I have decided to end the Backup Ribbon Project. Remaining ribbons will be probably sent to noelleleithe for distribution via the Daily Dragon office at Dragon*Con.

Refunds will be issued to those who donated via ChipIn.

I just wanted to let people know that I will be attending PAX East in Boston this weekend, and I will be wearing my Backup Project ribbon.  I also have a large number of extras to give out to anyone else who may want one.  I am a part-time police officer but was unable to volunteer for the Enforcers since I will also be working a fair bit that weekend.  I will be at PAX as much as I can.  If you need to find me, look for the short stocky guy with the goatee wearing a suit (not my police uniform) that has a purple Backup Project ribbon on it.  I will have more ribbons on me if you want one.  No charge to friends of the movement.  Otherwise send me a PM here if you need to contact me before the con. 

I know that a lot of people do not attend PAX events due to problems with Mike and Jerry (and that comic).  I understand that.  But I also believe that there will still be a lot of people there, including a lot of women, and I do not think it should be open season for sexual harassment just because everyone who would stop it is boycotting the event.  So I will be there, as much as work will allow.  I also believe in making converts to the cause, and so I will be doing my damnedest to do so. 

All the best,

Geoffrey

Hey, backuppers. Are we planning on having any kind of presence at San Diego Comic-Con this year?

Due to various Facebook machinations that I only vaguely understand, the FB group for the backup project has moved and if you still want in, you have to rejoin it.

Voila!

Stay frosty awesome nerd ladies and gents!

Are there still badge ribbons available? I've run through the batch I had, and con season's about to start up...

I've reserved a fan table for the Backup Project! I have a bag of 100 buttons and a stack of flyers!

...and, as it turns out, I'm moving on the 25th, so I may not even be at Boskone for the whole con due to last-minute packing frenzy.

Is anyone able to take over coordinating this? Fan table hours are 4-9 on Friday, 10-6 on Saturday & 10-3 on Sunday. I can take the early shift on Friday, but I'm scheduled most of Sunday and may not be onsite at all on Saturday. >.

I originally posted this anecdote over at jimhines's excellent post about the ridiculousness and uselessness of the "Don't Be a Victim!" sentiment. rikibeth encouraged me to repeat it here, as "a wonderful illustration of the practice."

So here goes.

Back in the day, before I had kids, I worked in a few dance clubs. Drunk, aggressive men were par for the course. One night, there was a drunk customer who kept trying to put his arm around me as he chatted me up, and a few minutes into this... uh, "conversation," a second man came over and turned the talk into something resembling coherency. After a couple of minutes, the first guy decided this wasn't going the way he wanted it to and wandered off. Once he was sure the first guy had retreated far enough he wasn't likely to be coming back, the second guy told me I'd looked uncomfortable and he'd wanted to come over to make sure the situation didn't get out of control. He didn't work at the club, he didn't know the drunk guy, he didn't know me, he just saw a young woman in what could have quickly become a bad situation and wanted to help out. He didn't expect my gratitude, either; once he'd explained what he'd been doing, he told me that if anyone else started bothering me to come look for him at his table and went back to what he'd been doing before. I have very mixed feelings about this experience. On the one hand, it's a good example of how sometimes a decent person does notice what's going on and will come over to help. On the other hand, it's a rare enough occurence that it's got to be ten years later, and that incident still sticks with me.

Anyway, thank you, mystery dude. I never even got your name, but I think you're awesome, and I hope deeds like yours become more commonplace.

I want to suggest to the organizer(s) of an event that perhaps the event, particularly the event literature, might include something about the Backup Project. However, I can't seem to find a "So you're organizing a con" page to link said organizer(s) to. Am I failing at searching, or does such a thing not exist? If such a thing doesn't exist, could someone make it exist? I would endeavor to myself, but I tried to explain the project in an email, and couldn't write something that even I found compelling, let alone that was compelling enough to convince an event organizer that this was worth the time and work.

The Backup Project has a fan table at Arisia! We will have buttons! And flyers!

All we need is people!

The fan tables need to be staffed as many hours as possible between 10am-6pm, Friday-Sunday, with special emphasis on Saturday. If you can take a shift, please let me know! Many hands make light work and all of that.

Also, does anyone have a stock of leftover buttons or ribbons we can beg of you? I ordered the 100-pack of buttons, but it's a big con, and we'll hopefully run out of those. Next year we will have a whole lot of ribbons, but we'll be short this year.

Also of interest: I'll be running a panel on sexual harassment and assault in fandom at 5:30pm on Saturday, with cluegirl, asim, and sweetmmeblue. And if you have teenagers who attend the con, send them to the teen lounge at 4pm Saturday for a workshop on con safety and social change!

Three recent posts in Jim C. Hines's blog:

http://www.jimchines.com/2011/12/sexual-harassment/
http://www.jimchines.com/2011/12/sexual-harassment-intervention/
http://www.jimchines.com/2011/12/minimizing-comments/

If folks feel these are helpful, I can always add them to the GA info on the website when I next make edits...