Harlan Ellison and his little personal space problem

[leahbobet]

(ETA: Followup post here.)


So, when I got in this afternoon I was shocked to discover that Harlan Ellison groped Connie Willis during the Hugo presentations on Saturday. On the same page in my friendslist, up comes Rachel Manija Brown's own account of her Harlan encounter this weekend.

And y'know, I'm tired of this inappropriate bullshit. Really, really tired. So this can only be resolved in one fashion:

Fatwa.

We will now address common objections to the Fatwa in our Fatwa on Asshats Questions section (FAQ):

But Leah, Connie Willis is reported to have said she can handle him and he's done worse? Why are we involved?

Because I sincerely doubt otherwise honest persons wake up one morning and say you know what? I would like to grope Connie Willis and then one other woman I don't know and then I will retire from my asshat ways and take up meditation in the mountains. Because there are already a few people I know who are referred to as "thinking they're Harlan Ellison" and you know what? If he gets away with it, they feel they can too. They think it's cute to be an asshat. I don't think it's cute to be an asshat.

Because things that are just plain wrong deserve to get called on the carpet.

commodorified adds: "Because the fact that Connie Willis chose not to make a loud public scene in the middle of a Hugo ceremony and had the presence of mind to pass it off quietly does not mean she wasn't gravely insulted, and she doesn't deserve to be repaid for that with indifference?"

But Leah, why must we go to war? Why not just a little skirmish?

Fandom prides itself on conventions being "safe space" for all comers: it doesn't matter if you're gay, straight, poly, black, Asian, Middle Eastern, white, Wiccan, Pagan, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, Christian, hard of hearing, vision-impaired, mobility-impaired, a goth or dressed as an anime character or any of these things.

But apparently it matters if you have tits.

That is bullshit.

But Leah, it is not worth declaring Fatwa on Harlan Ellison. He is old and will die soon.

Old men will be old men is just another variation on boys will be boys, and they damn well will be boys until you tell them it's not appropriate. If the behaviour makes you uncomfortable, annoyed, angry, outraged -- if you think about it being applied to you and you are any of the above, it is worthwhile to state that it is inappropriate, illegal, and should not be swept under the rug.

But Leah, Harlan Ellison is just one man!

Yup. And the guy who, when I was twenty, told me at a convention that I could have a beer when my top came off was just one man. And the individual who groped divalea at Comicon was just one, too. And the guy who was making creepy leers at katallen in Boston two years back was just one too.

Y'know, eventually this shit adds up to a lot. Eventually it adds up to a systemic issue.


ETA:Okay, apparently you can't close polls anymore, and I don't want to make this entry private, so...

So:

[Poll #808886]

Vote early, vote often.

...and forward yourself to the tricky bit of the program.


ETA: Link roundup thus far. Gwenda Bond -- Catherine Morrison (and her part two) -- Gavin Grant -- Graham Sleight -- Edward Champion -- Alan DeNiro -- Elizabeth Bear -- Jim C. Hines -- Steve Nagy -- Lea Hernandez -- Meredith L. Patterson -- Kate (juliansinger) -- Lis Riba part one part two part three --

Comments

Something not listed above, expounded upon here:

[schizospider.livejournal.com]

In the even that someone seriously is just that stupid that they don't realize how reprehensible their behavior is (some people may have been raised stupid, and we should at least attempt to spread knowledge before we lay the smack down), a friend of mine, who's been through rape crisis support training and currently volunteers in that capability, offers this advice to victims of harassment:

"Some men may not realize the amount of harassment and intimidation women can go through on a daily basis. Being called names, to cat calls, bizarro come-ons from total strangers, inappropriate comments and stares ... the list goes on and on. If you see this happening to a woman, you can intervene.

"[The following] short, simple, matter-of-fact statements get the point across perfectly. Say them to a harasser while making eye contact and not smiling, without anger or belligerence (which I know would be really hard for me); use that voice your parent/sibling/whomever uses when you know you're in trouble because it's so eerily calm:

"Stop harassing women.
I don't like it.
No one likes it.
Show some respect."

