Attention Mascots (and teams with one)

[dmaciel10123]

I think the easiest thing to do would be to require that teams have at least one trusted person accompany the mascot at all times, as I believe was mentioned earlier. This would allow teams to have that person ready to 1) stop the mascot from doing anything improper; 2) stop other people from harassing the mascot; 3) have a trusted person from the team ready to confirm or deny or work out any reports of mascot wrongdoing.

[Taylor]

Originally Posted by coalhot

Would it be possible for kickoff venues to run workshops on stuff like this, or for FIRST to put out a video guideline? I know most universities would be ok with sending the student that's their mascot by to talk to kids, and if FIRST put out a real guideline, it's more clear-cut as to "follow the guideline, or no mascot for you".

There are the YPP guidelines ...

With the Youth Protection Program gaining steam at HQ and beyond, it is critical that we all treat safety and security with high priority. If you have been subjected to inappropriate advances, there are three people I would think need to know about the situation:
1. Your adult team leader
2. The mascot's adult team leader
3. The event coordinator
If you are uncomfortable approaching (2) - and there's no shame in that - I'm sure that (1) and/or (3) would handle the situation in a delicate yet firm way, while protecting your anonymity.
I know if something like that happened at an event to which I have connections, I'd want to know immediately, for personal, professional, and legal reasons. As would my building adminstration. Not necessarily for disciplinary reasons, but for ethical and legal ones.

[Chris is me]

Can we cool it with the ridiculous derailment about which gender is or isn't more likely to be a victim or a perpetrator of sexual harassment? We don't need screams of "NOT ALL MEN ARE LIKE THAT" every time we ever talk about an issue that involves gender. Yes, it's possible for a woman to sexually harass a man too. Are we done now?

Originally Posted by wireties

Making FIRST-wide rules about mascots seems premature and a little too PC at this juncture.

How many reported incidents of sexual harassment does it take for rules about mascots to stop being premature and "PC"?

I'm sure that this kind of thing happens far more often than it is reported. To a victim, reporting something like this can seem embarrassing or worse, pointless. There is a perceived stigma against "creating drama" on many teams and in many cases the victim may pay a social penalty of sorts for coming forward, particularly if the perpetrator was well liked and had many friends on the team.

We need to do more than just be reactive to cases of harassment - we need to be proactive. Teams need to make sure their mascots and the rest of their team knows that no means no and to NEVER touch someone else unprompted or otherwise without consent. In the cases where this sort of thing is reported, we need absolutely zero tolerance for this behavior. The student should be removed from the team and the venue (by team managment preferably). We simply can't afford to allow FIRST to be a place where anyone feels violated or otherwise unsafe (not in the "safety glasses" sense).

Just a week ago we were all scratching our heads about how we could make robotics more welcoming to women. Pretty much the least welcoming thing we could do is be complicit with harassment. Even isolated incidents can drive a student away for good, or worse, leave them with emotional trauma. While I'm not suggesting we would be able to prevent all cases of harassment, if we establish a visible and firm culture of respect, consent, and boundaries, people will be less hesitant to speak out when these situations do happen.

[Monochron]

Originally Posted by Chris is me

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I think you said it pretty darn good. This sums up my opinions as well.

[wireties]

Originally Posted by Chris is me

How many reported incidents of sexual harassment does it take for rules about mascots to stop being premature and "PC"?

The answer is one and only one - is there one? Is there a single official reported case of harassment by a mascot at a FIRST event? Others in this thread are encouraging victims to come forward and make reports to FIRST officials or to law enforcement officials - I totally agree. Tell me about it and I'll chase it down and follow it up myself. But all we have now are anonymous-ish, but serious, complaints made in social media forums. This is America (I think) - should we be making observations about teams putting their "strangest kids" in costume w/o any guidelines? Almost all FIRST teams are from a high school and the students are bound by the "Code of Conduct".

And why does this subject have to be sexual? I never implied that it was sexual - you made that assumption. We have young persons on our team with conditions where any kind of contact is excruciating, it has zero to do with gender. In fact the original complaint in this thread sounded like such a condition.

I like the idea of a mascot having an escort has merit. And I still like the idea of preferring female mascots. Our mascot always has an escort though I think it is because the costume makes it hard to see rather that to monitor harassment claims and counter-claims. And FIRST could include guidelines in the pre-season communications to team captains and co-captains.

[Chris is me]

Originally Posted by wireties

And why does this subject have to be sexual? I never implied that it was sexual - you made that assumption. We have young persons on our team with conditions where any kind of contact is excruciating, it has zero to do with gender. In fact the original complaint in this thread sounded like such a condition.

The OP's post referred to a student complaining about groping. The "hug from behind" example featured an implied threat and victim-blaming language for not being receptive to advances. Other posters in the thread referred to this conduct as sexual harassment or assault.

I was mainly using your line as a jumping off point, rather than the entirety of my post being a direct response to things you said. I realize my post wasn't really structured in a manner that made this apparent and I apologize for that.

[Jon Stratis]

Honestly, I don't know why people have their mascots roaming the pits... you don't see mascots at football games roaming the locker rooms or getting in the way of the team on the sidelines! At sporting events, mascots are used to help raise the energy and pump up the crowd and fans. Why do we do it differently in FIRST?

IMO, mascots should be relegated almost exclusively to the side of the field. Lead the stands in cheers, participate in dances between matches, and get people out there pumped up. Here in MN we try to have a "Mascot alley" between the field and the stands when we can (some venues aren't great for it, sometimes the field/field reset needs more room and it gets pushed back,etc). It's the perfect place for a mascot to enjoy the matches and raise the energy in the building. I know our mascot is almost always either there or with our team in the stands. The mascot doesn't roam around interacting with other teams very much... that's what the drive team, pit crew, and scouting reps are for!

