Pop Culture Anti-Bullying Coalition Panel Returns to NY Comic-Con

Learn how to convert kryptonite into your own personal strength with Pop Culture Anti-Bullying Coalition's powerful panel, back at NYCC by popular demand!

Topics of discussion will include geek, cyber, & LGBT-bullying, becoming a hero IRL, and analyzing how media and entertainment affect our attitudes toward bullying and aggression.

End Bullying! Responding to Cruelty in Our Culture
Friday, 10/10/2014
5:00PM - 5:45PM
Room 1A21
Javits Center

The unprecedented Coalition, which is all-volunteer and self-funded, was formed in 2013 by actress Chase Masterson (Star Trek: DS9, Doctor Who: Big Finish) and author Carrie Goldman (Harper Collins' Bullied: What Every Parent, Teacher, and Kid Needs to Know About Ending the Cycle of Fear).

Young Adults, kids, parents, and educators will learn strategies from celebs & experts, including Cartoon Network VP Social Responsibility Alice Cahn, HerUniverse Creator & Actress Ashley Eckstein (Star Wars: The Clone Wars), Comedian Joe Gatto (TruTV's Impractical Jokers, Jokers Wild), Matt Langdon(Founder, Hero Roundtable and The Hero Construction Company), Dr Travis Langley (Author, Batman & Psychology: A Dark and Stormy Knight), Anti-Defamation League's Eva Vega-Olds (Director of Research and Communication), Goldman and Masterson.

'Pop culture revolves around heroes. Since we love them - why not be one?' asks Masterson. 'We're not just here to make a stand against bullying. Everybody knows that needs to stop. We're making a safe, go-to place where teens, kids and adults can find support, healing and answers.'

'In our digitalized, media-driven society, pop culture has a constant influence on the way that both children and adults interpret the world. When kids see celebrities take action against bullying, it resonates strongly and sends the message that cruelty is not acceptable,' says Goldman.

In addition to the Anti-Defamation League and Cartoon Network, the Coalition includes CW Seed's Husbands and several national non-profits with initiatives to end bullying, including the United Nations Association, GLSEN, International Bullying Prevention Association, Girl Scouts of America, Brave Girls Allianceand the NoH8 Campaign.

NYCC, one of ReedPop's undisputed epi-centers of the pop culture universe, draws over 150,000 fans and receives prominent press worldwide. Pop Culture Anti-Bullying Coalition brought this crucial issue to the heart of the Con's entertainment-driven

conversations.

'The truth is bullying is not only an issue for the schools and the home. The impact of bullying is one that carries over beyond the school years and affects the behavior of adults and the entire society. It takes a whole community to allow bullying to go on, and it takes a whole community to make sure that it doesn't.' saidTammy Gillies, Regional Director, ADL.

Matt Langdon builds real-life heroes with The Hero Construction Company school presentations and Hero Round Table conference. 'Our approach to anti-bullying is summed up with this statement: the opposite of a hero is not a villain,' says

Langdon. 'It's a bystander.'

'STOP BULLYING: SPEAK UP uses the inspirational power of entertainment media to motivate young people, and the adults who care for them, to speak up safely and effectively when they see bullying happen,' remarked Cahn. 'Working together, we can create a culture of kindness in our schools and communities.'