ECCC accused of an offensive badge? Say it isn't so.

3 MARCH 2016

If there's a Comic Con that's the poster child for being sensitive to harassment concerns - sexual harassment, gay-bashing, sexism, transphobia, racism, you name it - it would be Emerald City Comicon. So imagine the cries of outrage rising up from Twitter over the Sunday ECCC badge, below.

Yes, it shows a woman looking horrified as a monstrous clawed hand descends on her shoulder - and while that might not indicate any kind of sexual assault on its own, the need to have her shirt unbuttoned and coming down to show her bra is pretty suggestive. So more than a few attendees have protested. (Consider also that Sunday is Kids Day and it's just a bad image choice all around.)

 

I really didn't notice the badge when I saw the whole group on ECCC's Tumblr, and I didn't get a Sunday badge, so this is the first I'm focusing on it. I agree that it wasn't the wisest image they could have chosen, partially because it's presented out of context - as ReedPOP acknowledged in their official statement on the kerfuffle:

"We are aware that some Fans are uncomfortable with the art depicted on the ECCC Sunday Badge. The art on the Badge is from the Image Comics' series The Discipline. Within the context of the comic, it is understood that these images do not depict non-consensual acts or sexual assault. Without that context, such as on the face of a Sunday badge, that is not clear."

I'm sure some people are reading this and thinking, what's the big deal? One reason: violence in comics (and other art forms) is often sexualized when the victim is a woman. She's not just stabbed, she's stripped first with a special panel to show the readers that her underwear is this close to coming off. This has gotten called out quite a bit in recent years, and it's improved somewhat in my opinion - but still, readers who have no problems with nudity or sex in a positive or egalitarian context are sick of comics that present the suffering of women as sexy. So when an image like this is shown, with no explanation for people who've never even heard of The Discipline, hackles get raised.

And also, these badge images from sponsors weren't just plucked at random. Out of all the Image comics in existence and all the beautiful art inside them, someone thought this image was ideal for the Sunday badge. And there was probably an approval chain to boot, because I've never yet seen an organization that didn't have to discuss every creative decision to death. I doubt the team involved realized the image would offend some attendees, but that's kind of the point; industry professionals still make tone-deaf blunders like this.

Anyway. Maybe you like your Sunday badge just the way it is; the 4-day Monstress badge is still my favorite. But if you do want a new Sunday badge, you can exchange it at ECCC Will Call that Sunday, according to ReedPOP.

Sexual harassment: still happening at Cons

21 DECEMBER 2015




Happy Winter Solstice! Remember in 2014 when everyone was talking about sexual harassment at Cons and how CCI refused to author a stronger policy despite many other big Cons doing so? And we had that fascinating interview between David Glanzer and Albert Ching of Comic Book Resources, and this article and that article and others?


Like its subject matter, the conversation has never really gone away. It just expanded to be less about SDCC and more about Cons in general. And interestingly, the stories getting the most attention aren't about attendees getting harassed, but about professionals - artists, writers - getting mistreated. Maybe they get groped or some industry legend offers to give them a few pointers up in their hotel room or someone with power over their career won't stop hitting on them. Or an executive senior editor bites and gropes them in the Hilton Bayfront bar.

Which has shifted the conversation more to bad behavior in the comics industry, rather than at Comic Cons. But let's not pretend there isn't a connection. A passing glance at many of these stories reveals that yes, they happened at a major Con. And the line between pro and attendee blurs more and more these days, with so many new and aspiring creatives using Cons as networking opportunities to get a foot in the door - not just in comics, but in film, animation, game design, costume design, publishing, etc.

So what does this all mean for attendees? The Comics Alliance article says, "Sometimes dependent on hearsay and short on specifics, anecdotal warnings are still very much necessary to help newcomers and veterans alike navigate an industry in which personal and professional lines often blur and networking often takes place in hotel bars at the end of convention days."  

