Finding Comic-Con International’s Harassment Policy

Harassment in the geek sphere has been a hot topic as of late. Whether it comes anonymously over the internet or in person, harassment is something many are finally looking to put a stop to, or at the very least, create consequences for, in our community. So when we personally witnessed something we felt fell squarely in this category and looked into how we could put an end to it, why did we find a roadblock? 

Like many of you, we here at The Mary Sue reached our Network-inspired, “I’m as mad as hell, and I’m not going to take this anymore!” stance a while ago. But in case you haven’t, here are some harassment posts we’ve run over the last twelve months:

• The All-Too-Familiar Harassment Against Feminist Frequency, And What The Gaming Community Can Do About It
• Gamers Against Bigotry Campaign Aims To Curb Online Harassment
• Are You A Convention Creeper?
• Black Cat Cosplayer Draw Attention To Comic Con Sexual Harassment. So What Can We Do About It?
• When Professionals Aren’t: The PAX East Tomb Raider Cosplay Harassment Story
• Cosplayers Unite For Anti-Con-Creeper Photo Essay
• What If Feminist Ryan Gosling…Was Pictures Of Convention Staff Instead?
• Anita Sarkeesian’s Damsels In Distress
• Microsoft Comments On Xbox Rape Joke Controversy At E3
• Sci-Fi Luminary John Scalzi Swears Off Cons Without Clear And Prominent Sexual Harassment Policies

Fast foward to Friday of this year’s Comic-Con International: San Diego. A post on HitFix.com was brought to our attention by a reader. The title alone should tell you why we felt the need to speak up – “Comic-Con 2013: 15 amazing butts in costume.”

I don’t encourage clicking through but suffice to say, as it sounds, the post is a gallery of Comic-Con attendees’ posteriors. These photos were not posed, but mostly blurry images taken on the sly of both men and women at the convention. While attendees agree to be photographed or videotaped when they purchase their ticket and enter the San Diego Convention Center, these photos seem not only a gross misuse of that rule, but also harassment of unsuspecting con-goers. I tweeted about the situation to let them know this was not OK behavior from my point of view, and also spoke to the recent outcry of the “Cosplay ≠ Consent” campaign.

Hey, @HitFix, harassing cosplayers isn’t cool. Ever heard of #CosplayIsNotConsent? http://t.co/t70cWpDSEY Take down the “butts” posts.

— Jill Pantozzi (@JillPantozzi) July 19, 2013

Legally, are they allowed to take these photos? Yes, but doing so in this particular way makes them look like bullies. I’m sure there are plenty of Comic-Con attendees who would have willingly posed for a shot of their rear if they were asked politely. Instead, they took “creeper” shots. In framing the photos this way (an interpretation supported by the author of the post), they firmly establish the intended value of the gallery is not simply in objectifying the body parts of Comic-Con attendees, but doing so against their will, without their permission or knowledge.

After my initial tweet was retweeted over fifty times with no response from HitFix, I wrote two more tweets; one to the author of the post Liana Maeby and another at HitFix Executive Editor Daniel Fienberg. Maeby’s own tweet publicizing the post on her account read, “Hey, creeps. I made you a gallery of Comic-Con butts.” It has since been deleted but here is a screenshot I took from the website Topsy, which keeps tweets even after deletion for some time.

Fienberg replied to my tweet with, “There are people above me. I understand the concerns and will make sure they’re voiced.” The post remains active.

While HitFix seemingly had no interest in the issue, conventions (and those who frequent them) have been taking harassment, and the conversation surrounding it, more seriously as of late. In fact, writer John Scalzi, along with a thousand others, took a stand to say he wouldn’t attend a con without a harassment policy. Some conventions, like CONvergence, even went so far as to create posters to make the point clear – harassment is not OK at this convention.

And then there’s Intervention, an event specifically created to be a different kind of con but which also takes pride at being a safe space for women and members of the LGBTQ community. Their harassment policy is clearly stated on their attendees’ rules page.

So you can understand our surprise when we looked for something similar on the website of one of the largest events in the geek community and came up empty. I scoured the Comic-Con website looking for a harassment policy specifically to see if there was a note for members of the press. When we did our story on PAX East harassment, Robert Khoo, President of Penny Arcade, Inc. told us, “Our media guests are expected to behave in a professional manner, and it was clear to us this particular individual crossed that line. We got in touch with the outlet and the individual during the show, and that particular journalist is no longer welcome at PAX. We want everyone at PAX to feel welcome and comfortable.”

But again, our search for this policy, or something similar, on Comic-Con’s official website yielded no results. I turned to Twitter to ask if anyone else knew where their harassment policy might be and was directed to a post by Greg van Eekhout from earlier in the year, which quoted this:

Attendees must respect commonsense rules for public behavior, personal interaction, common courtesy, and respect for private property. Harassing or offensive behavior will not be tolerated. Comic-Con reserves the right to revoke, without refund, the membership and pass of any attendee not in compliance with this policy. Persons finding themselves in a situation where they feel their safety is at risk or who become aware of an attendee not in compliance with this policy should immediately locate a member of security or a staff member, so that the matter can be handled in an expeditious manner.

But where did he get this paragraph from? A photo (taken by Lea Hernandez, spotted by David Seidman) of a page from last year’s Comic-Con events guide. We found it a bit odd this information wouldn’t have a prominent place on their website, especially considering all the recent discussions on the topic, so we emailed Comic-Con PR in order to find out if they were aware of this particular issue or the HitFix post. We received an automated reply since their team was “on site” at the convention. We followed-up with another request, which was met with an automated reply saying their offices were closed.

In a post Wired ran the week before Comic-Con 2013, they mentioned reaching out for information about harassment policies as well. “Wired asked a Comic-Con representative to outline the training provided to volunteers and staff members but received no response. In a previous conversation with Wired, [Director of Marketing and Public Relations] David Glanzer said the convention has ‘no tolerance for harassment’ and ‘encourage[s] anyone who feels they’re being harassed to contact a member of security or staff.’”

But how are guests supposed to know about this “no tolerance” policy and what it entails if it’s not front and center or easily accessible?

Oni Hartstein, Co-Founder of Intervention, spoke to us about the importance of a clearly stated and publicly available harassment policy.

“Harassment policies educate the public on what is and isn’t acceptable while it also lets attendees know that we are here for them and that they shouldn’t fear coming forward if they feel threatened,” she said. “I founded Intervention based on my personal experiences as an independent artist and as a woman. I’ve personally been on the receiving end of harassment – I’ve been touched without my consent at cons and verbally harassed. [Trigger warning] Outside of cons I’ve had my face broken over a table by a guy who wanted to ‘put me in my place.'”