I keep seeing people in Smash say "wut can I do?! I don't have a following, I'm just a dude." Well, let's start right there. You are a man. Do you want to use the inherent power that status gives you in male-dominated spaces to support women or not?

Here are some concrete steps how you, as an individual, can help make the Smash community safer for less-represented communities. I will be speaking about women, but these lessons can be used for any group that isn't the majority in these spaces.

1) Listen to women. Just listen. Don't question their motives. Don't ask them to provide you with an excel sheet with evidence of their harassment or assault. Just listen to their experiences.

2) Ask women in your community how you can support them. How can you make them feel safer at events? What can you do for them to make them feel like they belong in the space too?

While women often express helpfulness by reaching out to people, men show helpful intentions through action-oriented behaviors, like raising money for RAINN (welcome to psych of gender). Refrain from taking center stage or speaking for women. Ask them what they need.

3) Get comfortable with being uncomfortable. Unlearning internal bias and a lifetime of socialization is really tough. Learning about the reality of women may produce self-shame and anxiety. The solution is to more learning, not less. Don't avoid when things get tough.

4) Engage in supportive partnerships with women. These should benefit the both of you. Share your social capital (influence, knowledge, funds, and organizational resources) with women’s groups but ask them — don’t assume — how you can best support their efforts.

5) Remember that allyship is more complicated than just not using sexist language when a woman is present. It is much more involved than that. Be ready to upset the status quo and potentially take a hit on your own "clout" for speaking up and doing the right thing.

This information is something you can find repeated in different ways all over the internet by googling "how to be an ally to women." I used the article linked below to pull this info and translate it into more accessible language. https://hbr.org/2018/10/how-men-can-become-better-allies-to-women