But your average attendee isn't in a position to get those warnings. And sometimes what seems weird (like when someone invited me to his room to talk about a writing project) is a legit thing being crammed into a busy schedule. Other times you're innocently talking to another attendee at the Hyatt bar and he gropes your chest (me at SDCC 2014) or posing for a picture in your Iron Man cosplay and a woman grabs your crotch (my friend at Alamo City Comic Con a few months ago). Or you're holding an event at your comic shop and a very famous writer offers to get you into any Con you want in exchange for some private time, then badmouths you when you decline (happened to my friend years ago, writer is still a notorious jackass.)

On the professional side, many people are calling for the comics industry to hold predators accountable. Attendees are still calling for stronger anti-harassment policies at some Cons and cosplayers want everyone to know they deserve respectful treatment. I don't think the harassment will ever go away entirely, because where there are humans, there is someone behaving horribly.

However, we can support each other as much as we can - and if you are taking your first steps at networking at Comic Cons and are wondering who to trust, it doesn't hurt to do some background research. Ask around, find out who has a reputation. Use your best judgement about the industry players who seem willing to "help" you. And whatever you do, don't let an incident scare you away from Comic Cons or your chosen field. You belong here and there are people who will support you.

NYCC upgrades their anti-harassment policy

10 OCTOBER 2014

Are you lucky enough to be at New York Comic Con right now? I'm not, but I'm still jealously monitoring all developments from afar. One thing that's new: ReedPOP has embraced the winds of change and has put up "Cosplay is not Consent" posters everywhere. The design is visually arresting (nice job, Amy Reeder) and the wording is clear.

"Please keep your hands to yourself. If you would like to take a picture with or of another NYCC fan, always ask first and respect that person's right to say no. When at NYCC, be respectful, be nice, be cool and be kind to each other."

I've seen people get twitchy about the "asking" part - so let's be realistic here. If you see a cosplayer posing for a group of cameras, and you join them, most often that's not going to be an issue. I've never had anyone say no to me (and I always ask if I can put pictures on this blog - no one ever objects to that either.) I think the subtext here is for those creepers who enjoy filming women's asses and cleavage.

And yes, some will do it anyway, just like some people will continue to make boorish and insensitive comments in a number of areas - disability, race, nationality and so on. The anti-harassment policy covers all of those. (Which incidentally was developed in tandem with the great minds at The Mary Sue.) The point is that the visual reminders do stop some bad behavior, and set the stage for punitive action for those people who ruin other people's Con experience.

We'll see if SDCC remains a hold-out for 2015.

2014 trends and controversies

28 JULY 2014

Hopefully you're home and rested by now. If you're like most people, you're sick to death of anything SDCC at this point and aren't reading this - but you might also be catching up on all the gossipy Con news you missed, as it's hard to see everything when you're in the thick of it. In which case, read on.


Let's start with Saturday's ZombieWalk accident. Allegedly several zombies began banging on a car that allegedly honked/yelled at them, the zombies allegedly smashed its windshield, and the car definitely accelerated and hit a 64 year old woman (not part of the walk.) She was hospitalized with a broken arm. There are several versions of this story going around, hence all my "allegedly"s, but it's safe to speculate that this will impact next year's ZombieWalk, just like the Twilight fan who was killed running to the Hall H line a few years back generated stricter line guidelines.


If you chose not to think about it, the harassment controversy that dominated spring coverage wasn't a major factor in the Con - but it was there simmering beneath the surface if you did look for it. In addition to the CYA email sent out a few days before the Con, the harassment policy was posted in the restrooms and outlets ran articles like "Comic-Con's Dark Side: Harassment Amidst the Fantasy." Were cosplayers harassed at the same rate? I don't know. I got groped quite egregiously in the Hyatt bar by a drunk attendee who also said gross things to another woman and made a classic "what do you expect" comment. Neither of us were in costume but we were dressed like many women dress on a summer night, which apparently justified it in his mind. I'm including this story only to tell you that yes, this mentality does exist among attendees and it's not some hysterical fantasy made up for attention. Which is what many people have suggested.


