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Sexual Harassment Policy

Page history last edited by TC STs 2 years, 5 months ago

Policy Brief & Purpose

Our sexual harassment policy aims to protect people in our community from unwanted sexual advances and give them guidelines to report incidents. We will also explain how we handle claims, punish sexual harassment and help victims recover.

We won’t tolerate sexual harassment in TCG: The Last Stand in any shape or form. Our culture is based on mutual respect and collaboration, and Sexual harassment is a serious violation of those principles.

 

Scope

This policy applies to every person in our community regardless of gender, sexual orientation, seniority, status or other protected characteristics. We are all obliged to comply with this policy.
Also, we won’t tolerate sexual harassment from inside or outside of the community. Players – local or travelling, as well as STaff, JAFOs, Narrators, and Org Officials interacting with our chronicle are covered by the present policy.


What is Sexual Harassment?

 

Sexual harassment has many forms of variable seriousness. A person sexually harasses someone when they:
• Insinuate, propose or demand sexual favors of any kind.
• Invade another person’s personal space (e.g. inappropriate touching.)
• Stalk, intimidate, coerce or threaten another person to get them to engage in sexual acts.
• Send or display sexually explicit objects or messages without the recipient’s prior consent.
• Comment on someone’s looks, dress, sexuality or gender in a derogatory or objectifying manner or a manner that makes them uncomfortable.
• Make obscene comments, jokes or gestures that humiliate or offend someone.
• Pursue or flirt with another person persistently without the other person’s willing participation.


Our Community’s Rules on Sexual Harassment

 

No one has the right to sexually harass our community members. Any person in our community who is found guilty of serious harassment will be subject to disciplinary action, whether they are players or STaff. Also, visitors from another game sexually harass our members, we will demand that the game they are a part for takes disciplinary action against that person and/or refuse to allow this person to visit our game in the future.
Sexual harassment is never too minor to be dealt with. Any kind of harassment can wear down players and create a hostile environment. We will hear every claim and punish offenders appropriately.
Sexual harassment is about how we make others feel. Many do not consider behaviors like flirting or sexual comments to be sexual harassment, thinking they are too innocent to be labeled that way. But, if something you do makes other members of our community uncomfortable, or makes them feel unsafe, you must stop.
We assume every sexual harassment claim is legitimate unless proven otherwise. We listen to victims of sexual harassment and always conduct our investigations properly. Occasional false reports do not undermine this principle.
We will not allow further victimization of harassed members of the community. We will fully support community members who were sexually harassed and will not take any adverse action against them. For example, we will not tell them to make a new character if their harasser plays a character in the same pack in an effort to “separate” the individuals in question
Those who support or overlook and/or empower sexual harassment are as much at fault as offenders.  Letting this behavior go on or encouraging it will bring about disciplinary action. Anyone who witnesses an incident of sexual harassment or has other kinds of proof should report to the STaff or the Player Rep.
Sexual Harassment is not always just Out Of Character. While the World of Darkness is a game that regularly explores darker elements of storytelling where players often portray monsters, this is not an automatic permission slip to push other players or STaff members into portraying scenes of a sexual nature without their enthusiastic consent. Repeatedly going to STaff asking to roleplay through explicit sex scenes without said enthusiastic consent, or pushing players into scenes of said nature either as a Player or a member of STaff can both constitute sexual harassment.

 

How to Report Sexual Harassment

If you are being sexually harassed (or suspect another person is being harassed), please report it to either the STaff or the Player Representative. We acknowledge it’s often hard to come forward about these issues, but we need your help to build a fair and safe environment for you and other members of our community.


If you want to report sexual harassment within our community, there are two options:


Ask for an urgent meeting with either the Player Representative or the STaff. Once in the meeting, explain the situation in as much detail as possible. If you have any hard evidence (e.g. emails), forward it or bring it with you to the meeting.
Send your complaint via email. If you do so via e-mail, please and attach any evidence or information that can be used in the investigation. The Player Rep and the STaff will discuss the issue as appropriate (not including members of STaff or the Player Rep should such be among the accused) and contact you as soon as possible.

 

Inadvertent Harassment

Sometimes, people who harass others do not realize that their behavior is wrong. We understand this is possible, but that doesn’t make the perpetrator any less responsible for their actions.
If you suspect that someone doesn’t realize their behavior is sexual harassment under the definition of this policy, let them know and ask them to stop. Do so preferably via email so you can have records. Even if the Harassment is found to be inadvertent, this will result in at the very least a Verbal Warning to help ensure the behavior does not continue.

 

Disciplinary Action and Repeat Offenders.

