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Pretty Terrible

Pop Culture Criticism by Natalie Luhrs

October 16, 2017

Another Day, Another Serial Harasser

flames on the side of my face

While I was on Facebook this afternoon, I ran across a post from Jaym Gates (screencap). It’s about a man who has been harassing her for quite some time–to the point of serious mental distress.

In the comments, someone posted a link to a Facebook profile, who Jaym confirmed was her harasser: Warren Schultz.

Edited to add: Warren Schultz is a freelance professional photographer specializing in cosplay photography. This means he has regular access to vulnerable populations; specifically teenagers and women. He has been a vendor at DragonCon in the past. I do not know if the convention knows about Schultz’s history of harassment and abuse. They probably should.

To my horror, I noticed that we had mutual friends. Four of these mutual friends are folks I’ve known for over 20 years, through a group of BBSes we all used to frequent. We have a private group on Facebook, and a scan of the membership list revealed Schultz as a member. So I shared Jaym’s post with the community, tagging him in–because I am not okay with a serial harasser in my communities, no matter how small they may be.

It went about as well as you’d expect.

Exhibit A

Use of a woman as a human shield? Check.

Claiming to be socially awkward? Check.

Centering his own personal growth journey? Check.

Exhibit B

Implication that Jaym was mistaken? Check.

More centering of his personal growth journey? Check.

Hyperbolic sadface at the though of causing another human being pain? Check.

I especially like the part where he tells me that he bears no malice towards me and knows why I called him out and then so graciously–so graciously!–absolves me of my sins. Hey, Warren: Get off the cross, we need the wood.

Exhibit C

Claims of being a “different person”? Check.

Reference to manpain and the love of an understanding woman? Check.

Calling Jaym a liar and attempting to shift responsibility from himself to Jaym? Check.

Exhibit D

And then, he deleted all the comments. Hurray for screencaps.

Exhibit E

After deletion, this happened:

Performative remorse? Check.

Shifting goalposts and claims of reasonableness which implies that someone may have been, oh I don’t know, perhaps hysterical? Check.

The letters below differentiate different people. Guess which comment’s from a man! Guess!

Schultz is now in the land of victim blaming and gaslighting. He’s saying that Jaym doesn’t know her own mind. He’s minimizing the harm done by his actions. He is, again, claiming that he’s socially awkward and that he’s a “highly sensitive person” and such a caring person. He is in actual, real pain at the mere idea that he may have caused another person pain.

This guy’s a serial harasser. I personally know of one other person he has sexually harassed and if you read the comments on the post he’s made about this, there are way more than just two.

Edited to add: Warren’s deleted his post. I have screencaps and will be posting them later today, but need to get them in order and anonymized first. But here’s the text of his “apology” (screencap of entire thing, including comments):

The kicker? Back in the BBS days, Warren Schultz’s handle was “Paladin.” Can’t get much more Nice Guy than that.

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Filed Under: Opinion Natalie Luhrs

About Natalie Luhrs

I'm a lifelong geek with a passion for books and social justice.

Reader Interactions

Links Roundup 10/13/17
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Comments

  1. David Parsons says

    October 17, 2017 at 1:17 am

    Apropos of absolutely nothing: YOU WERE A CITADEL USER? Which one(s)?

    • Natalie Luhrs says

      October 17, 2017 at 7:10 am

      I was! I was on Quartz, Monsoon, The Ragged Edge, ISCA, and one based out of the Southwest whose name I have forgotten. With the exception of ISCA (which I wasn’t on very often; we weren’t allowed to use clients at my school), my handle was the very creative Natalie. 😄

  2. Beth says

    October 17, 2017 at 9:21 am

    He’s deleted his faux apology post. I wish I’d taken a few screenshots.

    • Natalie Luhrs says

      October 17, 2017 at 10:25 am

      I think I have a screencap on my home computer. I’ll check when I get home.

  3. Khaalidah Muhammad-Ali says

    October 17, 2017 at 4:14 pm

    I share a few friends with this person but am not nor have I been a friend of his on fb or anywhere else that I’m aware of. I’m pretty much a nobody in the industry, hanging out in the periphery, but it’s sad that harassment and manipulation at cons and otherwise is something that I know to be a feature in the community.
    What the hell is that about even? Why? This entire thing makes me sad.
    Who can you trust?

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Hello! I’m Natalie Luhrs. I write about books and culture and whatever else strikes my fancy. I have so many opinions.

I was a nominee for the Best Fan Writer Hugo in 2017.

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