But at least we know why CCI didn't want to create a new harassment policy: their lawyers were too busy creating a cease and desist order for Salt Lake Comic Con. This is a real thing. CCI is saying that Salt Lake Comic Con cannot use the term "comic con" for any event, logo, trademark or website moving forward. (So if one day this blog vanishes into a black hole, now you know why.) Salt Lake is challenging this by calling it intellectual property infringement and pointing out that hundreds of Cons already use the generic term "comic con." Team Salt Lake on this one.


Hall H wristbands seemed to exult some people and piss off others. I don't do Hall H, so I'm relying on other accounts here. Some people claimed to be robbed of their wristbands as they slept, which if true is a new low in Comic-Con world. Anyone who did this, I hope you fail at every future badge sale ever.

I also heard the general informal camaraderie of camping out seemed cooled by rules on where and how you could wait. Unpopular opinion: I don't have a problem with this. I remember well the tents and tiny grills people used to have, and how chaotic and uncontrollable it all got. And at the end of the day, we are on the convention center's property, at an event hosted by CCI, not at Burning Man. We're obligated to follow their rules.

In any case, the Saturday line seemed to blow everyone's mind and kick the mythos of the Hall H line into another dimension, from which it will hopefully boomerang back and settle into some kind of reasonable status. Because beginning your campout the afternoon or even morning of the day before the panel is just silly. It creates panic and then everyone has to get in line. I honestly don't even think it's that much about seeing the panel anymore - it's about the social experience and bragging rights. Enduring the Hall H line is running with the bulls for nerds. And the fact that people like Joss Whedon and Mischa Collins come along and feed the campers with coffee and attention doesn't help.


The outside events drew a large crowd, like we knew they would. However, while GOT was a big hit, I have to give Assassin's Creed top honors here, because that was almost as fun to watch as it was to do. (I'm guessing. There was no way I was going to even try.) Many of the events in and out of the convention center were social-based, which got old fast. It also seemed to be the year of Oculus Rift, which was employed by Fox/X Men, Sleepy Hollow, Pacific Rim and others. Minor gripe here: even though the X-Men experience had its own booth, it only gave out 75-100 passes a day and they seemed to be gone as soon as the Exhibit Hall opened. Offering an activity to only 100 people out of 130,000 is not the best planning.


And on the topic of bad planning, yikes to the Hasbro line. My sympathies if you were embroiled in that mess. You needed a ticket to stand in line, so people lined up in the pre-dawn hours to get tickets, and new attendees or anyone with a single day badge was out of luck. The line itself was poorly managed and while Hasbro said they were trying to eliminate resellers from the equation, I suspect the system gave resellers an advantage over regular attendees. Mattel and Funko looked hellish as well.


Nerd HQ is bigger than ever. Remember when it was just an appendage to Comic-Con? Now it feels like a threatening upstart - a sort of private club where you can sidestep the publicity nonsense and hear actual conversations with your favorite stars like Tatiana Maslany and Norman Reedus. I feel like a lot of people are skipping SDCC panels in favor of that option.

Which brings me to cosplay. I think the humidity shut a lot of cosplayers out of the Exhibit Hall, which at times felt like a Florida swamp. But I did see, in addition to the usual DC ensembles and Disney princesses and evil queens, some interesting trends. Namely Vikings, multiple Daryl Dixons (some with awful wigs), multiple Khaleesis (also with wigs), a few Helenas, and some amazing Saga cosplay.

My favorite cosplay photobomb was Maleficent below, if only for her predatory expression.

Finally, I can't believe how many people panicked over Stan Lee skipping the Con . A whole bunch of "Well, I heard..." sprung up but it was because of laryngitis, nothing more. You will see him again, I promise.

I'll post news and announcements in a bit.

CCI misses the point by a mile on harassment

31 MARCH 2014



You know how sometimes you read an email or web page from CCI and you get the feeling that their version of logic is few degrees off from yours? That sense of skewed perception came through loud and clear in their response to the call for a stronger anti-harassment policy.

