This Puppy has been Muzzled | Cedar Writes

This Puppy has been Muzzled | Cedar Writes

Anti-harassment policies are all the rage at SF conventions nowadays. Some authors have stated they will refuse to attend any conventions that don't have such policies in place.

This lady feels harassed and threatened.

I can never again go to a ‘literary’ con and feel safe. These are the people who have spent months dragging people I know and respect through the mud, and my name with them. Calling me a token woman, and the other women who were on the ballot with me. Because we didn’t fit their narrative. I have no power, they have it all, and they revel in it. They have no qualms about punching down, making sure unwanted fans don’t get their noses into the establishment.

Today, they dance and celebrate, because they won. They won by voting no award as a bloc, while accusing the Sad Puppies of having done so.

....

Now? I’d be afraid to go to WorldCon. They have shown how they feel, and they will treat any threats to their position with… theft, suppression of free speech, mockery, and more. There are people who will never again be able to publish traditionally because of this. And not everyone has the options to be an independent, to have the freedom I so cherish.

I can’t be involved any longer.

Theoretically, convention committee members should be subject to the kind of discipline they prescribe in the harassment policies they advocate. However, my theory is that those who demand such policies never intend that they, themselves, would ever be subject to them.  Rules are for other people.