"Zero tolerance for harassment or violence against attendees."

[bhanesidhe]

Comics oughta be fun. Comic book conventions ought to, as well. But as long as harassment goes on and there is no clear-cut official written rules on convention behavior and what to do in circumstances or physical or mental assault, our hobby runs the risk of alienating and endangering those within it.

By John DiBello, and crossposted from his friend Bully's own site:

There is something about crowds in the thousands that makes a certain sort of person fall to their baser instincts. They become animals. They are easily facilitated by mass social irresponsibility and the negligence of applying something as common as courtesy.

This doesn't just disgust me. It angers me. At the sheep-like behavior of the victims as well as the victimizers. I know I'm unreasonable when I'm angry; it's why I don't got to big cons anymore, it's why I don't attend festivals, its why I don't go to Venues/Theaters without being fully aware of exits and travel options in the likelihood that I'll be leaving in a hurry or traveling home alone. And I'm a pretty ballsy self-reliant person. Smarter still, I travel in groups. Am I paranoid? Yes. Does that mean I'm in the wrong? Sadly, no.

I've been at Jones Beach amphitheater, mid-day, fully lit, more than half-empty and have chucked garbage, plastic bottles and soda cans at the heads of middle-aged men, pressing in on adolescent females, wearing ill-advised clothes they probably saved their allowance up for weeks just to look good for their favorite band. When my venomous temper could be marginally assuaged, several many minutes later, I lied to security and reported the men in Rows-Blah, Seat-Blah, has tried to sell me weed. I knew if I said they were pushing drugs they'd immediately be evicted and if I'd said they were dancing scandalously close to the fourteen year-olds nothing would have been done.

This is just an example with a happy ending. There are many-many more. Comic-Con's & Otakons of the past being house to worst of them. I would get angry, lash out and do something sinister to the culprits, never regretting it but never feeling good about it either. In the end, what did I do? I stopped attending conventions. Did this solve the problem? Sadly, no.

There has to be an even medium. Turning a blind-eye isn't an option...neither is going into a blind rage. This isn't a feminist thing, it's a humanist thing. Because we are human first. We should start acting like it. Cross Post. ReBlog. Do Something. please.

from http://girl-wonder.org/girlsreadcomics/?p=202