I would advise reading this excellent article on the Mary Sue in its entirety, but here are the highlights. The petition from GeeksForCONsent was brought to CCI's attention and Albert Ching of Comic Book Resources (who used to work in my comic shop, hi Albert) interviewed David Glanzer, Director of Marketing and PR for CCI. His responses were unsatisfying on the policy front, but did suggest where much of the general fuzziness in CCI communication may come from.

For instance, this was his central argument against a stronger anti-harassment policy: 1) that it might imply other types of harassment are allowed and 2) that the media might get the idea harassment is an actual problem at Comic-Con. Oh no, not that! 3) He later said he doesn't want to "create a situation" where someone takes a policy as a challenge to push limits.

I feel like David Glanzer might live in a snow globe where real human dynamics are a dim memory. One, policies are written every day that ban all types of harassment. Secondly, Con harassment is already in the news. Putting out a "we won't tolerate such behavior" hard line is the obligatory gesture organizations make to quell any bad press. All of the current petition coverage and CCI's refusal to comply is a thousand times more damning than an actual good policy would be. How does an organization not understand that? As for the fear of a challenge - we're talking about Comic-Con attendees, not angry World Cup fans. Good grief.

When Ching brought up the "Costumes are not consent" posters at Emerald City, Glanzer drifted down another vaguely-worded rabbit hole. "I think we’re comfortable in the policy we have.... I think the precautions that we have, and the elements that we have in place have made it an issue that I think we certainly are addressing."

He ultimately threw in some classic prevarications - "If there are additional specifics that people have, I guess we would address that as it comes up" and, "anyone who feels unsafe — even if it’s one person — is clearly one person too many.” The specifics have come up. There are people who feel unsafe. Write a new policy, CCI. Put up some posters. It doesn't have to be this complicated.

(To anyone who points out the SDCC already has a policy, it's buried in the fine print and quite broad. And honestly, it's not the policy itself that creates the change - it's the dialogue around it. It's seeing signage and hearing official statements in the media that make people think twice about asking cosplayers to bend over. And of course, the threat of being banned from the nerd Valhalla that is Comic-Con.) 

For me the most interesting part of the interview was seeing the CCI mentality in action. Like the part where protecting paying customers isn't nearly as important as conveying a good image to outsiders. Or the part where silence is viewed as more effective than clear communication, and the status quo as safer than change. Sounds familiar, doesn't it?

Harassment at San Diego Comic-Con

14 MAY 2014




Let's talk about sexual harassment! Everyone's favorite contentious topic is back. A group called GeeksforCONsent is circulating a change.org petition about San Diego Comic-Con's harassment policy and what they call "their insufficient anti-harassment efforts" - a petition they shall deliver in person at the Con.

What they want: "San Diego Comic-Con should develop and publicize a formal and thorough anti-harassment policy and create internal procedures for training staff in understanding and effectively enforcing that policy."

Sounds reasonable enough, until you remember that they're asking this of an organization that struggles with basic IT and communication skills. Drafting a policy is one thing: "effectively enforcing" it may be a taller order. (In my most egregious Con groping, committed by a 12 year old by the Bud Plant booth, he simply scampered off in the crowd with a smirk when I yelled at him. Gropers grope in crowds because they know it's easy to get away with it.)

Still the petition is a justified endeavor. A few years back I wrote a post about sexual harassment at Cons that pissed some people off. While I won't rehash it, I will say that I still find SDCC to be less gropey than other Cons (and subways, shows, bars, etc.) but that clearly hasn't been everyone's experience. So I'll say this again also: be nice to the pretty cosplayers. Their weapons may be foam, but they can still probably kick your ass.




ETA: That was fast. An astute reader directed me to a Mary Sue post that gives more history on SDCC's actual policy, along with other Cons.

