I'd like to take a minute of your time to sincerely send a heartfelt thank you to the douchecanoe who felt entitled to my property at the Colossalcon rave last night. Thank you for proving once again that Good Guys™ are the most entitled, sexist, selfish man-children with whom one could ever have the most unfortunate chance encounter. Allow me to explain. Conventions have long been considered a safe haven for nerds and the popular culture inclined. While simultaneously not considered a safe haven for women and the more feminine inclined among us. I've done my best to carve out a safe space within the convention scene here in Ohio where I'm surrounded by friends, and at the very least acquaintances I know. I've hosted meetups around Ohio and at cons in the past, and feel fairly comfortable with the events and goings on at our local cons. This con, I decided to bring a glow staff to the Friday night dance, and it was the most fun experience I've ever had at a rave. I really enjoy twirling my staff, as it reminds me of my flag twirling days and I'm pretty fucking good at it. It also got me a lot of attention at the dance. I was already on edge as an introvert pushing my comfort zone when people started coming up and asking about my staff, which is fine; asking to play with it, which I was uncomfortable with and said no, which was fine; until I met Sir Cheeto Breath McDouchecanoe. Now, Sir Cheeto Breath McDouchecanoe is probably the type of entitled man child who has never been told "no" in his entire life. Here I was, minding my own business and dancing to the music with my staff glowing and twirling away when this sweaty, wife-beater wearing doucherito comes swaggering into my space, demanding my attention by using the universal grabby hand gesture towards my staff. Politely, I stopped my spinning to speak with the Mountain Douche, who only grunted a "I like your toy. I want to play with that." I turned him down, as I had been doing all night with everyone else who had inquired about my staff, with a "Sorry, I spent a lot of money on this and would rather keep it to myself." 7 other people before him and 3 more after were perfectly fine with this answer, and a few even apologized for presuming I would share what is rightfully mine. Just because someone has something cool, doesn't mean you get to play with it. Children don't seem to have a problem with this concept. Well, children who were raised right. This answer was not sufficient for the Penultimate Dude Bro. "No, I want to play with it." As if I misunderstood the intentions behind his phrasing, he accented it by reaching out and wrapping a hand around my staff, as if to take it from me by force. "Um, no, no one is playing with this but me," I started, taking a step back and removing my staff from his hand. "Oh, but I insist," his lips curled up in mock sympathy, moving closer to reclaim his self-entitled prize from my grasp. And then my knight in shining armor, @ninjayoshi28 leapt in front of me and told him "No means no, asshole, she already told you twice and if I have to tell you again I'm gonna get security." (Pretty sure other bodily harm was mentioned as well, but it was loud and she was facing the other direction) The One Man Dick Squad then proceeded to argue with my friend, telling her that he doesn't take no for an answer, to which my quick witted friend replied that he could go fuck himself, along with several other pleasantries, standing there slack-jawed in his sweat stained wife beater, that two women could have the audacity to stand up to him, to tell him he couldn't have thing!! NOT HAVE THING?!? WHAT MADNESS I WANT THING YOU HAVE WHO NOT GIVE ME THING!? Perhaps 30 seconds, or one eternity later he moved on, as a security guard walked past us, probably encouraging him on his merry way to wreak havoc on other unsuspecting youngsters. I fear tales like these are not as uncommon as we think within our convention scene. Whether it's unwanted contact from someone while in cosplay, at an event like the rave or a concert, or general badgering while walking the halls, I'm sure every woman has at least one story like this that they tell their friends under the guise of "Protect yourself" and "Watch out for assholes like these." We shouldn't have to protect each other to such an extent from predatory behavior like this in what is supposed to be a safe space. But we have to protect each other for now, until all people can behave like grown ups around each other, not the children that the anonymity of a public convention allows us to act like. Tldr; women and the female inclined, we continue to need to protect each other until men and the masculine inclined can get their shit together. Men, get your shit together already. Cut this shit out. Tell other men to cut this shit out.
