So a gal was approached by a creepy guy at AnthroCon; gal chose to be polite and mostly non-confrontational, guy chose to be creepy. Yesterday, gal wrote a blog post about the event, detailing the creepy guy as a warning to other gals who may have been similarly creeped at.
Since then, gal’s post got linked to on 4chan and lulz.net, which apparently mobilized hordes of knuckle-dragging scumsuckers to mock and harass her, effectively bullying her into removing the post and generally creating a “you better keep your mouth shut if you know what’s good for you, girlie” environment. As a result, she’s now gone quiet about it, and creepy guy is still out there, creeping.
This must not stand.
Creepy guy does not appear to have been an AC attendee, but gal was, and we should be protecting our own. Not only in the case of the incident (’cause even the Dorsai, love ’em, can’t be everywhere at once), but also when she tries to tell everyone what happened and spread the word.
I’m not posting gal’s name here, because if she feels threatened she’s entitled to her anonymity. But we need to create an environment where gal is the one who is safe and protected by the social fabric, and creepy guys are the ones who get shamed and harassed.
More On the Topic…
Victim shaming & blaming (sexual harassment at Anthrocon)
Dragon*Con’s Back Up Project FAQ
Video Blog on a Different (But Sadly the Same) Event
-The Gneech
(Crossposted to the AnthroCon LJ community and my LiveJournal)
I agree that it is unacceptable what happened to this young woman and that she has felt any shame for talking about it. However, what can Anthrocon do to help rectify this injustice?
There’s been quite a lot of discussion on that, actually, over at the AC LiveJournal community.
-TG
Gneech: blessings on your head for helping propagate this. At present LJ is down for me (which is why I’m commenting here…) but once I can get in I’m looking forward to seeing what comes of this debate; something positive, I hope.
It’s been an interesting discussion– I’m hoping it will lead to positive change. :)
-TG