By William Pattison, aka Eric Morse
For Horror Bob's Blog
Well, horror fans, I was
amused to find the following post on Facebook this morning:
Women In Horror Recognition Month
Announcement #2: Women In Horror Recognition Month will ***no longer be requiring a seal***. Even though it was never our intention we found it created a barrier. This year we hope you will email us, tweet us, message us, so we know what you are doing and we can promote it. If you are holding an event, a blog series, making a PSA, etc we want to feature it on all our social pages & blog but we can't do it if we don't know about it. That was one advantage of our old "seal request form" mostly a way to know what was happening. Sometimes people have thought we were snubbing them- really we just didn't know what you were up to. So we totally want to hear from you! ;PThe only thing we will not promote is anything that doesn't fit with the WiHM mission or anything that is blatant self promotion. We want you to highlight other people and create spaces in your communities to showcase art and films by women you dig and that inspire your work. This is a great way to network and meet other amazing people working in the industry you may never have otherwise. Stay tuned for more information as we get closer to Feb! xox & even though it goes without saying: WiHM is for everyone regardless of gender! Let's have fun!!
Now don’t get down on me.
I’m not going to go all critical on this and call it complete bullshit. On the
contrary I fully agree with this move. I never thought the seal bullshit was a
good idea, that is why Artists in Horror month doesn’t have a “Seal” of
approval. Actually we don’t need one. One other thing I’m hope they will keep
to the section of their announcement about blatant self promotion. The last
couple of years that has been all we have seen from Women in Horror Month is
blatant self promotion from their “board” members and “ambassadors”. According
to their mission they are supposed to be given recognition to those women in
horror who are neglected. So, I’m hoping this means that they won’t be flooding
Facebook and their page with endless photos of The Twisted Twins mugging
for photos at their blood drive. I never understood how a blood drive hosted by
Jen and Sylvia Soska , board members of Women in Horror Month, in anyway gives
recognition to women in horror that are not being recognized or brings a
spotlight on why they are not being recognized. I guess I'm missing something,
or not. To me it looks more like Jen and Sylvia mugging and saying “Look at us!
Aren’t we so FUCKING cool!”, which in the end gets into that pesky self
promotion promise WIHM has made in this announcement. I look forward to hearing
about the film festivals that are not just playing and promoting films by only
WIHM members and their friends. I also look forward the blog profiles that will
be written about little known female artists in horror that have been ignored
over the over hyped vampires that have dominated and taken over the female
horror scene.
I have to say that it is
my hope and prayer that WIHM does a complete turn around from how things have
been the last couple of years, because they have strayed from those they have
said they’ve wanted to help and have become something they should have avoided.
With the following said,
and simply as a suggestion to help WIHM return to an organization that all
women can be proud of, I suggest that they need to adopt a standards of
behavior for representatives of this non-profit organization representing women
in horror and their issues. May I suggest the following as a start:
- Representatives, aka “Ambassadors” should not use the following terms in describing others when they are involved in anything remotely involving WIHM or feminism: Misogynist, mental case, stalker, creep, pervert. That is unless they feel secure that they can back up these assertions in a court of law. Remember slander and libel are criminal acts. Name calling and insulting also does nothing to show your organization in a positive light.
- Representatives, aka “Ambassadors” will not use negative political or racist symbols in postings remotely related to WIHM or feminism….such as, for example, calling themselves feminazies and posting Hitler pictures and swastikas, unless they are truly members of the Arian Sisterhood. This definitely doesn’t help your image.
- Finally, that no representatives, aka “Ambassadors” will participate in trolling or bullying other women or other people period. A bully is just a representative of other bullies and doesn't help your cause at all.
Now
these are just suggestions, but they are pretty good ones since you are putting
yourselves as “Ambassadors” for women’s rights and recognition. It doesn’t make
your organization look good if its representatives slander and libel others as
well as promote negative political and racist attitudes. Also, bullying does
nothing to help your mission, especially if you are bullying other women.
So,
if you are truly set on getting back on track and doing what you say I applaud
you, but you still have other issues you need to deal with before you will earn
my respect. Remember that. I’ll be watching and seeing if this is bullshit or
not.
Keep on Creepin', Horror Bob!
