No to ‘creeping at Con’

Some of Comic Con’s attendees have such difficulty understanding the notion of consent that protest groups and would-be speakers have taken a stand against the convention’s sexual harrassment policy.

Even though women now comprise more than 40 per cent of attendees at the recently concluded convention — which celebrates comics, film and TV — groping, unwarranted attention and inappropriate “upskirt” photography still occurs to the extent that the organisers had to send attendees its anti-harassment policy via email two days before the event started last week.

It was the first time Comic Con had taken such a step. Spokesperson David Glanzer told the LA Times: “It seemed like a good idea to add to that with the email distribution.”

Around 130,000 people attend Comic Con in San Diego. Earlier this year, comics writer and fan Janelle Asselin carried out a survey on sexual harrassment in the comics community. It received 3,600 responses, of which 55 per cent were from women, 39 per cent were men and six per cent were non-binary.

The results showed that respondents were more likely to be photographed at conventions against their wishes, while 13 per cent had unwanted comments of a sexual nature made about them and eight per cent had been groped, assaulted or raped.

Comics writer Maria Huehner, who created the True Blood and Emily And The Strangers series, told the LA Times that she had been groped at the convention. Asselin told the paper that she had been “groped at half-a-dozen conventions” and received rape threats online after she had critiqued a comic on her blog.

Asselin writes that harrassment happens at “every level of the industry”, from fans to writers, speakers, journalists and publishing staff.

Comic Con is said to be a hotbed of harassment due to the large number of people attending, causing touching in crowds with only the victim and the perpetrator’s awareness. The fact that many attendees come in cosplay, dressed up as their favourite comic or film character in tight or adventurous costumes, increases the chances of their being photographed without their consent or inappropriately.

In April, organisers from Seattle’s Comic Con event put up “cosplay is not consent” posters and made their zero-tolerance sexual harrassment policy clear to attendees.

The number of women attending comics conventions has grown by 62 per cent in three years, but there are still some members of the comics community who make it unwelcoming for them.

This attitude has emerged during the talks and panel discussions that take place at the convention. In 2011, Game of Thrones actor Jason Momoa said he enjoyed his role best when he gets to “rape beautiful women and have them fall in love with me”. Panel discussions promoting women have faced jeers.

The comics industry has taken steps to improve diversity in its characters. Marvel is reimagining Thor as a woman and “aims to speak directly to an audience that long was not the target for superhero comic books in America: Women and girls”, and a black Captain America has been proposed.

However, both new versions of the characters have met with sexist and racist backlash from comics fans and there are no plans for either to make their way into big-screen adaptations, such as The Avengers: Age of Ultron or Captain America 3.

Comic Con San Diego’s harassment policy was printed in its events guide and on its website, but many called for greater efforts to be made to combat “creeping at a Con” by the organisers. Sci-fi author John Scalzi wrote a blogpost that was co-signed by 1,100 others, including authors, stating that he would not appear at a convention that does not have clear, visible and enforced harassment policy.

Another group called Geeks For CONsent submitted a petition with 2,500 signatures to organisers, asking them to post their anti-harassment policies in convention halls and train their volunteers on how to deal with complaints.

Conversations about sexism were heard within the Comic Con halls this year. Graphic designer Daniela Applegate, who was dressed in a pyramid-shaped warrior costume inspired by a video game, told AFP: “It is about time this world gets rid of its sexist archetypes.” THE DAILY TELEGRAPH