SubscribeBrushing shoulders with someone on a crowded elevator is not likely to be seen as harassment. Deliberately touching someone's hair, face or body without permission is.Etc etc. There's also links to things that happened at other events, and a FAQ answer on "What if I’m accused of harassment and I really didn’t mean to do anything? Won’t establishing a policy like this lead to a lot of vendettas and false accusations?", too.
- Carrying a "Free Hugs" sign is not likely to be seen as harassment (individual con policy varies on this). Carrying a "Free Hugs" sign, continuing to ask people for hugs when they've said no, and moving closer to them is.
- Consensual spanking with a yaoi/yuri paddle in private is not likely to be seen as harassment (individual con policy varies on this too). Spanking people without prior permission or in public is.
- Consensual sexual activity with a guest is not likely to be seen as harassment. Groping a guest is.
Unlike tossing out the scufflers, where witnesses are likely to be on one side or the other, you might consider witnesses to any kind of sexual harassment to add weight to the claim -- for the person complaining only. If we're talking about isolated women amongst a lot of guys with frat-boy mentality, it would be trivial to have other guys stick up for the offender. But if another woman present or another guy said "yep, I saw it -- he did what she said" that could be enough.This supposes two things: one, that there aren't already witnesses to this behavior (the accounts mentioned in the OP's links, for example) and two, that there is a real danger of false accusations being thrown around. Both are untrue and, as Astro Zombie astutely pointed out, more than likely security is going to keep an eye on the accused. It's not like you're going to be taken to Gitmo or whatever. People tend to get thrown out of places when they act like pricks, even when they've paid money to get into those places.
Geek: Hey, you wanna... maybe... do something later?
Girl: Sorry I'm busy, but thanks sweetie! (Geeze, that's the 5th loser today!)
Geek: [Ooo, she SMILED at me! I might have a chance!!]
(Geek confers with geek friends, all agree he should have asked her for a drink. That's how you ask a girl out, nimrod!)
Geek: Um, hi... me again... You, uh, wanna get a dr... I mean, can I buy you a... a drink? Or something?
Girl: Oh, you again... No, I said I'm busy. (minor leave-me-alone scowl, looks around)
Geek: Ohh.. right. (slinks off confused -- the guys said this would work!)
(Confers with geek friends, all agree they need to observe him "in action" to see what he's doing wrong.)
Geek: H-hhey. How's it going? You want to...
Girl: LOOK, asshole. I'm NOT. INTERESTED!!
Geek: Bitch...!
Fin.This policy includes clear guidelines to unacceptable behaviour, and offers clear steps for harassed persons to take to indicate their discomfort (”say no; if they don’t leave you alone after that, inform us”). It also guards against the minor possibility of false harassment complaints by promising to treat those as an act of harassment."Clear guidelines" are really the key, don't you think?
In general, we can take no action to prevent a person from attending the convention unless that person has made a specific and credible threat toward the convention itself.So you can complain all you like, but ejecting the offender isn't on the table. So I don't know what the con organizers plan to do about valid complaints. Make them wear a sandwich board that says "I am an asshole"? Refuse to allow them to wear their special squirrel yiffing outfit?
Still, any violation of anyone's personal space and body is unacceptable and I'm glad it's being discussed. I just don't think announcing a policy in a program book is going to make a bit of difference and might even mislead people into thinking the threat has been somehow handled. For one thing — and I'm only half-joking about this — nobody reads convention program books. I know this to be so. I'll betcha I have the world record for the most articles, bios and certainly obits written in comic convention program books and I can't recall anyone ever saying anything to me that would indicate they ever read any of them.Given that he's been going to SDCC for about a kazillion years, it's an interesting take on it...
More realistically, the problem is not that goons think that in the absence of an announcement to the contrary, sexual harassment is permitted. It's that they think what they're doing is not sexual harassment or, as I think it should be more effectively identified, molestation. That's if they even care about some convention's policy, which they clearly do not. What they might care about, and what might get them to keep their oily little hands to themselves, is if they think there's a decent chance of getting arrested and prosecuted.
The Con Anti-Harassment Project. Prompted by reported harassment at the San Diego Comic-Con, Rachel Edidin from the Inside Out blog has proposed a "three step action plan" to designed to help make conventions safer for everyone.No editorializing, no slanted words, minimal gratuitous linking to girl-wonder.org, and the hoped for subject of discussion isn't buried at the end or half way down. The posting page actually encourages the most important link first format.
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posted by jessamyn at 11:23 AM on August 26, 2008 [1 favorite]