California

If you know of a convention that needs to be added to the list or have updated your own convention's policy, you can fill out the form here. If you find any broken links or have any questions about this page, please contact Fractali at admin@cosplayer-ssn.org. This is a perpetual work in progress!

A guide to some of California's laws can be found here.

A means they meet the criterion.
A means they have partially met the criterion.
A means they fail the criterion.

Additional notes for clarification can be found below the table.

Note: conventions with ^* have either not updated for several years, have a malfunctioning website, or may be defunct.

Note: Anime Expo (and Anime Expo Chibi) has a code of conduct that does not specifically mention harassment and is only found at the very bottom of the home page under "Anime Expo Plan / Chibi" > "Anime Expo / ax chibi Legal". "Harassment" is mentioned ONLY in the context of a Youth Protection Policy for SPJA representatives. Because not all attendees are considered "youth" or SPJA representatives, we cannot assume that it would make sense for anyone to check this section. Additionally, there is no real policy within the mentions of harassment in that section of the website. We cannot in good faith say that this counts as a policy.

Note: Anime Gaming Con's policy is listed under the header "Vendor Hall."

Note: AniFest's Code of Conduct is at the bottom of a very long scroll down the home page. Also, the policy lists "sponsors" as being subject to this policy, but not staff or guests.

Note: To find Anime Wonder Festival's full harassment policy, you must click through Info > FAQs and Help Center > Code of Conduct > 2. Harassment-Free Environment bullet 2: For more information on our Event Safety and Harassment Policy, visit HERE. This is quite a few clicks only to get to a page that does not include a way to report online, and explicitly states that the policy only applies to attendees.

Note: To find BayCon's policy, you must hover over the "BayCon Home" tab of navigation. This may not be intuitive to all users.

Note: Fan Expo San Francisco has an incident report system for multiple conventions, but San Francisco is currently not available to select.

Note: We are aware of several reports of FanimeCon not taking the desired action against alleged offenders. Fanime's score, as with every other convention we evaluate, is not based on how well incidents are handled but rather that their policy covers 6 criteria we list. We cannot evaluate policies for efficacy and we would like to remind those who have been criticizing CSSN for giving a score of 6/6 that a 6/6 is NOT an endorsement of any convention. For full disclosure, CSSN did evaluate Fanime's policy updates prior to their becoming public and gave thoughts on how to improve it, but again, this is not an endorsement nor an affiliation and we do not have authority to make changes to internal procuedures associated with reporting. If you have issues with the way any convention handled your report, you can contact the convention chair/staff or outside authorities. If you harass or call for the harassment of members of CSSN or CSSN itself for ANY reason, including that your experiences of a convention's policy procedure were not satisfactory to you, we reserve the right to block you from interacting with us and we will not hesitate to report such harassment to a convention we attend if it becomes a genuine threat to our safety.

Note: Gallifrey One describes an after-hours hotline for emergencies that could potentially include harassment, but it does not make that explicit. The hotline's number is not currently on the website.

Note: While Gaslight Steampunk Expo's policy is in a logical location, the visual clutter and length one must scroll to reach it mean that it is not as accessible as it could be.

Note: GobbleCon's policy states that it applies to "all persons," which implies but does not specify that it includes staff specifically. There is a contact listed for "questions or concerns regarding this statement," which one might assume could apply to reporting, but it is not specific enough.

Note: Golden State Fur Con's policy is located within a PDF. For those without access to a reader app on their phone, this could be inaccessible. A CRT, which we assume means Crisis Response Team, is described, but no specific way to contact the CRT is listed.

Note: L.A. Comic Con's policy states that it applies to "exhibitors in the expo hall, sponsor, or vendor booths," but not staff. We would like to remind this convention that any convention policy that does not include accountability for everyone present, including staff, guests, chairs, and others, is not a policy that protects everyone.

Note: Long Beach Comic Expo's policy lists only one consequence for violations of their policy, which is possible ejection without refund, which doesn't address minor violations which may be better dealt with via warnings.

Note: Loscon has a "Contact Our Staff" button prominently displayed at the top of the site. One might assume this would be appropriate way to find someone to contact for reporting, but because it is not specific enough, we can't give it the full point.

