the Readercon sexual harassment incident
The concom has handed down a decision, more or less, but is apparently refusing to explain its reasoning.
I find this troubling enough to be making an exception to my usual avoidance of the whole signal-boosting routine. Unless I'm reading things very wrong, this is a con that had a model anti-harassment policy. While that's never sufficient to prevent sexual harassment, the con has also enforced it as written in the past, when incidents were reported to the committee (as opposed to suffered through by victims who found the thought of going through the reporting process even ickier than putting up with stalking, etc. for the duration of the con). Now, suddenly, the policy that was in place for this year's con -- harass people, get banned for life -- is retroactively not in effect, for reasons the committee won't disclose. Instead, this year's harasser got a two-year suspension, and the victim has been told that the anti-harassment policy is being rewritten for future years.
Maybe I'm a little sensitive on the topic; both the victims who've come forward are friends of mine, which makes it impossible for me to treat this with complete detachment.1 But I don't think so. And I especially don't think so because of the ugly hints, already beginning to surface, that one difference between this year's incident and the one from 2008 is that the harasser this year is some kind of BNF.
I hope it turns out that this is all better than it sounds, and that I'm overreacting by even posting this. But, but, but.
1Though it also gives me reason to know, even more directly than I would by simple life experience, that no, victim-blaming slime people, neither one is making anything up, exaggerating, or overreacting to ordinary social awkwardness from geeky men. Don't even go there. Just don't. Not that I think any of you guys would.
ETA: I wrote this, obviously, before the Readercon Board issued its profoundly unhelpful statement about the matter. Read it and weep. Or don't read it, and spare your blood pressure.
This entry was crossposted from Dreamwidth. Feel free to comment here or there, with openID or whatever works for you.
I find this troubling enough to be making an exception to my usual avoidance of the whole signal-boosting routine. Unless I'm reading things very wrong, this is a con that had a model anti-harassment policy. While that's never sufficient to prevent sexual harassment, the con has also enforced it as written in the past, when incidents were reported to the committee (as opposed to suffered through by victims who found the thought of going through the reporting process even ickier than putting up with stalking, etc. for the duration of the con). Now, suddenly, the policy that was in place for this year's con -- harass people, get banned for life -- is retroactively not in effect, for reasons the committee won't disclose. Instead, this year's harasser got a two-year suspension, and the victim has been told that the anti-harassment policy is being rewritten for future years.
Maybe I'm a little sensitive on the topic; both the victims who've come forward are friends of mine, which makes it impossible for me to treat this with complete detachment.1 But I don't think so. And I especially don't think so because of the ugly hints, already beginning to surface, that one difference between this year's incident and the one from 2008 is that the harasser this year is some kind of BNF.
I hope it turns out that this is all better than it sounds, and that I'm overreacting by even posting this. But, but, but.
1Though it also gives me reason to know, even more directly than I would by simple life experience, that no, victim-blaming slime people, neither one is making anything up, exaggerating, or overreacting to ordinary social awkwardness from geeky men. Don't even go there. Just don't. Not that I think any of you guys would.
ETA: I wrote this, obviously, before the Readercon Board issued its profoundly unhelpful statement about the matter. Read it and weep. Or don't read it, and spare your blood pressure.
This entry was crossposted from Dreamwidth. Feel free to comment here or there, with openID or whatever works for you.