Brought to you by the letter "H."

[gurdymonkey]

As in "harassment."

And "hazing."

As mentioned in a previous post, I recently had to deal with some stalker-like behavior. That the party in question is probably harmless and that the situation was dealt with in a safe and reasonably polite manner is not the point. The point is that I had to deal with it at all in an environment which is supposed to be "safe."

Anyone ever been touched without your permission by someone whose only excuse for doing so is that we're all SCA and you therefore should hold still for their friendly little back rub being groped? One party who tried it with me was told by me in embarrassingly loud and public tones to cease and desist.

Ever tell someone to stop doing something and have them persist because they think it's funny? Like the guy who decided to find out if I was ticklish and no amount of verbal protest or physical resistance short of whipping off one of my Birkenstocks and whaling him across the forearm with it as hard as I could was going to stop him. He had the nerve to be shocked and hurt too.  

I'm willing to bet that the people who don't see what all the fuss is about on the alleged lifting incident reported this week on SCA-West have never been in a like position, regardless of gender.

Comments

and the letter "A"

[layla-lilah.livejournal.com]

A as in appalled.

I admit i haven't posted about it to the list. The list itself is the usual mix of insanities. If i'd never been to a Western event, and only read sca-west, well, i'd never go to a Western event.

Anyway, there's just one excuse after another for condoning such appalling behavior.

I'd never heard of "lifting" before, but if some knight's household does this to its squires, well, they've been around, and probably have plenty of spare garb, or friends to warm them up afterwards.

Whereas a newcomer can't know if they've fallen in with "the wrong crowd". And the young and the insecure often fall prey to these so-called "harmless pranks" because they want to belong, want to do what's "right" without knowing what's right.

But i've been Gold Key at both Kingdom and Principality levels for at least 6 years. I know that many newcomers, often young and/or impecunious, arrive under dressed and without much in the way of warm clothing or warm camping gear. Getting them cold and wet in a cold Western night, when even in summer it's often in the low 50s or high 40s, is not a "fun" thing at all, nor is it amusing. And it is not just unpleasant, but a possible health and safety issue.

I worked Ren Fairs as an actor for many years, both big fairs (RPFI) and at the multitude of small fairs throughout California and Nevada. At one small fair, a member of our acting group was molested during a "gig". When our guild master went to the molester's guild mistress, all she said was, "Ah, grow up!" It turned out our compatriot had been molested as a child and this had a profound effect. In the end, our guild dissolved, because, as our guild master said, if acting at fairs was no longer fun, and if he couldn't protect us, then it wasn't worth doing anymore.

It sucks that for some people this was their first experience with the SCA, and it drove them away. And i sickens me to hear certain "peers of the realm" justifying it.