[wireties]

Originally Posted by Chris is me

I was mainly using your line as a jumping off point, rather than the entirety of my post being a direct response to things you said. I realize my post wasn't really structured in a manner that made this apparent and I apologize for that.

No worries, you make many excellent points and our team will emphasize them at our next team meeting. I apologize also.

Thanks!

[Karthik]

Originally Posted by wireties

The answer is one and only one - is there one? Is there a single official reported case of harassment by a mascot at a FIRST event?

I know of two officially reported cases of mascots sexually harassing/assaulting victims at FRC events. I also know of numerous more reported and unreported incidents of unwanted sexual touching at FRC events. Focusing on mascot behaviour is casting far too narrow of a net. In general we need to be educating all members about proper behaviour at events, as well as encouraging all members to report any inappropriate behaviour that they witness or fall victim to.

[caboosev11]

Personally, as sort of my team's mascot, all I think the mascot is for cheering, bringing team spirit and making our team look good. I don't mascots should even be hugging. Mascots should only be doing things like cheering, dancing, and giving high-five to team members when they win.

[Grim Tuesday]

Girls on our team have had problems with creepy mascots as well. In some cases, it isn't the costume, it's the person inside who thinks they can get away with anything when they're hidden behind a mask.

One of the biggest problems is who this behavior should be reported to. Our team has had issues with non-mascot harassment as well and we never knew who in FIRST we should even contact. It's important to remember that this kind of thing can also happen at off-season events. In our case, it ended up becoming a police matter.

[Conor Ryan]

Originally Posted by Karthik

I know of two officially reported cases of mascots sexually harassing/assaulting victims at FRC events. I also know of numerous more reported and unreported incidents of unwanted sexual touching at FRC events. Focusing on mascot behaviour is casting far too narrow of a net. In general we need to be educating all members about proper behaviour at events, as well as encouraging all members to report any inappropriate behaviour that they witness or fall victim to.

I know of 3 others that have have occurred between 2011 and 2014, each one featured different teams and students involved. Both males and females have been identified as the perpetrator in the cases I have been present for.

[Tristan Lall]

I don't think that prohibition or record-keeping by FIRST is a reasonable solution. The former is a collective punishment for the transgressions of a few. The second is cumbersome and expensive, with unclear benefits.

A better approach would be to have a discussion with team members about the boundaries of acceptable conduct, and how to promote good conduct through social norms (in effect, peer pressure) without unduly limiting perfectly reasonable emotions and enthusiasm. That could also include a direct warning to costumed team members that their anonymity isn't a licence to take liberties with other people.

The psychology of misbehaviour is something with which teachers ought to be generally familiar, and as such, they should actively discourage placing team members in roles which are ill-suited to their personality traits—"creepy" being one of those red flags. Practically speaking, it's hard to do this perfectly, and mistakes will be made.


Meanwhile, the contention that a zero-tolerance approach is required strikes me as unfair. There's a continuum of bad acts ranging from obstruction and taunting to assault and battery (including of a sexual nature), and the motivations for those acts are similarly diverse. For the administrators who are responsible for resolving the situation, the solution is not to arrest and charge every idiot who does something wrong—it's to attempt to get to the bottom of the incident and choose the appropriate response. If the decision is to involve the police, it should be done with an understanding of the ramifications of that decision, and the potential for further injustices that lie beyond your control.¹ If the decision is to handle it using internal disciplinary procedures and rehabilitation, you have to weigh the possibility that it will be perceived as an inadequate slap on the wrist. Again, mistakes will be made, but you're still responsible for doing everything reasonable to avoid them.

The victims have a much smaller duty² to ensure that the perpetrators are treated even-handedly—but as a good citizen, they should understand that there's a chance that the situation will spiral out of control. If the incident is not particularly severe, report it to a trusted person and (if comfortable doing so) discuss the situation carefully to ensure a fair outcome without involving the torch-and-pitchfork brigade. But if the incident is severe, report it with a clear conscience, and trust that the authorities will handle it appropriately.

¹ For example, the record of an arrest or a criminal charge, even if unproven or dismissed, is often used to draw adverse inferences, even many years later. And certainly the detriments of being justly convicted are manifold, yet not necessarily just in their own right. One of your many competing responsibilities is to avoid injustice—even injustices committed against a bad person—so think hard before you bring the hammer down.
² The adage that life isn't fair is often used to justify negligence or minor misconduct. But perhaps that statement rings truer if we accept that even victims are burdened with a small measure of moral responsibility towards attackers.

[AngelsWings]

Because mascots tend to change from competition to competition I think it's just that much harder to control what goes on. Would it be possible to have a "mascot meeting" like how the drivers have a "drivers" meeting? To discuss what is and is not appropriate at a competition? But I also feel that this should not apply to just mascots but all members as well.
And for the reporting of these incidents (from the point of view of somebody who has gone through a situation similar to this) I'm sure many don't get reported mostly because we fear that it will bring a bad reputation to our teams. We don't want to be looked as that team who brought the competition down. Would there be any way to anonymously but effectively report these cases?

[wireties]

Originally Posted by Karthik

I know of two officially reported cases of mascots sexually harassing/assaulting victims at FRC events. I also know of numerous more reported and unreported incidents of unwanted sexual touching at FRC events. Focusing on mascot behaviour is casting far too narrow of a net. In general we need to be educating all members about proper behaviour at events, as well as encouraging all members to report any inappropriate behaviour that they witness or fall victim to.

Wow - I had no idea. It is time to let the hounds loose then, something must be done. Do most events have a law enforcement presence? These actions, as described, are criminal behavior. Mentors, teachers and event personnel can provide guidelines and educate students. But once the harassment, assault or battery takes place it should be reported to local law enforcement - full transparency is a must.