(no subject)

[rivka]

I hang out with really intelligent, clueful people. Which is excellent.

The problem is that it distorts my sense of my wider social environment, and then threads like this one come as a nasty surprise.

james_nicoll linked to the Con Anti-Harassment Project (Read their FAQ), which aims to encourage SF and media cons to develop clearly-articulated sexual harassment policies. And within, no kidding, three comments, we hit "lol, women who go to cons are too fat and ugly to harass."

And it goes on from there, although that's probably the pinnacle. The rest of the predictable responses just make me tired: cons will become a Kafkaesque nightmare in which anyone and anything can be threatened with punishment; aren't the poor defenseless accused the real victims; if women would only call the cops/respond with physical violence, there wouldn't be any problems and we wouldn't have to think about this stuff, so why have a con policy.

This is where I feel as though I should insert a brilliant incisive feminist rant that simultaneously heartens the embattled, illuminates the clueless, and crushes the assholes utterly. But you know what? I'm too tired and disgusted to manage it.

If a community is threatened by the very proposition that women's bodies are their own, and not to be infringed upon - if simply spelling out the right to be sexually left alone is seen as a dangerous impingment on community enjoyment - then what the fuck am I even doing there?

Comments

[guruwench.livejournal.com]

*sigh* I'm all of a sudden glad I didn't go read. Stuff like that pisses me off and makes my blood boil. I don't have a farking clue what to do about it, and that is maddening.

*thinks and thinks*

[kcobweb.livejournal.com]

I fucking LOVE that icon.

[lerryn.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure which is worse - that people would have a problem with cons having an anti-harassment policy, or that there are enough clueless jerks in the fan community that cons need one. I guess the cons I attend are more enlightened than some, as harassment at cons around here would probably invoke the Narn Bat Squad.

[submarine-bells.livejournal.com]

Again with the icon love. :-)

I was pretty disappointed with the calibre of the discussion on that post, given that James's LJ usually attracts all sorts of thoughtful and interesting discussion. That particular set of comments demonstrates quite clearly to me exactly why anti-harassment policies (both for sexual harassment and the general-purpose sort) are needed at cons.

It's worth bearing in mind that it's not the whole community that's feeling threatend by this sort of thing, just the entitlement-queen assholes who feel that their god-given right to grope or insult anyone they want to might be at risk. And being entitlement-queen assholes, they're loud and obnoxious about it. But they're not the whole community, just a noxious subset of it. And if they get pissed off and go away, well, doesn't that count as a win? ;-)

[kalmn.livejournal.com]

come to wiscon. we have cookies.

also, an antiharassment policy.

[kate-schaefer.livejournal.com]

Also, you would completely love it, and Glenn and I could see you.

[roozle.livejournal.com]

Oh you totally would love Wiscon.

[kalmn.livejournal.com]

cookies, glenn and kate and meeeee, childcare during the day, and people possibly including myself you could trade off babysitting during the evenings with.

and the best programming i have ever seen at a con and i say this even though i'm not running program any more.

and great parties.

and you'd completely love it.

[oursin.livejournal.com]

Yes yes, come to Wiscon!

Whoo!

[(Anonymous)]

If you were to go to Wiscon, that would be more reason for me & my partner to go as well!

Re: Whoo!

[(Anonymous)]

Er, that was me.

-Sumana H.

[wcg.livejournal.com]

Of course it's not one community, but overlapping communities. The Darkover con community is very different from the DragonCon community, I'm told. It's certainly different from the Chattacon community. I don't know if Darkover con has a written anti-harassment policy, but I'm sure that anybody harassing somebody would quickly have the attention of any number of gray-haired Renunciates and would either mend their ways or get an invitation to the world.

All in all, I think the anti-harassment project is a good idea. I hope it catches on.

[janetmiles.livejournal.com]

*nods* See, that's the atmosphere I remember from my early con-going years, and I'm distressed to learn that I'm apparently sufficiently privileged to have not noticed it changing. One of my earliest con memories was of someone trying to back a girl¹ in a bunny-fur bikini into a corner, and suddenly finding himself surrounded by a large group of Corsairs who made it clear that was not acceptable behavior.

¹Yes, "girl," given that she was about 13.

[lerryn.livejournal.com]

but I'm sure that anybody harassing somebody would quickly have the attention of any number of gray-haired Renunciates and would either mend their ways or get an invitation to the world.

That's the kind of con community I'm more used to. It may be a bit harsh, but anyone who would go out of their way to make people uncomfortable at a con deserves an introduction to live steel.

[ailbhe]

Oh, ick.

One of the things I loved about my weekend at the Discworld Convention was spending 5 days somewhere where sexual harassment is Not Allowed. It's just not endorsed or ignored by tecommuity at large.

I will definitely be asking them to put in a specific policy though.

[nellorat.livejournal.com]

Maybe my standards, tempered by time on open fat-acceptance internet groups, are pretty low, but I thought that much intelligence was in evidence as well as much stupid, and overall it was far from blood-boiling. Individual jerks, like the poor, we shall always have with us.

[mjlayman.livejournal.com]

I'm the one who mentioned physcial violence as a response, and I still don't see pulling their arm behind them and similar as out of line. If they assault you, you get to tell/show them to cut it out. An anti-harassment policy isn't going to make an immediate impression.

[micheinnz.livejournal.com]

Some people aren't capable of physical violence (either physically or ethically), and there are plenty of examples of women being punished for fighting back physically. It is a good solution for some people in some situations, but by no means a panacea.