This way, one also gets the harasser to think about his/her behavior, how detrimental it may be, and how they should change their ways.

I believe, however, that any offense committed after that warning has been given should be met with broken wrists. Awful hard to write when you can't move your hands.

I'm here by way of several million other links regarding this Ellison fiasco.

[pir-anha.livejournal.com]

i'm all for the SFWA doing something censuring (minus stripping the award since it's for his body of work if i understand that correctly). but i am not a SFWA member.

if i had been there (and if i knew for certain that this wasn't some sort of act-gone-too-far that connie willis was sorta participating in, which some comments and a photo have made me wonder about) i'd be either writing a letter of censure and collecting signatures, or calling on people for a letter writing campaign, to send harlan this personal message loud and clear: that no, it's not feminist to grope somebody without permission, and no, it's not acceptable even if one is a crotchety old man with a long history of getting away with outrageous crap because one's brilliant and entertaining.

but i wasn't there, i only hang out on the outer fringes of fandom anyway, and it feels presumptuous to initiate something like that. but i'd dance if somebody did it (after talking to connie), and i'd sign, and i'd publicize it. it's way beyond time that the SF community made that very clear, instead of continuing to make excuses for its dirty old men.

(hey! here through ... uh ... somebody on my flist musta linked.)

[leahbobet.livejournal.com]

Hi, there. :)

I'm curious -- why presumptuous? Although I'm speaking after a full night's sleep and the emergence of an apology/admission from Ellison.

[legionseagle.livejournal.com]

This poll is in my view trivialising a serious sexual assault. Anyone who saw the incident ought to make a formal complaint to law enforcement explaining exactly what they saw. No matter if the victim didn't do that at the time: maybe if she saw she was being taken seriously she would. After all: it's her choice. Anyone who wasn't there should shut up. Being wrongfully accused of sexual assualt is a foul thing to happen to anyone, and unless you have direct evidence of the act you shouldn't do it.

[leahbobet.livejournal.com]

Hi, there. :)

Yes. It is her choice how to handle it. That is under her agency and I am not disputing that in the slightest. Her body, her decision. And I am pretty sure that Connie Willis, who is an assertive, professional, and grounded individual, knows that something this public and witnessed would be taken seriously indeed.

I do, however, disagree that myself or others are trivializing a serious situation in the slightest. My personal goal is to call attention to a serious situation, and explain just how not okay it is, and explain that we as a community should deal with our own garbage: that is, the attitude that made Mr. Ellison think this was remotely, somehow, somewhere, a good idea. I could diverge into a long discussion of social norm-enforcement, but that's essentially what it is. This is wrong and it's worth saying it's wrong, in a serious way, in a snarky gallows humour way, any way.

I may not have done that well -- my anger tends to come out as outrageous snark -- and for that, I apologize.

I've explained it, hopefully more clearly, here (http://cristalia.livejournal.com/120016.html).

Thanks!

Additionally:

[dedwardsauve.livejournal.com]

Earn the right to be addressed as Harlan FUCKING Ellison, joining the company of Dave Fucking Sims, Erik Fucking Larsen, and others.

Re: Additionally:

[leahbobet.livejournal.com]

Heh. I think that may already be done. *g*

[chaosdancer.livejournal.com]

I have continually been stunned at the way women in fandom have been treated, ever since my entry into it in the 1980s. We seem to occupy the same approximate position of women in the movement in the 1960s - on our backs. Sucks. And it honestly perplexes me.

That said, I'm actually sort of worried about HE. Antisocial behavior like this - onstage, no less! - could be a sign of Alzheimer's. Is everyone sure he's got all the oars in the water, there?

I'm not trying to excuse it, not by any means. But he *was* a feminist in the 1970s, and during my own boob-related encounter with him in the 1980s, he managed to flirt very politely at my low-cut dress. He wasn't obnoxious at all. Is it getting progressively worse?

[leahbobet.livejournal.com]

Yeah. In the personal case, it raises eyebrows. However, a lot of commenters at pnh's place indicate this is a pattern of behaviour, and a longstanding one, which contributes in no small measure to my anger about this.

