In light of Rene Walling and ReaderCon

Aug 02, 2012 18:16


You know what i would support?  An "alliance" of Equal Opportunity in Fandom of some sort, in light of the Rene Walling situation (ReaderCon), and in light of ongoing, chronic instances of harassment by fen and SMOFs alike. Same for tech conferences.  Basically a body of "governance" that would certify a board / convention policies as "concurrent with the spirit of the alliance" and provide a seal of approval to those conventions who volunteer to join the alliance.

All conventions joining the alliance would agree to portability of sanctions across conventions, such that if a member is banned (or some other sanction) from one convention by the committee for harassment, assault, or other offense (even Harlan Fucking Ellison) that member would have compatible sanctions placed against them by all the other alliance members.  A NATO of Diversity, if you will.

To couple with that, the alliance would have an online presence with FAQ and HowTo style documents on conventional convention behavior, and offer remedial certification courses or accept courses from colleges as credit towards removing sanctions for first time or minor offenders.  So a baffled, angry, tirade filled fan who would normally explode and start a shit-storm on the internet about how unfairly they were treated can't say with any credibility that they weren't given the option to "learn what it is they did wrong" (I realize that Rene fully admits his wrongdoing, but oh-so-famous other repeat offenders are not so self-reflective).

And finally the alliance would be able to revoke their certification from conventions that apply their certified policies selectively.  

equal opportunity, fandom, feminism

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