, they put together a safer
community pledge and requested that

everybody take it. I have taken it the
first year, the second year, and now i'm

going to take it for my third year. This
pledge does a good job, I think, of giving

us some guidelines. And I'm happy to take
it again!

I pledge that I will always prioritize
consent. I understand that consent is the

presence of an enthusiastic yes rather
than the absence of a no and that

consent cannot be given when someone is
asleep or physically or mentally incapacitated.

I pledge that I will
respect my partner's wishes and that I

will not pressure or coerce them into
doing anything that makes them uncomfortable.

I pledge to stand with
survivors of sexual abuse or harassment

by showing them compassion and respect

I pledge to never blame the victim for any

abuse they've experienced. Sexual
violence is never the victim's fault!

I pledge to admit when I make mistakes and
to apologize for my actions. When someone

tells me that I've done something sexist,
victim-blaming, or otherwise offensive, I

pledge to be open to their words.

I pledge to support conversations

surrounding sexual abuse and harassment
in a way that is respectful of my needs

and the needs of those i'm speaking with.

And I pledge to create safer communities
both online and off.

I've also been proud to help out uplift

at the booths they've had at VidCon these
past couple of years. This year they made

and i helped to give out these Con
Safety cards. I don't need to wait for another

disclosure of an incidence of sexual
violence on youtube to still be opposed

to it happening and to still want to
raise awareness for everyone that this

is a dangerous thing that happens! Not
infrequently! Too much! Just this month i

read a Mashable article about how one of
the victims of Tobuscus came forward and

had to deal with the repercussions of
that. Just this week I retweeted the

statement that you're more likely to
have your career hurt by reporting

sexual harassment then by committing it.

This is the world in which we live and
it sucks, but it's not going to get any

better if we don't talk about it, or if we
don't admit that it's happening. I am

aware and I admit that this platform
that I'm a part of, this YouTube

community, is a place where (though I'm
happy to be here)

it does have people committing heinous
acts. And I want everyone to be aware of

it, not so that they are afraid, but so
that they know what to watch out for and

so we can help each other to prevent
these things from happening more, and

from spreading, and from continuing where
it's happening now. If you don't already,

please follow uplift on Twitter or
Facebook or tumblr or youtube. I'll

include links in my description. They do
good work. And if you also have a public

platform where you can do this same
thing, I encourage you to also take the

Safer Community Pledge if you haven't
yet, or if you want to take it again.

That's my VEDA for today. Tell me what
you think about uplift's work and the

Safer Community Pledge in the comments
below or tell me anything that matters

to you because I want to know what
matters to you.

And I really appreciate

you watching all the way to the end of
this video. The end of my videos is where

I always say:

Tomorrow

will be even better!