WHY MEETUPS?

[Ewaade_3A]

I like the Topic boards of Connect, they give you an insight into how this community is structured to be.

They give you the freedom and grace to express yourself and for others to fetch from your wealth of knowledge.

Because; “helping people everywhere find the places worth seeing and things worth doing” is such a big deal to Google, Google in its magnificence decided to make Google Meet free. Tadaa da yippee yippee bom

This opened the gateway for us to meet and know each other! to see how beautiful some people’s smiles are, to learn what a fantastic sense of humor some people have, to see what wonderful pets some people have, to visit beautiful places around the world without visas or exquisite flight arrangements, etc.

The Meetup board opened up a lot of channels and avenues for people to learn, to care, to share, to confirm, reconfirm and become better at “helping people find the places worth seeing and the things worth doing”.

I have learnt a lot at Meetups, some of which include;

1. Improving my Photography skills greatly; courtesy @PaulPavlinovich 's Ten weeks Online Photo Series
2. Joined Crowdsource due to the efforts of @KarenVChin and @ErmesT
3. Became more conscious of the environment through the efforts of @Sagir
4. Started my Streetview Photography journey through the efforts of @Mahesh_Dilip_Salvi and @BharathD
5. Learnt a lot from @TravellerG and the amazing team

So, the fact that the Meetup board is fulfilling the Mission it was created for which is; "Attend a meet-up to explore new places and make friends with Local Guides in your community" can not be overemphasized.

With the advent of free Google Meet and this lockdown situation caused by COVID-19, Virtual Meetups have become a great way of continuing this mission.

Are the experiences from Meetups always positive?

I had called to check up on the Host of a Meetup I attended which I thought was very interesting and I saw the Host was ‘close to tears’. Initially, I thought they were ‘tears of joy’ at such an amazing Meet! I laughed and congratulated her! No, they were not! Then, the person shared this with me in the midst of a nerve-wracking explanation;

Going from this, some people went as far as telling the Host that; “please get some food to eat, let’s see how you eat too. You must be feeling so hungry seeing so much food. You must have lost some weight, doing this presentation and looking at us all without eating for over 2 hours, while she insisted she was not hungry, they taunted and mocked her, that, she couldn’t be serious.”

Where was I when all of this was happening? My battery went flat and I had to quickly fix it before rejoining the Meet.

This is funny, right? It should be funny, right? No!

BODY SHAMING

Body shaming stems from the fact that in our minds, we see a particular body size as normal. Many people have different issues with weight for different reasons which we may not know. Some people even have underlying health conditions.

Are you aware it has been as bad as some people going into depression, committing suicide over weight issues?

Therefore, it is not in our purview to make reference to such things especially at a ‘channel’ principally created to; "make friends with Local Guides"

CASE SCENARIO

CASE 1 (BODY SHAMING PEOPLE WE THINK ARE OVERWEIGHT)

If you tell someone; “Hey, you! you are fat”
Please, how does your statement help the person?

Does the person not have a mirror or weighing scale?

CASE 2 (BODY SHAMING PEOPLE WE THINK ARE UNDERWEIGHT)

If you tell someone; “you are thin”!

do you know for how long the person might have eyed different clothes in stores

and tried them on and it did not fit?

How does what you have said make them feel better?

Another soft form of body shaming is;

Giving unsolicited advice.

CASE 3

Hi;

1. Have you tried slimming tea?
2. Have you tried tummy belt?
3. Take capsules for weight gain
4. Exercise

IMPLICATIONS OF THIS GROWING TREND

1. People will ‘turn off their video cameras’ during Meetups such that we may miss out on something important they may want to share with us.
2. Some people have not developed the confidence to withstand the pressure that comes from body shaming, so they rather hide and after the Meetup will spend the whole day sad and decide not to attend anymore.

WAY FORWARD

1. Educate
2. Inform
3. Develop a healthy level of self-esteem
4. Ignore
5. Speak out when we see wrong doing. It may just be us on that radar tomorrow

Dear Members of the Local Guides Community and Moderators, how can we curb this kind of occurrence at Meetups?

[ravindus]

@Ewaade_3A , Thnks for the making us aware of this unfortunate incident and reminding everyone about how one simple joke from one persons view could hurt someone so much.

I think everyone must think twice before they make any jokes or comments(even some progressive or advisory type). Thank you for bringing this up into light.

[rajuroyal]

Hello @Ewaade_3A

Thank you so much for sharing.

