Harassment at cons (revisited)
Jun. 28th, 2013 10:03 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
catherineldfMy friend Elise Matthesen has an excellent post about reporting sexual harassment at cons making the rounds today.
It is splendidly well-written and very clear about protecting yourself first and the circumstances that made it a bit easier to report under these circumstances (WisCon, support networks, etc.) and I think everyone should read it. And I truly hope more cons and publishers act on these reports. Like most women of my vintage, I experienced plenty of harassment at work, on the street, at cons, you name, back in my salad days (and still occasionally do, but it's a lot less hand's on these days). One of the advantages of cultivating my Dorothy Parkeresque persona was that I got too scary for the run of the mill harassers, which was handy. But then I got the scarier, dumber ones, which was less wonderful. No one should have to experience this. NO ONE. There has to be reporting and there have to be consequences.
I'm going to add my own two cents about the kind of people who run around with serial harassers and defend them and deny the reports, generally attacking their victims at the same time. Your buddy can't keep his hands (or in some cases, her hands) to themselves? Doesn't recognize "No" when they hear it? They need to get kicked out of the con and banned if need be. You don't get to undermine or harass or threaten the victims, you don't get to deny other people their right to a safe, fun space. Whether or not you choose to keep friends like this is up to you, but I know I think less of you when you defend them and continue to hang out with them. And I've got a lot more company in that than I used to. I do understand that it's tricky in a small pond.
But on a related note, I will never read Jo Walton's Among Others. Why not? Because I was at her Hugo acceptance speech when she thanked her friend, Rene Walling, for his support and help---after he'd been kicked out of Readercon and publicly identified as a serial harasser and while he was harassing women at that very Worldcon. That speech completely poisoned her work on that book for me because it helped to undermine the less famous women who were trying to hold him accountable for known (notorious) behaviors. I think even less of the Worldcon committee that allowed that to continue. As a result, I'm contemplating no longer attending conventions that aren't making some effort to address the problems (see WisCon, CONvergence and Readercon for examples of cons that are dealing with harassment and taking it seriously) because I feel that my being there lends tacit approval to behaviors I don't condone. I'm pretty small potatoes by convention guest standards, but you're welcome to join me. The less acceptable this shit is, the less it will happen.
And if you need to report harassment or assault at a con and I'm there and you need back up, let me know. I'll go with you.
It is splendidly well-written and very clear about protecting yourself first and the circumstances that made it a bit easier to report under these circumstances (WisCon, support networks, etc.) and I think everyone should read it. And I truly hope more cons and publishers act on these reports. Like most women of my vintage, I experienced plenty of harassment at work, on the street, at cons, you name, back in my salad days (and still occasionally do, but it's a lot less hand's on these days). One of the advantages of cultivating my Dorothy Parkeresque persona was that I got too scary for the run of the mill harassers, which was handy. But then I got the scarier, dumber ones, which was less wonderful. No one should have to experience this. NO ONE. There has to be reporting and there have to be consequences.
I'm going to add my own two cents about the kind of people who run around with serial harassers and defend them and deny the reports, generally attacking their victims at the same time. Your buddy can't keep his hands (or in some cases, her hands) to themselves? Doesn't recognize "No" when they hear it? They need to get kicked out of the con and banned if need be. You don't get to undermine or harass or threaten the victims, you don't get to deny other people their right to a safe, fun space. Whether or not you choose to keep friends like this is up to you, but I know I think less of you when you defend them and continue to hang out with them. And I've got a lot more company in that than I used to. I do understand that it's tricky in a small pond.
But on a related note, I will never read Jo Walton's Among Others. Why not? Because I was at her Hugo acceptance speech when she thanked her friend, Rene Walling, for his support and help---after he'd been kicked out of Readercon and publicly identified as a serial harasser and while he was harassing women at that very Worldcon. That speech completely poisoned her work on that book for me because it helped to undermine the less famous women who were trying to hold him accountable for known (notorious) behaviors. I think even less of the Worldcon committee that allowed that to continue. As a result, I'm contemplating no longer attending conventions that aren't making some effort to address the problems (see WisCon, CONvergence and Readercon for examples of cons that are dealing with harassment and taking it seriously) because I feel that my being there lends tacit approval to behaviors I don't condone. I'm pretty small potatoes by convention guest standards, but you're welcome to join me. The less acceptable this shit is, the less it will happen.
And if you need to report harassment or assault at a con and I'm there and you need back up, let me know. I'll go with you.
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