On Arisia

[swan_tower]

Crystal Huff, a friend of mine, just posted this.

It’s long, and it doesn’t make for very fun reading, as it’s the story of how — after more than a decade of close involvement with Arisia, not just as an attendee but as staff — she has ceased to be involved, because the con has twice now elected Noel Rosenberg as their president, despite knowing that he raped her.

I’m not going to recount the whole story here, because Crystal has done that herself, and you should be reading her words instead of mine. But I do want to say this:

I went to college in Boston. At the time I didn’t really attend cons, so I never went to Arisia, but I heard about it, and the things I heard were good enough that it’s long been on my list of “I should think about trying to go there some year.” Unsurprisingly, this is no longer true. Not only because Rosenberg is in a position of authority, but because — as you will see, when you read Crystal’s post — Arisia’s leadership as a whole has done an abominable job of handling the entire problem. They have not followed anything resembling best practices for addressing such reports, up to and including publicly disclosing Crystal’s name without her permission.

This is not a con I can trust with my safety, or that of anybody I know. So while I did not have any existing plans to attend Arisia — just a vague “ooh, I should do that someday!” intention — I now have very firm plans not to attend. Not this year, not next year, not any year until and unless this is made better. And if you’re an Arisia attendee, I encourage you to rethink that plan.

Apparently we can’t stop this kind of crap from being swept under the rug at the level of the Supreme Court. But we can still make a change on the ground, and we should.

Mirrored from Swan Tower.

Comments

[aishabintjamil]

This saddens me immensely. I really don't want it to be true, but after reading Crystal's statement, I don't doubt her. Arisia in its early years was a lovely convention. After reading this, it's no longer one I'd consider attending.

[rushthatspeaks]

Thanks for spreading the word. I've just pulled out of programming and written them a letter explaining why. And posted that on my DW. Probably won't do much, but hopefully a lot of other people will do the same and it will get somewhere.

[daidoji_gisei]

I've shared it to my flist on FB--it has a fair number of convention-goers.

[swan_tower]

We can hope that the leadership of the con will take these issues to heart and take steps to correct them. Then it can be a lovely convention worth attending again.

[swan_tower]

That's the most powerful kind of leverage available; thank you for using it.

[swan_tower]

Thank you.

[yhlee]

Thank you for the heads-up, Marie.

[julian]

Arisia used to be one of my favorite cons. I haven't been in awhile, and I certainly won't go again until and unless things change on that front. I'll have to tell them so fairly soon.

[swan_tower]

Just doing what I can to signal-boost and support.

[swan_tower]

Please do. The more people who tell them directly that this is a problem, the more likely it is that the problem will be addressed.

[daidoji_gisei]

To my happiness I see that File 770 has picked up the story; it's in today's news roundup.

[ckd]

The "good" news is that there are still rooms available in the ConFusion room block (or at least were a few minutes ago when I booked one), so there's still a convention I can go to and enjoy that weekend.

[sovay]

I will be writing to them tonight myself.

[swan_tower]

Yeah, I saw that. Quick work on their part -- not much time elapsed between the two.

[swan_tower]

Excellent! I hope that con turns out much better.

[swan_tower]

Thank you.

[sovay]

Written.

[heavenscalyx]

The GoHs have pulled out.

[swan_tower]

I saw. Not only Daniel José Older and Malka Older, but Nalo Hopkinson for 2020. Good on them.