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Having been to a number of conventions this year I have been glad to note that most have at the front of the convention a large sign these days that spells out very carefully Cosplay is not Consent and what will happen to those people who cross the line within the confines of the convention.
Considering that two years ago was the first time I saw one of those at a convention in Europe, I do agree that we have come a long way.
Many conventions have also put inappropriate or unwelcome touching of anyone in their rules and badges have been yanked along with people shown the door of the convention space. However if they have a hotel room they can be in the public areas and no one can prevent that.
And no one should try unless it was an offence that one should be arrested for then call the police and have them prosecuted. People shouldn’t take it upon themselves to ‘take care’ of the problem because that is a slippery slope to assault and that person finding their own self in trouble with the law. And believe it or not that did happen this year at one of the conventions I was at.
I will say it is refreshing to see con committees really take a look at the people they have as their volunteer staff and finally getting rid of a couple of bad apples who thought their bad behavior was grandfathered in. One group discovered that they had two staff members that should not be there since they were registered sex offenders for unnatural acts with minor children. Those two were polite shown the door and informed that even if they bought a badge to the event, they were not going to get in because it was illegal for them to be there and would they like their parole officer to know that they had broken the terms of their release so blatantly? The individuals did do the smart things and stayed away but were upset that they got called on their bad behavior.
Restraining orders can be tricky. I know of one that was in effect at DragonCon and the parties involved had friends make sure that neither accidently crossed the other’s path. I’ll give them credit for finding a way for both of them to be at the convention. I feel sorry the gymnastics they had to do to keep the order in place but at least the offending party kept their word and avoided the other person.
And in certain quarters there are grumbling about conventions not being inclusive and that the fans have become the bullies that they use to be bullied by. Good old so and so has always acted like that and there is nothing behind it other than they are overly friendly. So why are they not allowed to spend time with their fandom family? Because we have stopped tolerating behaviors that are wrong both socially and morally. Things that we have let ‘slip’ we have decided as our fandom family has increased are no longer tolerated.
Fandom has changed radically in the past 40 years. Our means of communicating with each other has changed. Our convention make up has changed. I love that I see families together walking through conventions. That the female to male ratio has gone from women being exotic creatures to a normal part of various fandoms that were white male dominated back in the day.
Infinite Combinations Infinite Diversity is something that Star Trek touted as an ideal to strive for and we are heading there but with that comes some new problems and new issues that have to be addressed head on rather than keeping them in the dark or saying “well back in the day”. That was then and this is now.
Behavior I dealt with at conventions when I was 13 is not behavior I care to have Caroline deal with at all. I was lucky that a good group of people decided that these teenagers have as much right to come to a convention and be safe as they did. That group we called Uncle or Aunt even though they were no blood relations but they were part of our fandom family and made sure we were safe to be fans. Caroline still has this part of fandom in her life. She has people she called Uncle and she knows that they are no relationship to her other than their fandom family context. She has people she knows she can go to if she has a problem at a convention.
So fandom is improving over all. There are still pockets of resistance on some issues that eventually will fade away through time and space. But we can’t just sit back and rest on our laurels. We have to make sure that the better continues until problems are solved.
I am grateful to the fans over the years who looked out for me.
Considering that two years ago was the first time I saw one of those at a convention in Europe, I do agree that we have come a long way.
Many conventions have also put inappropriate or unwelcome touching of anyone in their rules and badges have been yanked along with people shown the door of the convention space. However if they have a hotel room they can be in the public areas and no one can prevent that.
And no one should try unless it was an offence that one should be arrested for then call the police and have them prosecuted. People shouldn’t take it upon themselves to ‘take care’ of the problem because that is a slippery slope to assault and that person finding their own self in trouble with the law. And believe it or not that did happen this year at one of the conventions I was at.
I will say it is refreshing to see con committees really take a look at the people they have as their volunteer staff and finally getting rid of a couple of bad apples who thought their bad behavior was grandfathered in. One group discovered that they had two staff members that should not be there since they were registered sex offenders for unnatural acts with minor children. Those two were polite shown the door and informed that even if they bought a badge to the event, they were not going to get in because it was illegal for them to be there and would they like their parole officer to know that they had broken the terms of their release so blatantly? The individuals did do the smart things and stayed away but were upset that they got called on their bad behavior.
Restraining orders can be tricky. I know of one that was in effect at DragonCon and the parties involved had friends make sure that neither accidently crossed the other’s path. I’ll give them credit for finding a way for both of them to be at the convention. I feel sorry the gymnastics they had to do to keep the order in place but at least the offending party kept their word and avoided the other person.
And in certain quarters there are grumbling about conventions not being inclusive and that the fans have become the bullies that they use to be bullied by. Good old so and so has always acted like that and there is nothing behind it other than they are overly friendly. So why are they not allowed to spend time with their fandom family? Because we have stopped tolerating behaviors that are wrong both socially and morally. Things that we have let ‘slip’ we have decided as our fandom family has increased are no longer tolerated.
Fandom has changed radically in the past 40 years. Our means of communicating with each other has changed. Our convention make up has changed. I love that I see families together walking through conventions. That the female to male ratio has gone from women being exotic creatures to a normal part of various fandoms that were white male dominated back in the day.
Infinite Combinations Infinite Diversity is something that Star Trek touted as an ideal to strive for and we are heading there but with that comes some new problems and new issues that have to be addressed head on rather than keeping them in the dark or saying “well back in the day”. That was then and this is now.
Behavior I dealt with at conventions when I was 13 is not behavior I care to have Caroline deal with at all. I was lucky that a good group of people decided that these teenagers have as much right to come to a convention and be safe as they did. That group we called Uncle or Aunt even though they were no blood relations but they were part of our fandom family and made sure we were safe to be fans. Caroline still has this part of fandom in her life. She has people she called Uncle and she knows that they are no relationship to her other than their fandom family context. She has people she knows she can go to if she has a problem at a convention.
So fandom is improving over all. There are still pockets of resistance on some issues that eventually will fade away through time and space. But we can’t just sit back and rest on our laurels. We have to make sure that the better continues until problems are solved.
I am grateful to the fans over the years who looked out for me.