Players or STaff who are found guilty of sexual assault while members of our community and/or against members of our community will be permanently banned from the chronicle after the first complaint and investigation.

 

Players or STaff who are found guilty of deliberate sexual harassment (but not assault) for the first time, or who continue to engage in “Inadvertent” harassment after the initial warning will be subject to a Chronicle Strike, with the exact punishments determined by the STaff based on the severity of the harassment on a case by case basis, with a Ban of no longer than 6 months.
Players or STaff who are found guilty of deliberate sexual harassment (but not assault) for the second time will be subject to a Chronicle Strike, with the exact punishments determined by the STaff based on the severity of the harassment on a case by case basis, with a Ban of no longer than one year.

 

Players or STaff who are found guilty of deliberate sexual harassment (but not assault) for the third time will be permanently banned from the Chronicle.

 

We apply these disciplinary actions uniformly. Community members of any sexual orientation or other protected characteristics will be penalized the same way for the same offenses.

 

STaff Responsibilities

First and foremost, STaff and the Player Rep should try to prevent sexual harassment by building a culture of respect and trust. But, when sexual harassment occurs and an community member makes a complaint, both the PR and STaff must act immediately.


STaff should talk to PR and explain our community’s procedures to the player who made the complaint.


When the STaff or PR receives a complaint that a community member harasses another community member, they will:
• Ask for as many details and information as possible from the person or people making the complaint.
• Keep copies of the report with dates, times and details of incidents and any possible evidence in a confidential file. The PR should update this file with all future actions and conversations regarding this complaint.
• Launch an investigation.
• Check if there have been similar reports on the same person. If there are, The PR should make a note of this in the investigation file.
• Take into account the wishes of the harassed player. Some might want the matter to be resolved informally and discreetly, while others might expect more radical actions (e.g. Disciplinary Actions or Banning.) The PR and STaff should consider the circumstances and decide on appropriate action.
• Contact the harasser and set up a meeting to explain the complaint and explicitly ask for this behavior to stop, OR,
• Arrange for mediation sessions with the two members (harasser and perpetrator) to resolve the issue, if the harassed member agrees OR,
• Launch a disciplinary process depending on the severity of the harassment. In cases of sexual assault or coercing someone to sexual favors under threats, we will enact Disciplinary Action against the harasser immediately. We will permanently Ban Players or STaff who are found guilty in a court of law of sexually assaulting a member of TGN, even if the PR and STaff has not conducted its own investigation.
• If the individual accused of harassment is either the PR or a member of STaff, that individual cannot be included in any of the investigation proceedings. Furthermore, they cannot be involved in any vote or decision with regards to any Disciplinary Action the STaff takes against them.

 

The Player Rep or STaff must not, under any circumstances, blame the victim, conceal a report or discourage community members from reporting sexual harassment. If the PR or a STaff member behaves that way, please send an email to the rest of STaff explaining the situation. Even if the STaff member is the HST, the rest of STaff is empowered to take action to remove the HST in matters such as this.

 

We welcome any feedback or complaints about our procedures and how our community members handled each case.

 

Malicious False Accusations

While the TC:TLS STaff will approach any investigation into an accusation of sexual assault or harassment as though the accusation is valid, we are aware of the possibility of false accusations occurring over the course of our game's history. While the vast majority of these situations come down to misunderstandings (i.e. witnessing something that looked like sexual harassment without knowing of the enthusiastic consent between the players ahead of time), on rare occasions false accusations of sexual harassment may be levied out of malicious purposes. If the STaff finds sufficient evidence to determine that this has happened, the STaff will meet with the accuser privately to discuss their findings , after which they will proceed with whatever action the STaff deems necessary for the situation at hand. Malicious false accusations are just as damaging, because it creates a disincentive for people to come forward with legitimate accusations for fear of not being taken seriously. This policy is in place to protect people from sexual assault, not to disinclude people you dislike.

 

Helping Harassment Victims

Apart from investigating claims and punishing perpetrators, we want to support the victims of sexual harassment. If you experience trauma, stress or other symptoms because of harassment, consider:
• Taking a few games off restore your mental health.
• Shelving your current PC and playing someone new for a period of time.


Your character or membership in the chronicle will not be jeopardized or altered if you choose any of those options or other means to recovery.


Speak Up, We Listen

Sexual harassment can exhaust those who endure it. Speaking up about this issue is often tough for fear of not being heard, upsetting STaff, Players, and challenging the community’s established culture.

 

Please don’t let these fears deter you. Our game will do everything possible to stop sexual harassment and any other kind of harassment from happening, while supporting harassed members of the TC:TLS community. We need to know what’s going on so we can act on it. And by raising your voice on this issue, you help our community create a happy game environment and thrive.

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