Recently, So many meet-up attend in virtual sometimes i notice some people talk about this on comments section.

[Ewaade_3A]

@ravindus your comment touched my heart and made me want to cry.

I think your comment is the simple summary of this writeup… God bless you.

[Ewaade_3A]

My dear, it is well.

I hope we can educate one another about this occurence many of us consider to be funny, which is not at all

@rajuroyal @

[Ddimitra]

@Ewaade_3A In any kind of meetup, whether physical or virtual. We must say kind things. But if some people say some awkard things, we must state and say our opinion too,

I dont like you say that.

At least the person know, what he/she said is hurtful to others.

Btw. In Indonesia There is law that forbid us to do body shaming to other people, if they do it online, the screen shot will be the evidence, and he can get sued.

[Shreeya_99]

People don’t think before commenting. Sometimes even our own peer group members say it in a funny way and think that’s not offensive and it casual to comment on their looks.

Thanks @Ewaade_3A . For speaking in out here.

[Ewaade_3A]

Wow!!!

There is a law in Indonesia?

That’s a great step by the Government!

@Ddimitra

Thank you for lending your voice…

Maybe, we should all move to Indonesia, at least, i get to eat lots of cookies and chocolates

[Ewaade_3A]

Thank you very much @Shreeya_99

I think it hurts when it’s coming from the “Peer group” because you are thinking; "this person should understand".

Thanks for lending your voice.

[Shreeya_99]

Exactly, It hurts. @Ewaade_3A

Well, we must move to Indonesia now after listening about such sensitive topics taken care by the government. @Ddimitra

[Ant_Bad_Yogi]

@Ewaade_3A Thank you for your nice thought about this issue. Some issues are sensitive and we should avoid talking about them.

[Gurukrishnapriya]

Well said @Ewaade_3A

You are really bold to voice out your views. Really we feel depressed if someone say about us, even if friends say.

In these circumstances I would rather ignore, but I am happy to see you talk louder.

Sorry to hear this.

[Arati]

Ohhh, Am not sure if I were there in that meetup, comments are disguising to even read, people should change their mindset first, this is very sensitive topic, I hope Connect should a take forward and ban people from Google maps who does body shaming in meetups. Thank you for writing this @Ewaade_3A

[PaulPavlinovich]

Well said @Ewaade_3A every person on this planet is their own selves and we are all different. It is not right to pick on the differences of another in any way.

Thank you for calling out the poor behaviour.

Paul

[FalguniP]

@Ewaade_3A

No matter if it comes from a known person or an unknown

No ones has a right to talk this way to anyone.

Commenting on someone’s physical appearance can just be a part of joke / fun / entertainment for some

But there are people who are sensetive to this, there might be underlying issues which they don’t share publicly and such comments can really be hurtful.

[Ewaade_3A]

What will I do with you? Mast Joke Mara.

If we all must move to Indonesia, our country needs to move with us, because we make our country pleasant to live in @Shreeya_99

[Ewaade_3A]

Thank you Ant @Ant_Bad_Yogi

Nicely said; “they are sensitive issues”…

Thanks for lending your voice

And I think more than avoising the topic, we should always keep our eyes open for the good in others.

[Ewaade_3A]

Thank you, ma.

I could ignore and I think it is good because by doing that; “no one makes an enemy of me”, but

Every time I see wrong, something in me will burn and burn, it’s a Physical pain, so bad I feel it in my chest and if I say nothing about it, I will be the only one suffering the pain, just because I want to look good and stay away from offending others.

You are a trained Psychologist, so, I know you understand me.

I remember attending a Meetup with you, where the Host refused to shed light on Autism and just called Autistic people disabled

I have never heard you talk or complain at Meetups, talk more, challenge the Host that was the first time, something burned so deeply in you, that you did not rest till you talked and you took time to elaborate at Erna’s "Accessible Michigan Meetup" .

So, I believe we have things that trigger that ‘burn’ in all of us. @Gurukrishnapriya

Thank you for lending your voice

[Ewaade_3A]

Thank you so much, Paul.

You always advocate especially against poor behavior.

Thanks for lending your voice.

“We are different”, it is wrong to pick on someone for being different. @PaulPavlinovich

[Ewaade_3A]

@Arati Arati

I am sorry that; reading this made you feel so angry.

I hope the Google team look at this and let us know which way forward.

There are many things people say at Meetups because they are unmoderated and uncensored.

Hurting people is a No No. That was the greatest lesson I learnt from Papa @TravellerG He says; “we have no right to hurt anyone”