Dealing with aberrant behaviour

Here are my views:

I've had all sorts of behaviours enacted or tried against me or people around me over the last few decades in AA, including physical violence, threats, inappropriate sexual conduct, stalking, harassment, and various forms of 'offensive' words and behaviour.

Some points:

Firstly, I've largely handled such situations myself by standing up for myself, which means leaving the situation, halting the interaction, having a very sharp word or two, and gathering a couple or more people to handle a developing situation in real time. The basic motto is toughen up, make some friends, and learn how to deal with people behaving badly. As outside AA, so inside AA.

Secondly, at no point (with one category of exception) have I needed to involve an AA group, Intergroup, Region, or any other bodies in AA in the solving of these problems. Interpersonal problems are not the group's problem, the service structure's problem, or AA's problem.

Thirdly, violence or sexual encroachment does need to be addressed practically, because they are practical matters. People being jerks and saying things I don't like needs a different approach: acquire emotional resilience, generally not reacting, shutting it down if it's persistent, and then ignoring the individual. The behaviour always stops if starved of the oxygen of offence and attention.

Fourthly, the group has needed to be involved only where (a) someone is disrupting meetings (b) someone is behaving in a physically or sexually violent or threatening way to a member or the group as a whole (c) exclusion is required because an individual is not abiding by a request to stay away from a particular meeting or venue because of persistent stalking. These situations are vanishingly rare.

Fifthly, the group does not need to be involved otherwise, in the case of (a) interpersonal disputes between members (b) upset in the absence of physical or sexual violence or threat (c) a general dislike of another person, their views, their ideology, their beliefs, etc.

The group has a responsibility to ensure basic safety within the meeting and the orderly conduct of the meeting. It is not responsible for policing the personal conduct of its members or their interactions.

A good lesson I've learned in AA. You're allowed to disagree with me and hold your own views. This works both ways. I'm allowed to disagree with you and hold my own views. This is the fundamental basis for AA's success: tolerance of difference, even radical or alarming difference. As long as a few basic planks of safety are in place, we can learn to achieve our primary purpose and rub along together, whatever our differences.