Maybe Days

While I was at Arisia 2012, I went to the Sexual Harassment and Assault in Fandom panel, at which I learned about the Back Up Project, an inter-convention initiative intended to create environments that are actively uncomfortable for abusers to exploit. This is particularly important in “geek” communities, where the Geek Social Fallacies are cultural enablers of assault. Here’s one of The Back Up Project’s handouts:

BACK UP

The Open Source Women Back Each Other Up Project
real world help for a real world problem

The Project aims to make help against harassment visibile and available, to create safer environments, to help women to support other women and men to challenge other men. We want sff, anime, comic, and other cons to be safer spaces for women.

I will break through your Somebody Else’s Problem invisibility field and come over and ask if you’re okay.

I will remember that you are in charge, and if you don’t want my help, I will go away. I will be there to help you in the future if you need it.

I will help you contact help: your friends, the event organizers, or police/security officers, if that is what you would like.

I will help you to the best of my ability if you’re being harassed or made to feel uncomfortable. Just let me know, even if you don’t know me.

I will not tell you that you must have been imagining things.

I will not say to you to go home, or go hide in your room, or just stay away from that guy.

I will not make you feel like your right to control over your own body is not a big deal.

http://www.backupproject.org/

There are also large buttons that you can wear to signify that you are an “active bystander,” someone who is willing to take on this “back up” role.

Some useful tips to help prevent sexual assault from the panel:

Watch people’s eyes: if someone’s in a conversation but not making eye contact with the person speaking to them, the person avoiding eye contact may be wanting an escape from the interaction. If they are looking down, they may either be very shy, or they may have given up finding an escape.
Tension can be seen in the jaw: people who are uncomfortable in social situations or are in distress carry tension that can often be seen by tight-lipped expressions, grinding of the jaw, and so forth.
Offer social outs: interject with a question such as “Do you know where [the pool/registration table/etc.] is?” If the person wants an out, they can say, “Oh, yes, let me show you.”
Check in using hand signals: Catch the eye of someone you think may be uncomfortable while standing behind the aggressor and flashing an “Ok?” hand signal, which looks like this:

Remember, as the panelists said, in order to address the issue of rape in society, we need to address the role of the rapists—the real rapists, not the storybook rapists. Most rapes (77 percent!) are perpetrated by people who the survivor knows. That means there are rapists at the large conventions you’re going to—no exceptions, no excuses.

Further, criminals deliberately perpetrate crimes at conventions because they know it can be more easily disguised. Think about it: how many people have you seen in masks and costumes at the last Sci-Fi/Fantasy convention you went to? Yeah…that.

See also