If you're a woman, and you go to Comic-con, better read this

[gategrrl]

 http://www.beaucoupkevin.com/blog/sexual-harassment-at-sdcc-commentary-by-john-dibello/2008/08/15/

Personally, what happened to those women SHOULD have been reported to actual police, or to the convention center. That sort of shit shouldn't be tolerated. At all.

Comments

[moonshayde.livejournal.com]

Wow. I don't know what to say.

[gategrrl.livejournal.com]

I don't either. I'd have been traumatized. I don't know if the guy who wrote the article understands how it *can* affect a woman/girl to be molested like that. It's possible they went to their room and sobbed or showered or whatever, depending on their background.

[queenoftheskies.livejournal.com]

That's DISGUSTING!

[gategrrl.livejournal.com]

It really is.

[jomadge.livejournal.com]

Holy crap. What is HAPPENING at cons these days? This is unacceptable. Period.

[gategrrl.livejournal.com]

Sorta surprised the guys didn't say they were part of the Boob Touching Project from that other convention. Remember that?

[tenaya.livejournal.com]

There are a lot of women dressed very exotically and they are expecting/hoping to be asked to pose for pictures. I think the trouble with the immature male mind is that one lady dressed in a sexy way that smiles when she's hugged and kissed gives them permission to treat all sexy women that intimately. The sheer mass of people and the anonymity makes it easy for them to get away with it even when, maybe, they know it's wrong what they're about to do (like the guy who grabbed that one woman's ass.)

I think a firm policy, right up front where no one can miss it, to remind people to ask permission before touching them might help in some cases. And a statement of zero tolerance to harrassment--that their badges will be seized and they will be escorted to the door--would be great.

[nialla]

Most of the cons I've been to in recent years have a policy about behavior. Sometimes specific about things, but other times just a general one.

I found a Dragon*Con book from a few years ago and it includes a variation of the "we reserve the right to refuse service" thing: "We reserve the right to ask you to leave the convention and refuse to refund your membership money if you are behaving -- in technical terms -- like a jerk."

The problem is getting security to catch the offenders to eject them, because they can easily be lost in the crowd. Trying to confront them on your own could cause even more problems. You just never know if they're being plain, old-fashioned jerks, or if they're planning to do you real harm.

I was working con staff years ago, mostly at registration, but after that rush was over, I was sort of a floater, covering people when they needed breaks or just answering questions people might have.

We kept hearing recurring comments about one guy who was being stalkerish, but no one had actually reported anything to security. Quite a few of us on staff started shadowing him, so the first time he did something after that, they had cause to toss him out on his ass even without a fan complaining to us. Luckily he was in a highly recognizable costume, so he was easy to track.

I think a good plan might be for con security to buy a disposible cell phone for use during the con event. Whoever is currently "on call" would have it, and anyone -- staffer, boothie or fan -- could contact that number if they felt unsafe and/or someone needed to be shown the exit. Not a perfect solution, as not everyone has a cell phone, but it would cover a lot of people.

[gategrrl.livejournal.com]

Yes. Another helpful solution would be for the convention to hire Muscle to patrol those areas, and accompany women when they need it. Some university and colleges do it. Usually only when there are a spike of reported assaults/rapes on a campus, however.

[amycooper.livejournal.com]

Disturbing.