Stop Street Harassment

Making Public Spaces Safe and Welcoming

USA: Building a New Culture of Consent at NYCC

By

Katie Bowers, NY, USA, SSH Blog Correspondent

Last week we discussed New York Comic Con’s shiny, new anti-harassment policy.  Over Saturday and Sunday at the convention, I got to see the policy in action.

Thanks to the efforts of Geeks for CONsent, The Mary Sue, and others, New York Comic Con 2014 featured a plethora of reminders that “Cosplay is not Consent”.  Prominent black and red standees stood throughout the Javits Center’s main lobby – a major site for amateur and professional photographers looking to grab a shot of attendee’s incredible costumes.  The policy, which also covered a full page of the program booklet, forbids a wide range of harassment including unwanted physical touching and gestures, verbal comments, stalking and intimidation, and photos taken without consent.  Offenders, the standees and program booklets proclaimed, run the risk of being kicked out of the convention.

I spent the weekend dressed up as one of sci fi’s favorite red heads: Special Agent Dana Scully.  To my knowledge, everyone who took my picture asked for my permission – and everyone asked with enthusiasm.  This isn’t a new phenomenon.  In general, anyone excited enough about your costume to want a picture also wants to share their excitement – but one interaction in particular stuck out to me.

A man approached me on the show floor and asked to take my photo.  “Sure,” I said and went to set down my stuff.  My badge and bag got tangled and it took a minute to unhook the two.  “Sorry, hold on,” I told him.

“No, no, I’m sorry,” he said quickly.  “I don’t want to make you uncomfortable.  You don’t need to be sorry.”

In a place where people walk around on stilts and stilettos, strap proton packs to their back, and squeeze through overcrowded aisle ways, comfort is generally not the first thing on anyone’s mind.  His response was totally surprising and wonderfully welcome.

In addition to visual reminders, NYCC also hosted “#YesAllGeeks”, a panel about harassment in convention spaces with Diana Pho of Beyond Victoriana, , Marlene Bonnelly of comics.tumblr.com, writer and prolific tweeter Mikki Kendall; Emily Asher Perrin of Tor, writer and #YesAllWomen creator Kaye M, and Robert Anders, a nurse practioner speaking about the psychological effects of harassment. The panelists did a great job of breaking down why having anti-harassment policies are so important:

* Obviously, a strong policy helps victims to recognize harassment when it happens to them and provides them with an immediate course of action.  It can also help women, people of color and members of other frequently harassed groups feel more welcome – an important consideration as conventions grow larger and more diverse.

* With a well-publicized policy, harassers can be held accountable.  It’s hard to convincingly claim ignorance when standing next to an 8-foot tall standee and holding the full text of the anti-harassment policy in your swag bag.

* Policies can also open up opportunities for bystanders.  Often, bystanders witness harassing behavior but don’t step in.  They’re not sure what to do, and they don’t want to be harassed themselves.  With a policy in place, bystanders have more options.  They can ask the victim if they are okay, if they’d like help, if they’d like to report, and even if they have heard about the “Report Harassment” feature of the NYCC app.  Or, if it feels safe, they can remind the harasser about the “Cosplay is not consent” policy.

So there are lots of good reasons to create and publicize strong anti-harassment policies – but Mikki Kendall pointed out that the most important reason of all isn’t action and reaction.  It’s prevention.  When asked how we can make fan communities safe spaces, Kendall advised that we need to be communities that respond appropriately and immediately to unacceptable behavior. When we speak out against harassment and oppression – at conventions, online, or even in the media that we geek out about – we make our communities better and safer.  We hold ourselves and other members of the community to a higher level.  Or, since we’re at Comic Con, you could say we “level up”.

This weekend, NYCC became the most highly attended convention of the year with 150,000 fans walking through the front door.  Those 150,000 fans saw costumes, sneak previews, art, comics, panels – and a new message: it’s time to level up.

Want to see the panel in its entirety?  Visit Beyond Victoriana!  Or read more at The Mary Sue.

Katie is a social worker and community educator interested in ending gender-based violence, working with youth to make the world a better place, and using pop culture as a tool for social change. Check out her writing at the Imagine Better Blog and geek out with her on Twitter, @CornishPixie9.