Sexual harassment at Comic Cons

19 OCTOBER 2012


All summer I debated on whether to post on the increasingly high-profile topic of sexual harassment at Cons. It's been in the media, but not specifically about San Diego Comic Con - mostly the debate has floated more around a more amorphous nerd/geek/con/large crowd phenomenon, whether it was the Skepchick elevator incident in the skeptic community or the Dragon Con Open Source Boob Project or cosplayer Ginny McQueen being asked to perform as a stripper at a convention. There's also been a lot of complaints about booth babes, female gamers, Felicia Day, and so on. Anyone who hangs out online at various nerdy or pop culture sites has read something about this, I'm sure.

While I think these are all valuable dialogues to have, I've been annoyed by a conflation of all these incidents that somehow always boils down to a single word: GEEKS. Inevitably, in either the article or the comments, someone will lament how geeks and nerds are so just sexist and clueless and horrible around women. Which is dourly amusing to me as a woman and a nerd - it's as if people earnestly believe that this kind of thing is both rare and isolated to geeky circles. Seriously? No. It's universal and is not some kind of "geek culture" thing.

Three points:

1. The word "con" or even "convention" does not refer to one homogeneous population. Dragon Con, SXSW, skeptism conferences and comic cons might share a few participants, but they have different purposes and draw different crowds. The fact that they feature large crowds is what bears looking at here - I won't go all academic on the theory of diffuse responsibility and whatnot, but we know that some people act differently in a large crowd than they do in normal circumstances.

2. Geek and Nerd have come to have very elastic definitions, applied at this point to almost anyone who's passionate about something other than sports. There's a certain intellectual cred associated with being a nerd, which is why calling oneself a "history nerd" or "archeology geek" has become a way of humble-bragging about your cerebral interests. And in the instances mentioned above, plenty of people are being labeled as nerds and geeks simply because they attended some kind of conference.

3. This kind of thing - groping, rude comments, stupid assumptions about women in sexy outfits - happens everywhere. I'm a woman who's been dealing with this crap since I was 12, and I have not yet found a population or environment magically exempt from it. Stadium games, punk rock shows, Gay Pride parades, you name it - crowds and anonymity bring out the worst in some people.


All of which is my way of saying, it just isn't my experience that geeks are more prone to misogyny and bad behavior than other people.

Now. That said, it's still worth discussing the harassment that does happen at cons. Because it does happen. This is in the blogosphere right now: a pretty woman in a Black Cat outfit who was asked her cup size at New York Comic Con.  I know a lot of people probably think she's overreacting, that it was "harmless fun" and she should have a sense of humor/expect such things when wearing such an outfit. Even though it continued after she said "seriously, stop." If that's you, congratulations - here are 3 more points just for you.

1. Treat women with respect. Don't divide the women at Cons into some weird Madonna/Whore dichotomy where there are the "true geeks" you respect and the booth babes and cosplayers you don't. A revealing costume is not an invitation to groping, crude comments or any kind of rude behavior.

2, Women are people too. We are nerds and geeks and gamers and comic book fans and belong at Comic Con every bit as much as you do. We are not invaders of sacred male territory. We pay the same money to get in, look forward to it just like you do, and deserve to enjoy it without being mocked, harassed or scorned.

3. The dialogues around this topic have resulted in calls for tighter harassment policies at Cons of all types. So before you ask that fetching Poison Ivy to flash you, think better of it.


By and large, I've always been amazed at how pleasant everyone is at Comic Con. Given how crowded and frustrating the whole experience can be, we are mostly a civil and friendly bunch. But every year I experience lewd comments, disdainful assumptions that I'm a booth babe or someone's girlfriend, the occasional grope and other caveman behavior. My Walking Dead picture on this blog was originally one with me in it, but after two creepy emails, I replaced it.

I didn't mean to write quite such a novella of a post. So here's the TLDR version:

1. A lot of the Internet hubbub about various harassment controversies seems to eventually boil down to "Nerd boys are resentful, awkward and misogynist toward women!" which I do not feel is any more true than the general population.

2. That said, harassment does happen at Cons - so try not to be an ass. And if you do insist on treating women badly and clinging to your oafish, primitive bitterness, then please stop calling yourself a geek or a nerd. You're ruining it for the rest of us.