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Message: <blockquote data-quote="innerdude" data-source="post: 6865804" data-attributes="member: 85870">In response to the OP ---It sucks. All of it. It sucks that it happens at all. It sucks that the described responses to and treatment of those that report harassment are unresponsive at best and hostile at worst. It sucks that there is a correlation between those who engage in these kinds of behaviors and geek culture.I am truly baffled by any male who would presume, under any circumstances, that they are allowed to physically touch someone they've never met, beyond a conventional, Western-society handshake.I don't know what preventative measures can be taken to prevent these kinds of abuses and intolerable behaviors, but clearly there needs to be some work and research done. An easy one for "geek" conventions --- if there any reports of inappropriate contact regarding a convention-goer, the accused immediately has their credentials / pass canceled and are escorted from the premises. No follow-up needed, no witnesses required other than the word of the person making the accusation. Is that possibly reactionary? Maybe. Is there potential for abuse for that kind of policy? Yes. There will most certainly be cases where an accused person would be wrongfully removed from a convention. But the staggering reported numbers would seem to justify such a policy. I've never been to a "con" of any kind, so I don't know if these kinds of policies are already in place. I know that the regional ComicCon closest to me, in Salt Lake City, is one of the most well-attended regional events of its kind, but I've never looked into their attendee policies. For stuff happening at FLGSes? That's obviously business management's issue to deal with on a store-by-store basis, but other in-store participants also need to be willing to stand up and support those who have been treated inappropriately.I don't know if there's any correlation between fantasy art and this kind of behavior, but I'm always surprised when I do a Google search for "fantasy warrior art" and see how much of that art is overtly sexualized, and in more cases than not the art in question is of women.I also have to be realistic to know that I may in the past have unknowingly engaged in sexist behavior or had sexist attitudes, and that I should do my utmost to change those when I'm aware of them. In that sense it's good to hear things like this so as to take a step back and really think and evaluate how I can avoid being a problem and contribute to solutions in the future.</blockquote>

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