![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Jun. 28th, 2013 08:32 pmElise Matthesen has reported a sexual harassment incident that occurred at Wiscon here, in addition to a few other places. Please read her post. I wanted to highlight a portion of it here.
"I had been nervous about doing it, even though the Safety person and the friend sitting with us were people I have known for years. Sitting there, I tried to imagine how nervous I would have been if I were twenty-some years old and at my first convention. What if I were just starting out and had been hoping to show a manuscript to that editor? Would I have thought this kind of behavior was business as usual? What if I were afraid that person would blacklist me if I didn’t make nice and go along with it? If I had been less experienced, less surrounded by people I could call on for strength and encouragement, would I have been able to report it at all?
Well, I actually know the answer to that one: I wouldn’t have. I know this because I did not report it when it happened to me in my twenties. I didn’t report it when it happened to me in my forties either."
I know when I first began attending cons at eighteen, I knew no one. Had something like this happened to me then, I would have not known who I could have talked to. I would have been confused and upset in addition to not knowing what resources I had on hand. My early con experiences were safe and harassment free, albeit still confusing and uncertain. It makes me furious to think of this incident and all the incidents, reported or not, which have come before. Thank you Elise for speaking out.
"I had been nervous about doing it, even though the Safety person and the friend sitting with us were people I have known for years. Sitting there, I tried to imagine how nervous I would have been if I were twenty-some years old and at my first convention. What if I were just starting out and had been hoping to show a manuscript to that editor? Would I have thought this kind of behavior was business as usual? What if I were afraid that person would blacklist me if I didn’t make nice and go along with it? If I had been less experienced, less surrounded by people I could call on for strength and encouragement, would I have been able to report it at all?
Well, I actually know the answer to that one: I wouldn’t have. I know this because I did not report it when it happened to me in my twenties. I didn’t report it when it happened to me in my forties either."
I know when I first began attending cons at eighteen, I knew no one. Had something like this happened to me then, I would have not known who I could have talked to. I would have been confused and upset in addition to not knowing what resources I had on hand. My early con experiences were safe and harassment free, albeit still confusing and uncertain. It makes me furious to think of this incident and all the incidents, reported or not, which have come before. Thank you Elise for speaking out.