Why's this kind of behaviour been swept under the rug this long? And how do we make that stop?

[boywhocantsayno.livejournal.com]

I guess I should consider myself lucky that he only put his hand on my shoulder.

Someone, somewhere further up on my friendslist (I have no idea where, and I'm at skip=120 right now) suggested that a gay writer should walk up to Harlan at a con and grope his crotch. (I commented, so if there's a reply to my comment I can post who it was who made the initial suggestion.)

[ilcylic.livejournal.com]

So, mostly humorous, though I think it would work. I refuse responsibility for the consequences should anyone choose to implement this scheme.

I think it would probably be effective to randomly have men go grope his scrotum. Just to demonstrate what it's like to be on the other end of the palm.

[leahbobet.livejournal.com]

Mostly humorous, yeah. The actual actual scheme is in the next post.

[pauamma]

Grab his balls and squeeze them hard against each other, very briefly.

let's just take away his comp

[drewkitty.livejournal.com]

Invited guests should act like . . . well, guests. Not boorish losers.

So I think Harlan should pay to attend every science fiction convention he ever goes to again. No more Green Room (which is where one goes to get away from asshats). No more comps.

If he can't show some respect, why should the fandom subsidize his boorishness?

Re: let's just take away his comp

[lauriemann.livejournal.com]

Remember, Harlan claimed L.A.Con IV was his "last convention." I don't believe him (I think I've heard of this before), but...

I like the T-shirt idea better than a fatwa. In fact, if anyone out there gets them printed, please E-mail me. Even if he never does show up at another con (or another reading or another autographing...), T-shirts like that can help convince the boys out there to keep their hands to themselves.

One reason why I wrote up my encounter with Harlan Hugo night in gory detail in my LiveJournal (I was the woman in blue onstage when Harlan was) was to describe most of the stuff he said and did that night, and why it was so hard do deal with him.

Connie is my hero in all this.

Harlan's been doing stuff similiar to this for many years. While he also made a big issue about being a feminist, he also boasted about going to bed with something like 500 different women (as of about 1973). There's something wrong about that. Now, true, he's also been married to the same woman for about 25 years, so maybe he's calmed down a little. But stilll...

Research r Us

[deadlined.livejournal.com]

According to the information provided by The National Women’s Health Information Center, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Women’s Health, (http://www.4woman.gov/faq/sexualassault.htm) Ellison’s act fits the definition of sexual assault.

A quick call to their office confirmed that, in some jurisdictions, a witness to a sexual assault can contact the police. The call does not necessarily need to come from the victim. The procedure varies by jurisdiction and police response varies greatly. If someone in the LA area who witnessed the event chose to call the police, they could at least determine the possibility of filing a complaint.

This topic is burning up the blogs. Many women appear to have similar Ellison stories. This does not appear to be an isolated event. His behavior is not excusable, and letting him off puts other women at risk.

No one should have to put up with being physically violated.

Re: Research r Us

[leahbobet.livejournal.com]

...huh, interesting, thank you.

I wonder if anyone who was present and a witness will actually take that step. I suspect not.

[ellid.livejournal.com]

There is a *lot* worse going on in SF, like the pervasive sexism of the space opera genre, the semi-deliberate exclusion of strong female characters from gaming, and the fact that DAW published the violently misogynistic Gor novels for twenty years without anyone so much as lifting a finger. Ellison apologized. The next move is Connie Willis's, not ours.

Besides, has it occurred to anyone that Ellison may be in the beginning stages of dementia, or had a mini stroke? He has a history of cardic problems, and inappropriate sexual behavior is one of the first signs that something is wrong in the temporal lobe.

[leahbobet.livejournal.com]

Hi, there. :)

I have to disagree that there is a lot worse going on in SF, mostly because the examples you cite are operating in the realm of the fiction. Things that are in fiction we can work on as part of the culture, but things that affect us directly right here, right now -- like being treated in a less than acceptable manner at events, physically -- I personally believe take higher priority. It's hard to conduct an argument about how characters should be represented when you get shut down with "nice piece of ass there, babe" every time.

