For months, authors have been asking for a better sexual harassment policy from @fanxsaltlake. What happened publicly today on twitter is an indication of how women have been treated privately by those running this con.
We wanted to better protect fans and presenters alike. Articles like this, and the comments made here by those in charge at FanX, gave us pause. sltrib.com/news/2018/05/0…
But statement after statement and article after article and email after email kept going off the rails. sltrib.com/artsliving/201…
Cryptic subtweets posted on the official site and on Facebook pages seemed a bit shady (this one has since been deleted). 
It became clear that the priority was always to minimize the victims and their experience, while protecting the careers of the men involved. They would not retract or clarify statements on what happened. It was not "just hugging." And even if it had been, that's harassment.
Re: sexual harassment in the workplace-When management makes statements that belittle harassment or don’t fully follow through on it, it’s worse than having no policy at all. That's exactly what has happened/is happening here (see previous articles) and they don't get it. STILL.
And now we're back full circle to what happened to @haleshannon today (see the beginning tweet on this thread). Doxxing and an attempt to humiliate publicly. You can see, clear as day in Shannon's emails, how calm and reasonable she was and is.
And she was told she didn't "get it" by the man founding it and that she should "sit this one out" and that the #metoo movement is "trendy." (All there in the text.)
I can't stress enough how many private emails were sent, by many people, and how much we did NOT want this to go so badly. We're tired. We want to write our books and go to public events and not be touched and harassed. That is all. Please.
We know that we're "just authors." We're not real celebrities. Our coming forward about this likely won't result in financial difficulty or any real repercussions for the con. Our hope is that someone who matters to them (because it's not women) will take a stand.
I loved this con. I took my kids to see @HamillHimself and we had a blast (and he was WONDERFUL). I presented at this con before and I was invited back this year. But enough is enough. No more. That's all, and thank you for reading if you made it this far.
I lied. One more. We were reporting and advocating as authors and professionals who had contacts and associations with the con. It makes me SICK to think of how fans and others might have been treated had they attempted to report.
The Salt Lake Tribune just posted this follow-up article about what happened today, and beforehand. sltrib.com/news/2018/05/2…
