Behind the Curtain

Over the past few days, what was an open secret for years was brought to light with harsh finality: DC Comics sheltered, encouraged, and promoted serial sexual harasser Eddie Berganza for years, to the detriment of essentially their entire female staff. Women refused to work with him after being harassed and assaulted, both at work and non-work events, and many of them took demotions, moved to different publishers, or left comics altogether to avoid him. We will likely never know how many incredible stories went untold and how many careers suffered as a result, but the landscape of comics has been rendered nearly barren of female talent as a result of Berganza and others like him.

Now, within 24 hours of the Buzzfeed article that broke the story to all and sundry, DC Comics suspended Berganza.

Yes, you read that right: After reading the accounts of multiple women in that article and a host of corroborating stories on sites like Twitter, DC Comics' ultimate decision was suspension. Not termination. Just paid vacation.

This is the reality that's behind the Emerald City of comics: Men have spent years protecting one another at the detriment of the women around them to stay on top. They have controlled the narratives we have loved and sacrificed anything and everything that did not fit their vision of it. And when I say that, I don't just mean DC Comics. Let's not kid ourselves: This behavior was hardly limited to only one publisher or Eddie Berganza. But we've seen it now, and I have to hope that we'll never forget that the amazing Oz is really nothing more than an ordinary man too small to accept that his world was wide enough to include women, too.

#sexualharassment #comics #DCComics