It has occurred to me that Ellison might be ill. I'm not sure if it would change the fact that this community treats women a certain way that is immature, uncomfortable, and unnacceptable.

For more on that, and who the next move's is in what arena and why, and so forth, please do see the next post I linked above. There's a reason I'm linking it right, left, and centre. :)

Thanks for your time commenting, and for joining the discussion!

[(Anonymous)]

An islamic legal decision (http://islam.about.com/od/law/g/fatwa.htm) will stop Harlan Ellison?

Fandom prides itself on conventions being "safe space" for all comers:

While much of fandom prides itself about that, I'd have to disagree about how well that actually works for plenty of people.

[leahbobet.livejournal.com]

Hi there. :)

I'm aware of the definition of the term, yes. I was using it in the (admittedly bastardized) Westernized sense: as in a fatwa issued against someone's actions. I'm sure you're aware of that sense too.

And yes, while much of fandom prides itself on being safe space, it doesn't work for plenty of people. It's as much a gap in self-image as the American Dream is to the reality of living in the U.S.

That is the greater issue that the community can address.

<lj user=Yonmei> here

[(Anonymous)]

I posted a comment (http://blogs.feministsf.net/?p=51#comment-2550) about what I think the appropriate reaction should be over at feministsf blog (http://blogs.feministsf.net/?p=51).

(frozen comment) This has destroyed my desire to ever be nominated

[(Anonymous)]

Now don't laugh, as I am about as minor a writer as there is: a couple of screenplays produced, one of them SF, and a few others out there looking for a home. Add in a couple of half finished stories and novels in the SF and F field. Having said that, my once fondly held dream of someday winning a Hugo or similar major award is simply dead. I fear such a thing, because of the shit going down on this whole thing.

Harlan did something wrong. Majorly so. No quibblinig. But the thought of every female fan of the genre walking around with a chip on their shoulder, waiting for the male writers in the field to make a mistake so they can "fuck your shit up", well that is just a nightmare to me. We have enough problems with fanboys/girls doing weird shit, calling, stalking, thinking you created a character they like just for them, and all that sort of "Fatal Attraction" creepy stuff, and now this?

Oh No! Nuh-UH!

I will adopt a pen name and let someone else accept my award, should I ever get so lucky.

Enjoy your genre, fucked up as it now is.

(frozen comment) Re: This has destroyed my desire to ever be nominated

[leahbobet.livejournal.com]

Don't grab anybody's tit, nothing to worry about.

[bionic-valkyrie.livejournal.com]

In the particular case of Harlan Ellison, I vote for shunning him. No invites to cons. No providing him a forum to speak. Just no, no we're not interested in you. Just go away. Let Connie Willis decide what to do for herself about his "apology" -- as for sf cons and fans, take the attention away from Ellison.

Maybe he said that was his last con, but I rather think that if he were invited and has his way paid to another con, he'd be there -- and his behavior might be unremarkable or outrageous, there's no predicting. Don't give him the opportunity.

[leahbobet.livejournal.com]

Yeah -- that ultimately might be best. So long as we don't shut the issue away with the old uncle who isn't right in the head so much anymore.

[arctangent.livejournal.com]

Great.

The next time I'm walking down the street, looking around and minding my own business, and a loud angry woman buttonholes me for "gawking" at her when I wasn't even looking at her ugly ass but simply looking around at the scenery rather than keeping my head down and eyes pointed at the pavement like every damn guy does at my school does to avoid this shit, then *I* will punch *her* in the throat.

(Don't start an argument with me about why I shouldn't actually punch her in the throat, since I'm not actually going to do it any more than any of you are going to punch Harlan Ellison anywhere. I just like to answer people's empty boasts of escalating violence with my own. It's one of those male dominance things we brutish ugly males do. When we're thirteen.)

[ringwoodcomics.livejournal.com]

This is so wrong-headed, so completely loaded with projection, such a complete disconnect from anything actually previously said... are you sure you're in the right conversation?