Monday, August 27, 2018
On Harassment Policies for Critics in the Age of #MeToo
HowlRound Theatre Commons: Following the outing of serial abusers Al Chase and Israel Horowitz, the New England theatre community has started taking a closer look at its inclusion and harassment policies. These recent events have led to a greater concern for implementation of best practices on an individual, company, and community-wide level, such as our local theatre service organization StageSource’s Line Drawn Summit in June. New England is buzzing with the potential for positive change.
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2 comments:
I think this article is really important because all too often we find ourselves bullying others because the screen protects our anonymity. Sometimes people become critics simply because they want permission to bully people. Gossip bloggers like Perez Hilton and Tabloid magazines have been calling themselves "critics" for years when in reality all those people really accomplish is belittlement and objectification. When the sole purpose of your review is to make people feel bad about themselves, then it's not really a review, it's just a more socially acceptable way to exert your own power complex. In the cases of Alan Chase, he abused the power we provided him by allowing him to be a "critic" in the same way we gave Harvey Weinstien the power to assault all the women he did. As a community we have to hold those around us accountable for their actions, and actually pay attention to those actions, including the way people behave online. Online behavior is a great way to see into the soul of the person posting. If they are saying demeaning things, chances are that that person is no different than they act online, they just might be better at hiding it in person. This policy gives me hope for us because it could be the first of many policies that can help to mitigate this, and help us all hold each other accountable, to prevent people from missing things like this ever again.
There is no doubt that more news regarding efforts towards inclusion and justice in the arts is a good thing. The reality is that the goal of perfect equity and the expulsion of predatory voices is much easier said than achieved, and requires heavy policing in actuality, given the online nature of a blog. As a proud activist, I will always applaud any organization’s active efforts to create safe and equitable environments. However as a creative, I am sincerely intrigued by the ways in which the arts can trigger or facilitate uncomfortable discourse, constructive confrontation, and education about identity. To be clear, I firmly believe that there is no home for hateful speech or behavior in the arts. I am always hopeful, however, that art and honesty can be so powerful as to change the minds of predatory opinions. Unfortunately, just as public forums, blogs, and online messaging are not always conducive to teaching empathy or having emotional conversations, a harassment policy does not mean the clean extermination of anonymous aggressors.
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