Sexual Harassment at Conventions

Recently there has been an increase in young cosplayers reporting inappropriate behaviours at conventions and we decided to cover the story in our latest episode of Good Morning Nerds. What we mean by inappropriate behaviour includes cat-calling and touching someone without their consent and some young women have stated that it has turned them off the idea of cosplaying certain characters.

Many conventions lack hard rules against this sort of thing, with San-Diego Comic-Con only stating “harassment in any form is unacceptable” without actually calling out this behaviour. However cosplayers have taken it into their own hands and you can look up these groups by searching for Facebook and Tumblr pages titled ‘Cosplay is not Consent’. This slogan basically means that just because someone is dressed a certain way it doesn’t give you or anyone else the right to objectify them and harass them. Let us know what you think about this important issue by tweeting us using the hashtag #GMNNews.

If you have been affected by the issue discussed then you can contact the Equality and Human Rights Commission on 0845 604 6610 (England), 0845 604 5510 (Scotland) or 0845 604 8810 (Wales). Or you can contact the Victim Support Helpline at 0845 30 30 900 for free confidential advice.