Worst con experiences

Wordweaverlynn, over on LiveJournal, has a post asking people about their nightmare con experiences (especially at science fiction conventions, but others too.) It’s not really surprising to read how many of the bad experiences are gender-related:

Sitting squashed together on a bed with a bunch of people watching a show in someone’s room, and being groped on the breast and ass by a friend (who suddenly entered the “former friend” category thereby) who, in his own later words, “didn’t think I’d mind.”

And…

I expect my least favorite might have been getting cornered at a con in Chicago by a fanboy who wanted to rant at me about how women just aren’t as creative as men, he didn’t mean to be offensive but it’s a fact, as you can see by the fact that there has never been a great female writer.

And…

I fell asleep in my room once and woke up to a man I hardly knew groping me and obviously planning to rape me in my sleep. I don’t go to that Con anymore. Someone, somewhere, gave him my room number and told him my last name so he could get a key.

And…

You may have heard of Sailor Moon? The girls in that show wear leotards with skirts similar to what figure skaters often don for competition. Well, apparently I was dressed as someones most lusted after character, because in browsing post-con reports I found out some man with a camera had followed me around for a good 20 minutes or more taking upskirt photos of me and zoom in shots off my butt while I was waiting for my friends. I was mortified. I’m still mortified. These are my fellow fen?!?!

Thank god for Girl Wonder’s Con Anti-Harrassment Project, is all I can say. You can take a look at their database of cons that have anti-harrassment policies, and join their letter-writing campaign to encourage more cons to have a policy.