Idea: how to ensure awareness of Codes of Conduct

[major_clanger]

Loncon 3 seemed to do quite well with its Code of Conduct; it was available on the website and reprinted in the front of the convention pocket guide. As far as I'm aware, there were only a handful of incidents reported to the convention staff that required it to be applied.

However, I've seen discussion about the convention that suggests that some attendees still did not understand what the CoC was meant to set out in terms of appropriate and inappropriate behaviour. I've been giving some thought to how we might ensure that everyone at a convention is clearly and unambiguously aware of the CoC, and more importantly, can be proven to be aware of it.

At Loncon 3, registration involved being handed your badge. How about if instead we handed over a sealed envelope containing the badge, printed up as below. (The box with my name in is an indication that there would be a sticker identifying whose badge was inside).



For this to work, you have to plan this from the outset, and ensure that:

- for online memberships, anyone joining has to click on a 'I agree with the Code of Conduct' tick-box in order to join;

- for direct sales, there is a 'sign to agree our Code of Conduct' box on the membership form.

This makes it absolutely clear both when you join the convention and when you pick up your badge that the Code of Conduct applies to you.

I've put in the refund option because I think this strengthens the convention's position: it allows someone a final chance to say 'no, I don't want to be bound by this'. Of course, as it excludes what we lawyers call consequential expenses (e.g. travel and hotel) I doubt that many people will exercise it, but the fact that it's there helps avoid arguments about the validity of the 'open the envelope and you're agreeing' notice.

(For those interested in the legality: this isn't a shrink-wrap licence situation, as the notice on the envelope is just confirming what members have expressly signed up to when they joined. Rather, it's actually adding an exit clause to the membership contract.)

Comments

[cmcmck.livejournal.com]

Well, you're the lawyer so you should know! :o)

What puzzles me though is constantly reading about this stuff going on at literary/fandom cons (which I don't attend, although I know a lot of folks who do both on here and in the 'real world').

It just doesn't occur in the kind of academic historical conference that I attend.

Just why this constant lack of respect of others' boundaries?

[major-clanger.livejournal.com]

Well, bear in mind that Loncon 3 had something like 7,000 people in attendance over five days, with a handful of reported incidents. By and large litfandom is quite good for this, certainly as compared with gaming and comic conventions where there appears to be a serious problem with sexual harassment.

That being said, you do encounter it and (as happened at Readercon and Wiscon in the USA) it can involved very unpleasant conduct such as groping. It tends, in litfandom, to be older men (again, a contrast with gaming/comics events) and my theory is that to at least some extent this is a misplaced idea that somehow the more liberal approach to sexual mores in fandom meant that nobody was going to object to a friendly fondle. In other words, It's the Middle-Aged Male Fan Irregular Verb:

"I am comfortable in my enlightened tactile sexuality"
"You are a bit prone to wandering hands"
"He was prosecuted under Section 3 of the Sexual Offences Act"

[bibliogirl.livejournal.com]

I have to say that I have heard more about harassment issues at litfan-type cons than at gaming cons (and I have been to substantially more of the latter, both in the UK and the US). It's true that I'm usually attending them with my (male) partner, though.

[cmcmck.livejournal.com]

From what I've read in other's blogs, it tends to be unpartnered women who experience problems and that opens up a whole potential sexist can of worms about assumptions, sexuality and privilege.

[bibliogirl.livejournal.com]

Yes; also, possibly, younger women. I would be interested to see the split between video/computer-gaming and tabletop/board/card-gaming, if anyone has data there.

[mishalak.livejournal.com]

Only somewhat related question. I have been using lit-fandom, but I see you using litfandom. Is that form more standard?

[major-clanger.livejournal.com]

I honestly have no idea.

[dorispossum.livejournal.com]

Rather sweeping generalisation about "older men" here? Don't know if you saw Kirsty Wark's exploration of the forms of modern misogyny (link below) few months back, but it featured a section on the misogynist harassment suffered by young women in gaming and other 'geek' communities. The young women interviewed said much/most of the sexual harassment and other nastiness aimed at them was coming from young male gamers, who appeared to resent women's presence in 'their' territory.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0436qlw

I do hope we're not just swapping one form of bigotry/stereotyping (misogyny) for another (ageism) here. If so, not much progress?

[major-clanger.livejournal.com]

My perception, having taken a strong interest in harassment issues at conventions, is as follows:

- harassment at computer gaming and comic conventions tends to be perpetrated by younger men.

- harassment at sf conventions tends to be perpetrated by older men.

Now, there is a significant demographic element here. Gaming/comic conventions are, I think it's safe to say, skewed towards a younger demographic than sf conventions. But there's also, I suggest, a difference in the kind of harassment. As that link you cite notes, harassment by younger men at gaming/comics conventions tends to be overtly misogynistic in nature, whereas reports suggest that harassment by older men at sf conventions is more overtly sexual and based on power and authority. Or, to put it simply, one's abuse and the other's groping.

[dorispossum.livejournal.com]

I've not attended comic/gaming cons beyond the occasional New Hall ones, but suspect you're correct about the demographic. But the key LINK between the generations here is bad behaviour and problematic attitudes to women. In other words, it's not really fair to stereotype middle aged men as a uniquely misogynist, 'problem' that conventions have to deal with.

I do worry about the implicit (sometimes explicit) ageism of some of the discourse currently taking place around these issues. The result of which may to make middle aged and older fans feel labelled as 'problems'. I think we need to beware of creating a discourse that excludes ANY group.

[uitlander]

A friend linked to this on facebook a few weeks ago. I found it covered quite a lot of the harrassment issues I have experienced and seen over the years quite well, and ends with some constructive suggestions for the men who do not do this and/or are puzzled by why all the fuss.

[ms-cataclysm.livejournal.com]

Professional conferences are different because the fear of ending up in a disciplinary hearing at work on Monday morning sometimes (but not always) exercises a restraining influence.

If you pour enough free alcohol down even the stuffiest professionals, eventually this ceases to apply . However, my experience suggests that the window of opportunity between inhibitions dissolving and stomachs requiring pumping exists but is comparatively small.

Fandom is in playtime, so you don't have the same controls. I don't think that fandom is exactly Sodom and Gomorrah, but even a fairly low level of problems is still a problem for organisers.