Note: Megabit Game Expo's page has an email address implied to be underlined in the Non-Bullying Policy section, but the link is broken and no email address is actually listed. Additionally, it is within a aontext of "assessing and addressing" what they call "formal complaints" or "genuine concerns." This language and context is intimidating and we would imagine it would discourage genuinely distressed targets from making a report. Additionally, it is not specifically located within the harassment section, meaning that it is implied not to apply.

Note: Nerdville's policy is a linked out Google Drive document and can only be found by scrolling to the bottom of the "Tickets" page. This policy should be a direct link to the Nerdville website or better yet, explicitly typed on the website in an easy-to-find, intuitive location. Please also consider that Google tracks users that open hosted documents and some people do not want to be linked to a Google account that may automatically open the file or may not want their activity in opening such a file to be recorded.

Note: OffKai Expo's policy states that the back of badges has information on how to get help or report harassment but this cannot be verified. We would like to remind OffKai Expo that not everyone has access to their badge at all times that they may be harassed and we would like to see reporting information on the website as well.

Note: Orccon has a link to a Code of Conduct, but unfortunately, it does not lead anywhere.

Note: Pasadena Comic and Toy Show's page has an email address in the Non-Bullying Policy section, but it is within a context of "assessing and addressing" what they call "formal complaints" or "genuine concerns." This language and context is intimidating and we would imagine it would discourage genuinely distressed targets from making a report. Additionally, it is not specifically located within the harassment section, meaning that it is implied not to apply.

Note: PAWcon's policy frames harassment, without naming harassment, as "intentionally annoying or alarming another person." While this is not wrong, defining harassment clearly and unmistakably is essential to being able to count the policy. PAWcon also encourages police involvement and an entity called "Public Safety" that is not clear as to whether it belongs to the convention or refers to an outside or governmental agency. We suggest that the makers of this policy understand why people, especially people in marginalized and/or BIPOC communities, would not want to report to the police, and rework their policy without the assumption that anyone would be comfortable approaching police before anyone else.

Note: Power Morphicon's page has an email address in the Non-Bullying Policy section, but it is within a context of "assessing and addressing" what they call "formal complaints" or "genuine concerns." This language and context is intimidating and we would imagine it would discourage genuinely distressed targets from making a report. Additionally, it is not specifically located within the harassment section, meaning that it is implied not to apply.

Note: Robo Toy Fest's page has an email address implied to be underlined in the Non-Bullying Policy section, but the link is broken and no email address is actually listed. Additionally, it is within a context of "assessing and addressing" what they call "formal complaints" or "genuine concerns." This language and context is intimidating and we would imagine it would discourage genuinely distressed targets from making a report. Additionally, it is not specifically located within the harassment section, meaning that it is implied not to apply.

Note: SacAnime's con policy page specifies "issues with Special Guests," but does not mention any other non-attendee groups. We would like to remind this convention that any convention policy that does not include accountability for everyone present, including staff, guests, chairs, and others, is not a policy that protects everyone. We might also recommend that an additional contact be added for "pre or post convention security issues" rather than just one individual, although the contacts listed are sufficient.

Note: San Francisco Comic Con's harassment policy is found under FAQ > Cosplay, which isn't intuitive and implies it only applies to cosplayers. The written policy could also be clearly about consequences.

Note: SiliCon's policy can be found under the Cosplay FAQs page. We would like to personally remind Adam Savage (and any other creators of this policy) that harassment is NOT limited to cosplayers.

Note: Simi Valley Toy and Comic Fest's page has an email address implied to be underlined in the Non-Bullying Policy section, but the link is broken and no email address is actually listed. Additionally, it is within a context of "assessing and addressing" what they call "formal complaints" or "genuine concerns." This language and context is intimidating and we would imagine it would discourage genuinely distressed targets from making a report. Additionally, it is not specifically located within the harassment section, meaning that it is implied not to apply.

Note: StrangerCon's policy implies that a "complete" policy is stated on each schedule of events handed out and that a contact is listed on the rules page. Because it is not online, we cannot qualify it. We would encourage this convention to include a contact on the website in the event that a paper printout would be lost, destroyed, or otherwise unavailable to someone in distress who would like to report harassment.

Note: The Los Angeles Empire Con has a section called "Complaints," but it needs to specifically mention "harassment" in some way in order to count. Bafflingly, attendees are encouraged to contact through an anonymous form (a positive thing), but this does not constitute having a policy.