A Woman's Worth

[jennygadget]

Before I start to rant, I would like to make it clear that I was incredibly impressed with how Readercon ultimately handled the well-known harassment incident that happened recently.  The final apology from the ConCom, in particular, was excellent and should be held up as an example to all of how to do it right.  I have a lot of respect and awe for

Comments

[la_marquise_de_]

I'm a writer

[jennygadget]

YES. and THANK YOU for bringing that point up about volunteers.

Because yes, my point is very much not that writer's deserve special treatment, but the fact that even female writer's don't seem to have the right to their own time and bodies is indicative of how we view women's efforts, time, abilities, and value overall.

I shudder to think of how vulnerable a lot of those female volunteers are.

[la_marquise_de_]

There are some volunteer jobs I won't do for precisely that reason. (Especially security. Women who work security get my respect hugely.)
UK con runners and fans have been having a debate over female safety and problems of harassment for the last 34 or 5 years, which has been very good, on the whole, and has made a lot of people think hard and even change how they run things, how they act and what they do. We've still got a long way to go, but at least we're talking. At this year's Eastercon a young woman was sexually assaulted on the dance floor: the concom had the perpetrator removed and his membership withdrawn within 20 minutes. When another member (female, this time) tried to harass the same woman shortly afterwards, she was, I understand, treated similarly. There was some fallout, but mainly because the news that the incidents had been dealt with took a lot longer to get out than the initial news.
But volunteers can be extra vulnerable, and I am slightly worried that this is being forgotten in the current debate.

[jennygadget]

oh, it definitely is. And I think it's happening because people keep forgetting that women, being people, are there to do things - things other than stand there being harassed.

And yes, I was a little afraid of contributing to that with this post, which is why I really appreciate your comments. I really just want people to remember that women are not just victims, they are writers, fans, volunteers, artists, conrunners, etc.

And so the question is not:

"Is it fair to kick the fan/writer/volunteer/conrunner out because he made a woman uncomfortable?"

it's

"What's the best way to handle a fan/writer/volunteer/conrunner's harassing another fan/writer/volunteer/conrunner? And what kind of gendered behavior is going on that we should be aware of in order to deal with this more effectively?"

[la_marquise_de_]

Yes! I think that's the best articulated expression of this so far.
Thank you.