WisCon Post, Part the Second: The Elephant in the Room or #FrenkelFail

[catherineldf]

So…at WisCon37,  Tor editor James Frenkel was charged with sexually harassing  a female attendee at the con. The attendee (who I’m not naming right now because she got plenty of crap for it last year and because it is not germane to what should have happened afterwards) immediately reported the incident. She had cause and even witnesses, at least one of whom also got grief afterwards from the awesome troll communities invested in supporting guys who harass, assault and demean female-identified people at cons.  The incident was widely publicized and other women came forward to talk about their experience with both him and others of his ilk (he was long rumored to be a harasser, for the record). By July, he was a former Tor editor.

But here’s the thing: he wasn’t banned from attending future WisCons. Why this came about has to do with sundry convention policies about which I give not a damn except for the fact that they are wildly, wildly wrong in this instance. What matters is the impact. Frenkel was back at the con this year, making the rounds, volunteering in the Con Suite and being generally ubiquitous. If  there was anyone keeping an eye on him and his behavior, they were being quite subtle about it; neither I nor anyone I spoke to noticed any security or con personnel tracking him. He even informed one attendee that he was there to “prove what a nice guy” he is.

The point is that he shouldn’t have been there at all, not after last year. And he is not a nice guy (and yes, I do know he was a GOH at this very con back in 1994). But nice guys do not view women as property,  as objects they can do anything they like to regardless of consent. And this is WisCon, the premier feminist science fiction and fantasy convention, which means the stakes are much higher. It means expectations, an attempt to strive for an ideal. It means an implied commitment to try and create safer space. It means that as women, we should have the right to control access to our own bodies and that the con should be backing that up.

Not banning this man undermines everything the con stands for. It undermines the courage that it took for the women who experienced and witnessed his assault last year to come forward. It undermines every other person who considers reporting harassment at this or any other con by sending  the message that they don’t matter, that their safety doesn’t matter, when compared to that of an entitled jerk who doesn’t think they’re people. 

I have been going to this con for 25 years or so, give or take. I do not think I will be returning for WisCon39, barring a drastic sea change in the policies and an apology to the women he’s hurt in the past. I hate this so very much. This is the con I make time for each and every year. The con I love. If you were at or are normally at WisCon and want to share your opinion (respectfully, please. I suspect a fair number of the con runners were conflicted about letting him come back), the survey is here.