“It Happened To Me” Aftermath

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Rumpus cartoonist MariNaomi wrote a powerful essay at XOJane about being sexually harassed during a comic convention panel.

“This isn’t the first time this has happened to me. Years ago, at another comic convention, a fellow panelist blatantly looked me up and down and said it was “getting hot in here” — onstage, humiliated in full view of an audience of hundreds. That time, like this one, I was so shocked and confused that I ended up saying nothing.

What gets me the most is that in real life I would have put these guys in their place. But the vulnerability of being onstage and watched by many pairs of eyes is what stops me. It’s one thing to tell a pest to back off if you’re out in the world, but once you’re onstage, those moments will be all the audience remembers of you.”

As a result of her essay, the guy who was harassing her has issued an apology.

Ashley Perez lives, writes, and causes trouble in Los Angeles. She has a strong affinity for tattoos, otters, cat mystery books, and actual cats, but has mixed feelings about pants. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Antioch University Los Angeles. She runs the literary site Arts Collide and does work of all varieties for Women Who Submit, Entropy, Jaded Ibis Press, and Why There Are Words. You can find her on Twitter at @ArtsCollide. More from this author →