Woman Fired from Salem, MA Comic Shop after Voicing Concerns over "Rape Room"

[Chocofreak13]

#gamergate, the Comics edition.

http://jezebel.com/woman-discovers-rape-room-in-comic-book-store-is-promp-1630446439
http://www.bleedingcool.com/2014/09/03/one-possible-reason-why-less-women-work-in-comic-stores-than-you-might-otherwise-expect/
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/09/04/mass-woman-says-comic-book-store-fired-her-after-she-revealed-alleged-rape-room/
http://www.reddit.com/r/comicbooks/comments/2fbiz3/harrison_comics_in_salem_ma_purportedly_calls/

to get you started. (some of them are repeats, i started with Jezebel but given their less-than-accurate history i read the entire reddit listing for more info. the woman in question and the owner's child actually posted in the thread, so it's worth the read.)


this is pretty fucked up, bros. there's a lot of debacle over why she was actually fired and when she made particular tweets, but from what i can glean from it, a few facts are true:

1. this woman has actually worked for Harrison's before, was well-liked, and left amicably.
2. she was on staff for a week this time before being fired, and was repeatedly praised for her performance.
3. the "rape room" comment was made, in front of 6 potential employees and another solid employee, during the orientation tour.
4. the commenter in question made inappropriate advances (ie, wrapping his arm around her shoulders and pressing himself to her) after the comment was made.
5. in her shock, frustration, and uncomfortable despair she tweeted about the incident right after it happened, BUT LEFT OUT ANY NAMES.
6. the owner appears to be passing the buck a lot in his flustered panic over this.

there have been purported claims over her being fired "because other employees complained about her work practices" or even "job performance", mentioning some of the female employees as having said so. this was said despite there only being one other perm. female on staff, who the victim didn't work with, 2 or 3 other potential hirees who she had not seen since orientation, and her past history of being well-liked and productive within the business.

the owner has been both uncomfortably silent and over-expressively loud at this, at once not commenting and then sending out a flurry of comments ranging from "I was unaware she was fired and Julian (Mr. Rape Room) does not have hire/fire power" to "Julian was acting hiring manager and thus has the power to hire and fire" (both paraphrased).

i both support the owner of the store and the victim here (victim more), but do believe that, regardless of work history or friendships, Julian should be fired if he's willing to joke in such a manner. that he decided to touch a female hire in such a way makes it worse; how the fuck is he going to act around the customers? i've been to that Harrison's before, and while i had the feeling i was intruding on someone else's space, i always feel like that in comic shops (rare exceptions include Double Midnight Comics in Manchester and Liberty Books in Concord, however Liberty had no one there and was actually in the process of closing), and shopped and enjoyed it there anyway. there was always this creepy air over the place, though, and i suppose now i know why. i'm tempted to make a trip to Salem to see how things are going down, and to voice support for the victim if i happen to see the offending manager (Julian) in question.

thoughts, guys? if any of you are close enough we could come together for a trip to Harrison's to voice support. :\

[Nichi]

He sounds like a douchebag. Also, I'd gladly come with you but I'm practically on another planet :\

(Also, wasn't that the comic store we went to in Salem, that we got some One Piece blind box figurines at?)

[Chocofreak13]

yeah, it was. freaky, huh?