Posted with permission of author, Jan 26 2018
We have an important, but saddening, announcement to make.
Over the last week dozens of people have come forward with stories of consent violations, manipulation, sexual harassment, theft, abuse of power, and other unacceptable behavior from JME and JM himself. Accounts have come to light of mishandled abuse reports and lack of enforcement of consequences or bans resulting from previously reported abuses. We have loved these events for years, and continue to love the wonderful community of these events (GKE, Wicked Faire, GKENE, etc). These events always seemed a generally safe and fun place for attendees, performers, and patrons. We are sorry to find out that has not been the universally true experience of attendees and staff.
The news coming to light is shocking and upsetting. It would be negligent and against our personal and company ethics not to respond. In light of all of these revelations we are announcing at this time we will no longer be vending at Wicked Faire or future JME/JM run events.
We do not make this decision lightly, we have never cancelled a convention appearance before, and we take pride in honoring our commitments. We've weighed our options including onsite education and advocacy, but ultimately found we could not perform this function without endangering staff on site. By vending at an event we are implicitly and often explicitly inviting our friends and customers to attend and support the event(s) financially and endorse them on social media. This is clearly something we are no longer willing to do in any capacity. The comfort and safety of the community absolutely comes first, and even our attendance at the event feels like more support than we are willing to give in the light of news of so many being hurt.
I know many of you look forward to seeing us all year, and we are deeply sorry to miss all of your smiling faces. For those who do choose to attend Wicked Faire this year we wish you a safe and fulfilling convention.
We hope that you will continue to join us at other non JME events throughout the year. We will be attending Winter Wickedness, NELA Fetish Flea, and Dark Odyssey Winter Fire this month. We hope to see you there. You can also always find us at our home base in Western Massachusetts, and our products on the shelves at many awesome local sex shops or on our website.
Thank you all for your support and understanding through all of this. To all those who have been grievously harmed, we believe you and we support you. Be safe and be well.
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