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USA: I’m Going to NYCC! Let’s Geek Out About Ending Harassment

By

Katie Bowers, NY, USA, SSH Blog Correspondent

This weekend marks my now-annual tradition: cosplaying at New York Comic Con (NYCC).  I’ve attended NYCC as Ramona Flowers (from Scott Pilgrim) and Amy Pond and Donna Noble (both from Doctor Who). Needless to say, as a geek girl, cosplayer, and advocate for ending street harassment, I’ve been pretty interested in the work of Geeks for CONsent.

Geeks for CONsent is a group of female cosplayers and allies working to make sure that comic cons and the surrounding streets and events are harassment-free zones.  They have produced comic books, info sheets, and online resources for attendees, and they also advocate for and help convention staff to create high quality, well-publicized sexual harassment policies.

On the street or in the convention center, cosplay grabs attention and can inspire a lot of picture-taking.  If you ask for a photo and behave politely, most cosplayers are happy to oblige – we worked hard, after all, to look this awesome.  Unfortunately, some con-goers don’t apply that basic level of respect to cosplayers.  Harassment at cons often involves a camera: harassers may grab a cosplayer’s body parts during a photo, snap shots of cosplayers bending over, click quick up-skirt pics while sitting on the floor, and other clearly unconsented behaviors.  Other times, it won’t be on film.  It will be a passing comment in the hall about how a woman “fills out” a costume or the sudden, frightening sensation of a stranger’s hand feeling your costume or your hair.

This is a problem at every con, including that largest and most well known of the nerd conventions: San Diego Comic Con.  Back in July, we reported that despite Geeks for CONsent’s 2,500 signature petition, SDCC would not be updating their harassment policies or changing the ways they publicize those policies.

Fortunately, Geeks for CONsent and other anti-harassment advocates know that San Diego isn’t the only con around.  The work of the anti-harassment movement led both Emerald City Comic Con in Seattle and Rose City Comic Con in Portland to post some clear and beautiful signage throughout the convention center reminding attendees that “Costumes are not consent”.  Awesome Con, which hosts shows in Indianapolis, Milwaukee, and Washington, D.C., brought in Geeks for CONsent as their in-house anti-harassment team and used their anti-harassment training manual to train all of their volunteers in 2014.

Geeks for CONsent at Awesome Con DC, 2014

This weekend, NYCC will open their doors with a new anti-harassment policy, created by geek girl blog The Mary Sue and a panel of geeky advocates.  The policy includes a pretty comprehensive definition of harassment and protocols for reporting and dealing with harassers.  The policy also introduces the new Report Harassment feature of the NYCC app.  This cool piece of technology allows users to file an immediate, detailed report (provided, of course, that they have cell service in the concrete depths of the Javits Center).  Geeks for CONsent and Fan Girls’ Night Out will also be on hand to “spread the anti-harassment message, collect your stories, and provide a safe space to talk about your experiences”.

As geek culture becomes mainstream, making cons a place where all people feel welcome is more pressing than ever before.  At its core, geeking out is about enthusiasm.  It’s the type of unbridled exhilaration that gets you reading every installment, watching every episode, dressing up in character, traveling to cons.  Geeks are thrilled by seeing our favorite fictional heroes battle the forces of evil.  But what’s exciting now isn’t in the stories: it’s in us.

Major conventions are adopting new policies, geek celebs are speaking out against harassment, high traffic blogs and just-for-fun tumblrs are heralding the call that cosplay does not equal consent. Outside the geek-o-sphere, street harassment is being talked about by everyone from The Daily Show to Fox News (with, let’s say, “varying levels of support”).  After years of work, and even longer years of stifled silence, the heroic efforts of anti-harassment advocates are starting to turn the tide.

This weekend, I’ll be at NYCC and I’m excited to see how things are different.  Will the new policies eliminate harassment at the con?  Of course not – but this is the beginning.  It feels good to step into the Javits Center – wig, costume, and all – and know that the convention has my back.  And that?  That’s something to geek out about.

Katie is a social worker and community educator interested in ending gender-based violence, working with youth to make the world a better place, and using pop culture as a tool for social change. Check out her writing at the Imagine Better Blog and geek out with her on Twitter, @CornishPixie9.

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